Noisy Frame Bearings
Hi, Elliot!
I don't have your problem: I don't ride when it's raining.
In my opinion, why get wet if you don't have to?
(I used to get paid to ride, rain-or-shine... so riding in the rain is too much
like work for me!)
There are easy solutions to you your problem, however.
First, you really must disassemble the suspension of your bike,
to expose your noisy bushings (bearings).
Then, you must thoroughly clean the bearings.
Before you reassemble your bike, make sure that you thouroughly
lubricate the bearings.
Chain lube is for chains... but if that's all you have, well, it's better than nothing.
Best to use grease to lubricate your bearings.
Axle grease, moly grease, bottom-bracket grease... the point is,
grease will stay put longer and do it's job -lubing the bearings- longer than,
well, chain lube.
Why go through all this trouble?
Your bearings are filthy.
(Both dirty and contaminated with metal flakes.)
Your bearings must be serviced!
Now when your bearings are cleaned and freshly lubed, they need to be kept clean.
-How about installing fenders?
That'll help keep dirty water away!
-How about wrapping the joints of your bikes' suspension with rubber sheets?
I used to do this... I used cut-up inner-tubes, zip-ties, lashings and rubber cement
to make custom, "boots".
This guarantees that your bikes' clean joints stay clean.
-How about installing zerk fittings in the joints?
This way, after every rainy ride, all you'd need to do is to connect your grease gun
to each zerk and add fresh grease to each joint... forcing out the old grease.
-Or, just service your bikes' bearings after each rainy ride!
Good luck,
-Steve
