So What About Grease

My simple, pragmatic understanding of the subject tells me that for bikes that
receive any maintenance and consideration at all, just about any grease is good.

But, am I missing something. Are there glories of grease unknown to me? Perils
that I have not considered?

I've been using white lithium grease, because it is pretty and clean and shows
whether you've cleaned properly and makes obvious even to my color deficient
eyeballs whether it's been contaminated.

But is there better and does it matter?

How about that Shimano green stuff; they claim to have spent a fortune in R&D on
it and that it's the greatest ever.

So what's everyone's preference and opinions on the importance of grease?

Ron

Per Tom:
There's not a whole lot of science to grease. It's oil held in a
carrier of some sort.

I've used a lot of different greases over the years and most of them
are the same. The green stuff I used was Phil Wood and it seems pretty
good stuff and it doesn't harden.

I don't know diddley - and haven't tried a lot of greases - but one thing I
notice about the stuff I'm using now is that seems to harden when I put it on
suspension bolts. Acts more like a glue than grease. Makes the bolts
extremely difficult to extract without damaging them.
--
PeteCresswell

"(PeteCresswell)" wrote: (clip) Acts more like a glue than grease. Makes
the bolts extremely difficult to extract without damaging them.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
What's the brand? It's probably cheaper than the Loc-tite I've been using.

RonSonic wrote:

My simple, pragmatic understanding of the subject tells me that for bikes that
receive any maintenance and consideration at all, just about any grease is good.

But, am I missing something. Are there glories of grease unknown to me? Perils
that I have not considered?

I've been using white lithium grease, because it is pretty and clean and shows
whether you've cleaned properly and makes obvious even to my color deficient
eyeballs whether it's been contaminated.

But is there better and does it matter?

How about that Shimano green stuff; they claim to have spent a fortune in R&D on
it and that it's the greatest ever.

So what's everyone's preference and opinions on the importance of grease?

Ron

I use the plain old automotive bearing grease, a big tub of which is
less than 2 bucks. It's black and smells kind of funky but works fine.
You can tell if it gets contaminated because when water emulsifies in it
it turns milky. It doesn't seem to harden as fast as white lithium (I
haven't seen it ever harden).

One trick I've used is to use a grease gun with a needle tip -- handy
for injecting through rubber boots or in very tight gaps, I can add
extra grease to a bearing w/o taking it apart completely.

On Thu, 16 Mar 2006 14:19:06 GMT, RonSonic
wrote:



My simple, pragmatic understanding of the subject tells me that for bikes that
receive any maintenance and consideration at all, just about any grease is good.

But, am I missing something. Are there glories of grease unknown to me? Perils
that I have not considered?

I've been using white lithium grease, because it is pretty and clean and shows
whether you've cleaned properly and makes obvious even to my color deficient
eyeballs whether it's been contaminated.

True only to the extent that it tends to discolor with solid or
corrosion-related cotaminants, and it turns brown with age, but it
typically masks water contamination until the corrosion has begun.

But is there better and does it matter?

"Better" is a subjective assessment. There are greases which have
different characteristics and capabilities, not all of which may be
useful. Lithium, by the way, is just the stuff that makes the grease
thick; it is not providing lubrication capability, and in most cases
it also doesn't get in the way of them either[1]. The oil that's in
the grease is what provides the lube. Some greases employ a synthetic
oil and/or a different soaping agent (including some which use waxes
to modify the characteristics further); resistance to moisture
contamination, sling-off, and drying vary. I've used a lot of
different greases that are intended for use with ball bearings, and
for low-stress applications like those in a bike, I find that nearly
all of them work well if you understand their service life limits and
maintain accordingly.

How about that Shimano green stuff; they claim to have spent a fortune in R&D on
it and that it's the greatest ever.

It may well be, but bikes existed without collapsing into a heap of
scrap for the lack of it for about a century before it was introduced.
I doubt that mere failure to use that specific product will put you in
the ditch.

So what's everyone's preference and opinions on the importance of grease?

I use what I have. Right now, that's a tub of Valvoline semisynthetic
automotive wheel bearing grease with a moly disulfide additive. Why
am I using that particular stuff? Because that's what I keep around
for use on the vehicle fleet's wheel bearings; it meets at least the
minimum spec for both my Ford and Chrysler vehicles.




