Bearing grease - how much?
A thin smear? Gallons of the stuff?
I rebuilt the bottom bracket on an old bike last night, cottered cranks, loose bearings in a cage etc; rough as a badger's ar5e but it improved as the grease distributed itself. I was pretty miserly with the bearing (lithium) grease. After all, with ball bearings running between two metal races under load anything more than a thin film will be driven out the way and add to rotational resistance. Surely....
Opinions?
I rebuilt the bottom bracket on an old bike last night, cottered cranks, loose bearings in a cage etc; rough as a badger's ar5e but it improved as the grease distributed itself. I was pretty miserly with the bearing (lithium) grease. After all, with ball bearings running between two metal races under load anything more than a thin film will be driven out the way and add to rotational resistance. Surely....
Opinions?
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Comments
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More is not necessarily better. As you say, the excess is quickly squidged out of the way. If it was really rough it might be beneficial to strip it again shortly and replace the contaminated grease.0
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i've tried both ways (on cup & cone, and on cartridge bearings with seals)
as the sealing isn't perfect (on any of mine at least), packing with grease lasts longer if there're lots of wet rides, there's a smidge more drag initially and grease will get squished out, but it takes longer for the bearings to get washed out by the foul weathermy bike - faster than god's and twice as shiny0
