The Street > Common Questions and former stickies.
Lube, Grease, and Whatnot
sheepdog:
--- Quote from: Tubes6al4v;1610841 ---Some people don't simply want their bike to "just work". I want mine to feel a specific way. I also enjoy experimenting around with the different types of lubes that are available.
I am sure that NASA and F1 research groups have run through many more lubes than almost all bikers. Boeing could find a lube that was suitable (in all the tests they ran) so they produced their own...
--- End quote ---
Yes, but you only have a couple different surfaces on a bike and this is not rocket science. All bearings are roughly the same size and type, most metal to metal contact is one of 2 metals usually.
3 or 4 lubricants should cover everything.
There is no need to do a Nasa style testing of lubes. Most have been tried and tested many times already for our application. It is a bike, not a rocket going into uncharted territory.
sheepdog:
A bit more about chain and cable lubricants.
While many still do it, lubing your chain and cables with a oil based lubricant is archaic. It is messy and just collects dirt, which means you are just wet sanding your chain, especially when you have guys drowning their chains in oil. You can walk up to my chain, grab it, and not get more than a bit dusty. Still runs perfectly smooth, and in fact the wax, will absorb the dirt and keep it from grinding away at the metal. Remember, chains have no protection from dirt.
Sram/Sedisport used to make a chain lube that was a block of wax that you melted into a pain, and after a good solvent cleaning, you soaked the chain in the wax, best chain lube ever. Last I saw their chains still came from the factory lubed that way and are known for their smoothness.
Pour the right type of wax onto a chain and you can watch the chain tighten up as it fills in all the gaps, creating smooth bearing surfaces again. Very cool to see, and even better to feel afterwards.
dead sailor:
As far as greasing bearings in wheels and whatnot, should I put grease on the axle, or is there anywhere else I should put grease?
EDIOT:
to be honest, if you're not educated about grease too well, you could just follow with these basic guidelines. some might disagree with me, but you have to understand at in different places (different temperature, humidity, etc) can actually affect the type of grease that is ideal for use. what i list here is the generic, basic needs
you'd need only three different products for a reasonably good performance: a grease with teflon, a grease WITHOUT teflon (preferably with less water, things such as copper grease, anti seize, ti prep are all in this category), and lastly, lubricant. also a cameo appearance for any citric based cleaner/WD-40
for all the THREADS AND BOLTS, on the seatpost, on crankarms/pedal bosses, use the GREASE WITHOUT TEFLON. The purpose of the grease is only to mainly create a layer between the two metals so that they do not come into direct contact and seize up, and also to smoothen the tightening. Teflon grease is not neccesary and could be bad for older parts as it encourages slipping.
for bearings, you could use the GREASE WITH TEFLON. The thickness of the grease would partially determine your rolling resistance, the thicker, the 'slower' you'd feel rolling. (but honestly, unless you're really, really anal about the rolling and already run super high tire pressure, it doesn't make a difference in riding). Thicker grease is usually better at preventing water sipping into the bearings hence less maintainence, it would be more ideal for hotter climates as the temperature makes it more 'runny' and there's a bit less rolling resistance. Thinner grease is more 'runny' than thick ones in cold weather, but water sips in a bit quicker. Remember that all bearings warm up a little after you ride for a few minutes and the rolling resistance is brought down to a minimal, so i always recommend getting a thick teflon grease for bearings.
as for LUBRICANTS, i'm talking about the dripping wet type stuff. you should go for the thinner stuff for better performance, those 'winter wax' style lubricants are good if you always keep an eye on stuff but when it dries a little, they gunk up and get a bit messy. with the thin, dripping wet lube, you can use it to soak the shit out of your cable inner, and the inside of the cable house. trust me, it makes a world of difference. as for the cable nipple and the area on the brake lever that houses it, use either grease there.
for the chain, i don't recommend wax due to it gunking up over time, what you should do is spray the fuck out of it with citric cleaner or WD-40, to the point that it only drips out the solution as clean as you spray into it (make sure not to spary onto bearings!! best would be to take the chain OFF the bike to do it). after you sprayed it clean, LET IT DRY for about 30 minutes before you put it back on, and put lube on it. wet up the whole chain and work it into the rollers, then use an old cloth to wipe the outside off of excess. the chain is the one area that you should add lube on a weekly basis. when you add lube, all you need is to drip lube onto the chain while backpedalling.
if you're not able to buy the two types of different grease, it's safer to just buy one big tub of copper grease/lithium grease, and use it for all applications (including bearings). remember that the thicker the grease, the less chance of water seeping in. also, copper grease is known as anti-seize as well, and make sure you're extra generous when it comes to titanium contact points
Flybiker:
This may sound retarded but how do you put grease into your Bearings? just get a small blob then work it in around the sealed area or what?
This area
Just checking to make sure ive been doing it right for the last few years :X
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