Bicycle Mechanics - newbie lubrication question

i read people say that you need to put grease on certain parts. handlebars, seatpost, peadls, bb, etc. so my question is what is the best kind ? can i use regular wheel bearing grease i use on the car? or is it a certain kind i need to pick up at the lbs?

I'm far from expert at this, but grease for your car is alot thicker then the kind used for a bike.

There is special oil and grease for your bike.

For general lubrication White Lithium grease is great for just about everything on a bike, including bearings. You can buy a tub of it for a few bucks at the auto parts store. Auto wheel bearing grease is really too thick to use on bearings and such, but would be fine for thread lubrication. Anything that is threaded on your bike should have some grease applied to the threads, especially the pedals

Slick Honey is amazing stuff - it will also completely revive a suspension fork.

http://www.cambriabike.com/tools/buzzy's_slick_honey.htm]Slick Honey

There are two reasons for the grease. Aside from lubrication, some different metals will bond to each other, e.g. alu seatpost in a steel frame. In the case of Titanium, you have to use a special grease laced with copper powder.

But otherwise, any grease is fine. I use Phil Waterproof Grease (http://www.philwood.com/catolog2/page18.htm) for most things, but also have a little stick of white, silicone-based, grease that I use for some things.

You mention seat post.. does this mean I should apply some form of grease to my seatpost itself before inserting in the tube? I just picked up a titanium frame, I realized I needed a special stuff to use on the BB and so on, but never thought about the seat post..

Originally posted by Kev
.....does this mean I should apply some form of grease to my seatpost itself before inserting in the tube? I just picked up a titanium frame, .... Ummmm Yes.... :rolleyes: :)

For titanium stuff, Finishline make a grease called "Ti-prep"... available through any good LBS .

thank you everyone for your replys. i will head down to the lbs and pick-up some slick honey or something similar. :)

Originally posted by Kev
You mention seat post.. does this mean I should apply some form of grease to my seatpost itself before inserting in the tube? I just picked up a titanium frame, I realized I needed a special stuff to use on the BB and so on, but never thought about the seat post..

Absolutely!!! Ti/Al is the worst! It essentially causes a galvanic weld. If you don't catch it on time, you'll never get the seatpost out. Maybe it's overkill, but I put Ti-prep on every screw, bolt, part, whatever that goes on my Ti frame.

Here's a the breakdown of acceptible lubes I found on another list.
ti to al= Ti prep,copper anti seize
ti to ti = Ti prep, copper anti-seize
ti to steel= grease
steel to steel= grease
al to steel=grease
al to al= grease
carbon to anything = dry and immaculately clean and only to coated surfaces.

I already got the ti-prep, I almost started installing the BB when I saw it at my LBS.. What about TI - TI?

Use the Ti-Prep with any ti/any metal contact, including Ti/Ti.

I just wanted to make sure, better to be safe then sorry. Crying over broken ti frame does not sound like fun, and I know I would cry :(

I prefer KY Jelly for most dry riding...

If it's really wet though, (and the "trail" is tight), I'll bust out the Astro Glide!

:D

Hawk

Originally posted by Hawkphoto
I prefer KY Jelly for most dry riding...

If it's really wet though, (and the "trail" is tight), I'll bust out the Astro Glide!

:D

Hawk

Yer a sick guy Hawk !! I like it !! I'll put my vote in for the Astro-Glide.. goes on smooth, never any friction !

Jeff

p.s. What kind of photographer are you ?

I couldn't resist... and, yes, I am sick! :p

Right now, I'll shoot anything that gets me paid...

If it were up to me, I'd shoot Fashion and Adventure and Products (as long as they were sexy). I started out persuing the Fashion aspect, but lately my attention has shifted to Mountain Bike and Motorcycle Photography. Trying to build up a portfolio of Adventure stuff and then persue submissions.

Now, if I get just get an androgenous female in Versace to bust fat air on some local trails... :rolleyes:

Peace,

Hawk

Sounds good Hawk !

Yeah I mostly shoot products, with the occasional model shoot thrown in... I'd like to get paid to do a lot of adventure travel stuff, but I need to work on my portfolio a bit more...

Where in the Bay area are you ?? I used to live in SF while I was going to school about 6 years ago

Jeff

Right on Jeff,

I live in Gilroy, but I work out of San Jose. Been thinking about moving to the city, but I don't know if I can hang with all those people, cars, people, exhaust, people, commotion, and people. Too many damn people.... I think I need more space than that...

Anyways, great to meet another photographer! I hope you're doing alright with the downturn...

Take Care,

Mike :beer:

Hawk,

Yeha I'm doin pretty good... working for a surfwear cataloger, shooting product, and doing side jobs.. not too bad... get to work by the beach, and that's always a plus ;-)

Jeff