Specialist grease - load of old tosh?

rocksteadyeddie
Posts: 294
I have always used, and continue to use multi-purpose grease on all parts of my bike that require grease. Over the years I have seen the rise and rise of hub grease, and bottom bracket grease, and uber-rock-hard-solid grease for use in applications up to 1 million RPM. I am no engineer but am I right in assuming that this is all marketing nonsense? Surely the loads to which any part of a bike are exposed are many magnitudes lower than the point at which grease would make any meaningful difference?
Or is that why I keep getting dropped?
Or is that why I keep getting dropped?
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I was in a bicycle shop in Cardiff and someone was asking the shop owner about grease. I think the guy said that essentially any decent quality grease is fine for most apllications.
If you want to prevent water ingress, then use a thickish grease - lithium grease is good at resisting moisture.
If you're more concerned with a free-running bearing, then of course a lighter grease would be good. And if there are rubber seals that you don't want to be weakened or attacked by the grease, then a silicone type is suitable.
Bicycles don't have parts that reach the operating temperatures of motor engines, so there's no concern in that respect.
Any more info needed then email John Travolta or Olivia Neutron Bomb.0 -
Rocksteadyeddie wrote:I have always used, and continue to use multi-purpose grease on all parts of my bike that require grease. Over the years I have seen the rise and rise of hub grease, and bottom bracket grease, and uber-rock-hard-solid grease for use in applications up to 1 million RPM. I am no engineer but am I right in assuming that this is all marketing nonsense? Surely the loads to which any part of a bike are exposed are many magnitudes lower than the point at which grease would make any meaningful difference?
Or is that why I keep getting dropped?
Yeah, basically the difference between you and Gilbert is that he has better grease than you.0 -
There was a big debate on the CTC forums about this a while back. Can't remember the details although there were some interesting technical points made (regarding low speed bearing lubricant properties, which are distinct from high speed, requiring different greases, and water resistance). If I can find the thread, I'll post it here. I've got a big tub of Motorex grease which is both bike specific (for what it's worth) and good value.0
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I think I read some time ago that lithium grease is bad for some types of plastics, so it shouldn't be used some places.
At the time it was for twist grip shifters on my old mtb, lithium was not to be used for the internals.--
Burls Ti Tourer for Tarmac, Saracen aluminium full suss for trails0 -
frequency is more important than lubrication medium.
There are a number of comments I could make to follow this.
The Silkolene stuff that's like jam is the best I've used.Facts are meaningless, you can use facts to prove anything that's remotely true! - Homer0 -
The only thing I would say is copperslip for non moving parts as its slightly abrasive, moly for everything else unless you're going for rubber seals in which case red grease.0