[1] It should be noted that some greases have, in recent years, been
discovered to attack certain plastics. In particular, some of them
degrade and destroy some polymers that are frequently employed as
electrical insulation. This became well known after millions of cars
were built on which a common and popular lithium grease was used as an
anticorrosion coating on electrical contacts in wiring harness
plugs...and some of the grease got on to the wires in the back ends of
the plugs. It took four years or longer for the insulation to degrade
in most cases, and generally the bare wires were still harmlessly
isolated inside cavities in the plugs, but it happened a lot. There
have been similar experiences with other plastics. The choice of
grease to use in contact with nonmetallic parts other than grease
seals should be made with care, preferably after consulting with the
maker of the nonmetallic item to find out what is safe to use.
--
Typoes are a feature, not a bug.
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Dans le message de ,
RonSonic a réfléchi, et puis a déclaré :
My simple, pragmatic understanding of the subject tells me that for
bikes that receive any maintenance and consideration at all, just
about any grease is good.

But, am I missing something. Are there glories of grease unknown to
me? Perils that I have not considered?

I've been using white lithium grease, because it is pretty and clean
and shows whether you've cleaned properly and makes obvious even to
my color deficient eyeballs whether it's been contaminated.

But is there better and does it matter?

How about that Shimano green stuff; they claim to have spent a
fortune in R&D on it and that it's the greatest ever.

So what's everyone's preference and opinions on the importance of
grease?

It worries me that cyclists, who should be environmentally friendly, don't
save drippings from duck and goose dinners. One Christmas dinner with a big
bird, and you have both a wonderful meal and lubricant for a year.
--
Sandy
--
Il n'est aucune sorte de sensation qui soit plus vive
que celle de la douleur ; ses impressions sont sûres,
elles ne trompent point comme celles du plaisir.
- de Sade.

Sandy wrote:
It worries me that cyclists, who should be environmentally friendly, don't
save drippings from duck and goose dinners. One Christmas dinner with a big
bird, and you have both a wonderful meal and lubricant for a year.

Real cyclists only use *genuine* whale oil and blubber for their
bicycle lubrication needs.

FWIW animal and plant oils eventually go rancid making them non ideal
for any non-sealed application.

Following on from my post suggesting that some on this news group can become
obsessive about almost everything. The last thing subject was chain cleaning
and waxing. This time its grease. Well in days gone by (when I were a
lad!!) when I knew no better and times were hard, when I stripped my bikes
down Spring and Autumn and re-assembled all the bearings I used a product
that my mother used to grease my sibling's bum - "Vaseline" ( UK brand).
Everything worked fine and my TT times were respectable. My take on all this
is that bikes are low tech and if you keep them clean and well lubricated -
using whatever products within reason - they will perform well and last for
ever.

"amakyonin" wrote in message
oups.com...

Sandy wrote:
It worries me that cyclists, who should be environmentally friendly,
don't
save drippings from duck and goose dinners. One Christmas dinner with a
big
bird, and you have both a wonderful meal and lubricant for a year.

I've been using Phil Wood grease, the one that comes in a green
toothpaste like container.

The garage door opener had been making some annoying noises for awhile
too. I ended using almost all of the PW grease on the door rail. It
silenced it pretty good.

Peter Cole wrote:

I use the plain old automotive bearing grease, a big tub of which is
less than 2 bucks. It's black and smells kind of funky but works fine.

On 16 Mar 2006 13:20:28 -0800, "amakyonin"
wrote:


Sandy wrote:
It worries me that cyclists, who should be environmentally friendly, don't
save drippings from duck and goose dinners. One Christmas dinner with a big
bird, and you have both a wonderful meal and lubricant for a year.

Real cyclists only use *genuine* whale oil and blubber for their
bicycle lubrication needs.

FWIW animal and plant oils eventually go rancid making them non ideal
for any non-sealed application.

Another bigger problem: Many of them contain substantial amounts of
moisture and salt, particularly in such things as the grease skimmed
from pan drippings from meats.

Hmmm. Perhaps I shouldn't have mentioned that. The one who suggested
it might have actually been tempted to try it...
--
Typoes are a feature, not a bug.
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