The Grease Thread

[Sponge]

Good morning,

I've always been curious about the different types of greases offered; so I thought I'd ask the forum about their opinion on this. This'd also come in handy for others in the future incase they need to buy some long-lasting all-purpose grease in future. In short, I'm after an all-purpose grease, a large amount for years to come, that's of top quality. I could easily just not make a thread like this and ignorantly go out and buy any old tub that catches my fancy; but... like most components, it really pays to have good quality grease. Especially since I'm going to need plenty to regularly service my future Bamboo freecoaster, since that's the nature of freecoasters and unsealed bearings (which work better on 'coasters than sealed cartridges do, interestingly enough).

I've read of all types of grease, such as : (can someone explain these?)

-Lithium (red coloured?)

-Ceramic-Synthetic

-Teflon

-Polylube

But, I've never truly understood what the subtle advantages and drawbacks of each are. Normally I couldn't care less, and neither will most of you reading, but since freecoasters demand the most suitable grease possible, it is vital I get the best for it. It'll save me time in the long run, since with better and more suitable grease it'll (yep, you guessed it..) mean that I need to take apart my freecoaster less and not need to grease up the internals on such a regular basis. It's nothing like the fancy sealed cassette and fixed hubs in regular BMX and Trials where you have sealed cartridges that remain smooth for ages and never need greasing, freecoasters are great but just require plenty of cleaning out and regreasing as part of their nature. (Mostly because my 'coaster'll be a Nankai Bamboo, which is unsealed hence needs more attention to grease than most other sealed 'coasters do.. But sealed coasters are still flawed horribly (crushed from the side-forces too easily). Unsealed just lasts waaaay longer, but there's the obvious drawbacks to unsealed of course... messier)

So primarily, I'm after something that's *awesome* for ball bearings, whilst being an all-round good waterproof grease for general anti-seize purposes

The following greases, I'm keeping an eye on:

1. ParkTool Polylube 1000

2. Weldtite grease with Teflon

3. Weldtite Lithium grease

4. Phil Wood grease (said to be the Chris King of the grease industry?)

5. Finish Line Teflon grease

6. White Lightning Crystal grease

^I just need to buy one of them, or any other top quality ones you can recommend, to last me for a good year or so at least. Something all-purpose. Of course, I'll be using the ever-popular Copper Anti-seize for specific little jobs like 48-spline spindle greasing and for all threaded parts; but yeah mainly I'm just asking if you know what'd be best for bearings and general purpose (seatposts, press-fit bearings, steerer tubes, pedal servicing, fork crown race etc.) Preferably the grease should stay around in my bearings and internals of 'coaster without wearing-thin after a short time. That's why I'm so keen to avoid cheaper grease or even a decent brand grease for that matter.

If any of you have ever bought the specific brand greases as I mentioned above for a similar reason like mine, then do give your verdict on them and compare and contrast to how other brand greases have performed and lasted for you. For example, I know that Pedros Syn Grease is an absolute pile-o'-crap from past experience; but hopefully everything else I listed works better than that did.

On a quick side note: for any of you Vee/cable brake users, what is the most suitable lube for the wires/pivots/bushings? I keep hearing 'get Teflon lube', and I'll probably just buy some sort of Finish Line one, but there are tons of varieties. I'm not using it for chain lubing, but which specific lube is best suited for the smoothest cable-brake pull and performance? Since I'll be using a U-brake up front...

Thanks in advance

Happy Christmas!

Edited December 27, 2008 by Sponge

[casualjoe]

I find Finishline synthetic wet lube works well on everything from cables to chains, its slippery, long lasting and protective.

[Sponge]

Grazie, but if anyone can refer back to the text and offer detail on the unknowns (e.g. the functions and contrasts between each type of grease) that'd be awesome

[Walleee]

WD40 should do the job.

[Alex Dark]

i use standard lithium ( red ) grease for pretty much evcerything....fork lubing, bearing greasing, cable lubing etc....lasts ages and doesnt emulsify like jcb grease tends to......

as helpful as i can get im afraid

try bikeradar.com for some more info

[eskimo]

WD40 should do the job.

I'll admit i couldn't be bothered to read your whole post, sorry!

But from what i can tell you want to keep your freecoaster performing well. I'll just say, don't waste your money on some expensive grease, go buy a tub of sale grease on CRC and service your freecoaster every two weeks or however frequently your supposed to do it. It won't lock up on you if you've serviced it correctly (and you don't have twitch foot).

