Best headset grease for use on a carbon frame?

mm94210

Hi

Trying to get a definitive answer on which grease to use on my headset. I’ve got a Whyte T130 CR so it would need to be fine to use on a carbon frame.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

mr_evil

Carbon fibre will not be adversely affected by any grease or other chemical that would normally be used on a bike, so you can simply use the same grease you would on any other frame.

mm94210

Thanks. Is there a suitable grease you would recommend? I’m a bit confused by it all really.

david7m

Are the bearings sat in the frame rather than a cup?

mr_evil

Almost any grease will be ok. For headsets with aluminium cups in carbon or titanium frames, I will use copper grease for extra corrosion protection, but that's not really necessary.

That's assuming you are talking about on the outside of the headset. For inside the bearings... headsets aren't very demanding, so any grease will do, but marine grease is more resistant to water.

In general, there are very few places on a bike where the choice of grease makes much difference.

mm94210

Here is my headset. I noticed some water leaking out this morning and that is why I posted this thread.



As a grease novice, where on my bike should I be greasing regularly and if so which specific types should I use?

edward.s

I use the blue Mobil 222 grease on basically everything on the bikes. Its the same stuff Hope use on all their parts. Buy a cartridge tube from Amazon or Ebay and a small grease gun to apply it cleanly.

The Rookie

So you don't know what you want to grease, if it needs greasing or where?

Water can get trapped inside the headset but outside the bearing, not an issue and no grease will fix it anyway.

If the Headset bearing needs greasing then the frame material is irrelevant as that grease isn't on the frame.

The only headset grease the frame would see is the light smear on the outside of the cups when you insert them, but no reason to suggest you need the cups removing.

You need to remove the stem and spacers and top cap and see what is actually happening. Given your clear lack of mechanical knowledge it may be better getting a shop to do that. However here's is how to service the headset
https://www.parktool.com/blog/repair-help/threadless-headset-service
If you have a loose ball headset you can jump down to Step 7 without removing them to service it.
If you have cartridge bearings (likely on that) then you can replace the cartridge without removing the cups.

Or just ride it and not worry about something that almost certainly is nothing to worry about anyway!