Bicycle Mechanics - Refreshing grease?

I`d like to know if there`s a changing period for the grease in hubs, is it dependable on your riding style, on the environment, number of km, or should i change it every year?

Mark, I think you know the answer to that question already, but it is a good question, so here goes:

Naturally, the need for grease changes depends on the frequency and type of use.

Today's greases do not deteriorate as quickly by just sitting around as the old lubricants did. Thus, if you greased now, and stored the bike for two years, you would find little change in the quality of the grease.

Modern grease/lubricants are also quite water resistant. For this reason, it is my opinion that dust is more of an enemy than water for today's bikers - especially for mountain bikers.

If you ride in dusty environments, check your bearings in about three months and see what is going on. From that, determine your own timing.

Rear hub and bottom bracket need the most frequent cleanings and re-lubricating.

For most casual road bicyclists who put on less than 1,000 per year, I would say that a once per year (less?) re-grease would be sufficient.

Thanks Mike, now i know that 1 year/ 1000 km is pretty common, so like you said, i have to check and take my own changing shedule

Originally posted by toolfreak
Thanks Mike, now i know that 1 year/ 1000 km is pretty common, so like you said, i have to check and take my own changing shedule

Oops, sorry, Mark. I was talking MILES, not kilometers. You should be able to get more than 1000 km per grease job in England. 1000 miles = 1610 km.

Like I said, dust is a worse enemy that water. Dust type depends largely on the area in which you ride. For example. in the area I live now, the land is richly covered with vegetation. The soil is high in humous. Thus, there is not such a bad dust problem.

In south central USA like Oklahoma and Texas where the soil is dry and high in clay content, the dust particles are very fine and abundant. These dust particles easily work their way into bearings and can cause terrible damage quickly.

It is important to recognize that environment is a very important factor in machinery (bicycle) maintanance.

In areas where salt is used to de-ice roads in winter, steel parts can be eaten away in one season if not cleaned after every ride.

In areas where much coal is burned, meticulous attention to waxing must be done to avoid corrosion due to acid rain (wow, you shuold see the effects of acid rain on bikes in China!).

In areas where temperatures are commonly above 100 F (38 C), more heat durable greases should be used.

Good question.

when I was still using the old conventional hubs and bottom bracket I use to clean and put new lubes on these item every month, its kinda habit for me to put new lubes on them every month, there is no rule of thumb when you need to lube them, Now that I have a sealed bottom bracket, I still take them apart so that rust will not set in on the housing of the bottom bracket,every now and then as for the front and rear hubs I am using a Mavic Cosmic Elite and they have sealed hubs, so no need to take them apart, although I have sent querries to Mavic Company if there is a need to lube the hubs of these Cosmic Wheels Series, until now I have not got any answer.....

my BB is a old WTB grease injected BB, every ride i squirt in some sweeeeet yellow lithium off hiway grease.

I overhaul and relube cup-and-cone road hubs about every year or 5000 miles (~8000 km) using good grease (Phil grease in my case but there are a lot of suitable ones.). I ride in a variety of conditions including some rain and winter salt and slush.

The hubs I work on have routinely gone 30,000 miles with no pitting or wear on the cones or races and I have a set of Dura Ace hubs with over 40,000 miles on the original races and cones.

I consider overhauls at 1000 mile intervals to be overkill but it's not harmful.

I overhaul and relube cup-and-cone road hubs about every year or 5000 miles (~8000 km) using good grease (Phil grease in my case but there are a lot of suitable ones.). I ride in a variety of conditions including some rain and winter salt and slush.

I would say that's about right: 3000-5000 miles between complete cleaning, greasing, and replacing the balls (if necessary) of cup-and-cone bearings. Every 1000 miles seems too often to me.

I personally use Marine Wheel Bearing Grease (http://shop.easternmarine.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=catalog.prodInfo&productID=4683&categoryID=191), which is very waterproof and durable. And it's cheap. And some BF'ers who I highly respect did some research on greases and concluded that it's excellent for bike use.