(ps3 edit)

Ok it pays to read the whole post. Old style freecoasters are probably something you should be asking about elsewhere. Like in a car park somewhere

Edited December 27, 2008 by eskimo

[16 years later]

4. Phil Wood grease (said to be the Chris King of the grease industry?)

Is there a uk supplier for that stuff, or do you have to get it from the usa. Sounds great.

Great topic btw, been wondering the same thing my self.

[psycholist]

Chainreaction have Shimano grease, which i've been using for the past while. Given that Shimano seem to know what they're doing and are big enough that they can afford to have grease formulated specifically for their needs this could be a good choice.

Teflon grease can be a pain because it doesn't break down with degreaser, so it has to be wiped off everything to remove it, making working with it a filthy job - this doesn't make it any better as grease either as once dirt is entrained in the grease it will be fed into the bearings, which is a common cause of failure in greased joints/bearings. It is very chemically inert though, so suitable for use on everything.

Lithium based grease is what I usually use (I'm not sure if the Shimano stuff is lithium based, but it most likely is). This grease can be dissolved out with degreaser, making regreasing much easier. It will damage a lot of plastics, so don't use it on the likes of elastomer suspension forks for example. The rubber used to seal most hubs seems to be fine with lithium grease.

[Sponge]

I'm going to be running plastic looseball pedals (Odyssey Twisted PC), but if Lithium is said to be bad for plastic, when I come to regreasing the looseballs of the PC pedals, should I be going for something completely different?

What's the bright blood red grease I keep seeing in bikeshops? It's bearing grease primarily I think, but what's it mainly based off? Lithium? If so, what's the difference with it compared to white lithium grease?

Alright, so the Weldtite teflon grease is no longer an option, and I don't really completely trust White Lightning yet, even if their grease is 100% crystal clear . So it's down mainly to Park Polylube 1000 (synthetic) and some sort of Lithium grease. I still don't entirely understand what synthetic grease is and what makes it sometimes more popular than lithium. Is it just a generally more-friendly grease to materials like plastic?

-Incase no one read the italic at the bottom of the first post, I was wondering about what lube works best for brake cables and pivots? Since I'll be using a U-brake of course. Finish Line is most likely the brand I'll be using, so is teflon a good idea for lubing these kinds of small parts and joints? Dry or wet lube?

[Jaffacakes]

I just have a tube of JCB grease I got from somewhere? It's some good high quality shit. Its the size of a tube of silicone, I dont think I'll ever need more

[Alex Dark]

I just have a tube of JCB grease I got from somewhere? It's some good high quality shit. Its the size of a tube of silicone, I dont think I'll ever need more

that stuffs okay, but it does tend to push its way out of bearings.....the same ize yub of lithium'll cost about 5 quid and is far better

[Tom_]

Castrol grease, god knows what type, the off yellow type. For bearings and what not. Copper grease for threads.

Edited December 29, 2008 by Tom_

[sstein]

Cables - Dry chain lube (or squeeze a small amount of teflon throught the outer using a grease gun, put the innner through, pull out again and wipe off any you can see. Feels lovely) 

Threads - Copper grease or anti-sieze

Everything else - teflon lube maybe litium for bearings but the difference is unnoticeable.

P.s. I have never had a problem with degreaser not working on teflon, just spray on, wait for a few secs and then wipe off.

Edited December 29, 2008 by sstein

[eskimo]

Brake cables shouldn't need greasing if your only riding flatland? As your be far away from bad weather and dirty atmosphere? I say that because every higher end cable i've had has been sooo smooth. And 3 in 1 oil works good too once any crap has been cleared out.

[spaceman]

Shimano dura-ace grease (sort of bright translucent green) is best on open bearing hubs. That's my opinion though. I've also seen many many Xc'ers and roadies using it on their open bearing hubs too.

[Walleee]

just one more thing to add i forgot;

[16 years later]

^^^^^LoL

[Davetrials]

Rock'n'Roll is the bet stuff i have used.

Red devil is a great all rounder, Superweb for the bearings!

top stuff.

[Ash-Kennard]

i use copper or lithium grease because theres lots in the garage

[Brisa]

Best I have used is the shimano durace stuff, I could only find it in small tubs at £5 each though so am now using the Park Polylube 1000 and its ok, not half as long lasting as the shimano stuff though.

[cwbashaw]

I've been using some green grease that you use for boat trailer wheel bearings. It's cheap and it's made for boat trailers so it doesn't thin out when it gets wet.

As far as I can tell it looks just like the phil wood grease and works just as good.

the worst grease I have ever tried was one I found in a hardware store for greasing the tracks on garage doors.

Edited December 30, 2008 by cwbashaw