bike - dust - distance

czb said:

i keep a hard tail (old gary fisher) in AZ for when i am there for
work - near mexican border 2 hr south of phoenix and 2.5 hr west of
tucson. usually i am there monthly and my bike is only "in storage"
upside down in the garage for 3-4 weeks at a time.

this time though it will not have seen light or been used since june
20, so on sept 21 what will i find?

reason i ask is i live hours from any bike shop so i have to plan in
advance for spare tubes, cleaning solutions, et cetera.

a) effects of dust/dirt/grime on drivetrain after sitting 90 days (yes
ie was completely cleaned and lubed prior to departure in june)

No worse than riding, just wipe off the excess dust before riding.

Quoted message said:

b) what tools to bring (and as i am new to southwest, what kind of
lube works best) and generally have on hand in your experience

I use White Lightening, a lot of friends use Pedro's Synlube. Stay away
from wet lubes as they tend to attract dirt. Other tools are the same. I
often ride with two spare tubes since I stopped using slime but that's only
because I have some city gutter riding once in a while that seems to be the
gatherer of goat heads.

Quoted message said:

c) future prep i ought to be doing to keep bike from degrading

Cover the bike when in storage. Doesn't do much but keep the dust from
accumulating. Other prep should be similar to what you do where you're at
most of the time. I usually don't fix it until it's broke. Seems like the
more maintenance I do the more often my bike breaks down???

Quoted message said:

hope is to find the bike basically rideable and with an hour of
cleaning i am ready to go; fingers are crossed but maybe i am dreaming
and there'll be some problem or another i am not used to as i don;t
know climate/conditions over time at all.

If you leave the bike in good shape you should be able to be riding as soon
as you see it again except that you may have to air up tires.

Quoted message said:

advice/experience/ideas sought/welcomed. thanks in advance

Just my experience in the Phoenix desert.

Gary

Does long term upside down storage have any impact on fork/shock oil or
hydro brakes?

"czb" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
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Quoted message said:

i keep a hard tail (old gary fisher) in AZ for when i am there for work
- near mexican border 2 hr south of phoenix and 2.5 hr west of tucson.
usually i am there monthly and my bike is only "in storage" upside down
in the garage for 3-4 weeks at a time.