Keeping brake pads grease free

mamil314

After cleaning the bike i tend to do a quick PTFE water repellent spray on deraileurs, hubs, BB, headset, pedals, shifters and levers, exposed cables etc. Would like to squirt some on brake springs/pivots, too, but would then need to wrap the pads in cling film to keep them clean or something, which seems excessive. I've not heard of others having this issue and am probably missing some obvious solution? I keep the wheels off at this stage to keep the stuff off the rims.

Most obvious would, probably, be not spraying repellent at all, but, being fairly new to cycling, i am still discovering best maintenance practices and, although not a clean freak, i think my mood is better and i ride quicker after my bike has been through the wash!

imposter2.0

If you're determined to lube the brake pivots, just use something like 3in1 in non-aerosol form, with a dropper nozzle. Problem solved.

jermas

A curved cardboard strip that fits between the tyre and brake works well. I'd watch out for spraying too much penetrating fluid around bearings (BB ,headset) - it'll break the grease down very quickly.

mamil314

Good advice, thanks Jermas, i learned that one the hard way. I placed rear wheel on the ground - cassette up - and used paintbrush to apply citrus degreaser i'd used on chain. Cassette got clean, but freehub was making racket i didn't know bicycle was capable of! Had to open it up, wipe dry and regrease with PPL-1

ElectronShepherd

If you have cartridge brake pads, you could just take the pads out of the shoes while cleaning and spraying.

Matthewfalle

Paint oil on where you want using a small paintbrush if you're that worried.