I go years, as in 5+ in re-packing the hubs and BB with no ill effects. The headset, because of the grit and water that is constantly aimed at the bottom bearing assembly (which is the most critical) by the front wheel, I re-pack at least yearly.

More important than setting a schedule for bearing re-packing is to check your bearings often and make sure they are properly adjusted. A loose bearing assembly will rapidly get damaged. I takes only a couple of minutes to check the bearings.

For the headset, grab the front brake and with a finger on the lower bearing assembly, feel for any play as you rock the bike back and forth There should be absolutely no play. Now raise the front wheel off the ground and make sure the bars rotate smoothly and don't bind.

For the wheel bearings. Grab the rim and push it laterally, back and forth, spin the wheel 180 degrees and check again. If you feel any play, it has to be readjusted. Now give the wheel a very slight push so it spins very slowly, it should take a while for it to come to a complete stop.

For the BB, grab the crank arm (not the pedal) at the 12 oclock position and push it back and forth towards the bottom bracket. There should be absolutely no play. With the chain off, it should spin easily when you twirl the cranks with one finger.

I do this once every couple of months, at the same time I wash my bike.:D

I would advise against going for long periods (over 2 years max) without repacking. It's not so much a matter of grease as making sure you have good ball bearings and if conventioal cup and cone bearings that the cone is still running smoothly. If the cone pits it will start catching the bearings and then prematurely wear the cup - an expensive problem. I've never gone beyond 2 years without an overhaul and always use fresh ball bearings. Of course some who have multiple bikes and fair weather bikes could be exeptions to the above.

I happen to find the lemon grease the most refreshing.

Bushman? This is a pre-9/11 thread? Hmmmm. I'm just curious -- literally, curious -- as to why you're resurrecting old threads like this. Not looking for a defensive or hostile answer, but would be interested to know what your aim was.

Genuinely.

Bushman? This is a pre-9/11 thread? Hmmmm. I'm just curious -- literally, curious -- as to why you're resurrecting old threads like this. Not looking for a defensive or hostile answer, but would be interested to know what your aim was.

Genuinely.

my aim? i have no idea....maybe to CONTRIBUTE to the discussion? why are you so obsessed with the fact that i responded to a few older threads? (this thread and another one elsewhere on BF) Perhaps the Mods should lock any thread after a certain amount of posts are reached?

forgive me , for i have sinned. :rolleyes: (in the interests of keeping the forum civil, PM me if you must)

why are you so obsessed with the fact that i responded to a few older threads?

Two inquiries -- one each on two threads -- does not an obsession make.

Thanks ... anyway.

personally i would like to thank you bushman for bringing this to the fore front. i was just going to look for this topic, because my bike with less than 100 miles on it is having problems with the rear hub. i did not believe that this hub need an overhaul, atleast i hoped not.

personally i would like to thank you bushman for bringing this to the fore front. i was just going to look for this topic,

At the risk of seeming argumentative....

That's why I advocate sticky threads for:

grease
lubrication/chain lubes
chain cleaning and maintenance


I would think that's a FAR preferable method to the "let's just dredge up an old thread periodically on the off chance that somebody called "brew" happens to be looking for THAT topic at THAT time" concept.

See my point? The coincidence of you looking for that exact topic IS just that: a coincidence.

Sticky threads are a FAR more practical answer that gives YOU what you want, and some of the rest of us what WE might prefer.

Actually, if anybody saw any DOWNSIDE to making these issues into stickies ... I'd love to hear from you.....

It depends on how you look at the contents of this forum. Is it an ever-growing "body of knowledge"? Or is it an interactive Q&A mechanism?

If the former, it's a damn poor one. A Bicycle Wiki would be a much more useful format. (Some exist, btw.)

I prefer to view it as a means of Q&A. That means that the solution in a particular thread is tailored to the questioner, and may not apply to others. Accordingly, neither the thread nor the specific answers are intended to be encyclopedic. Attempting to make them so it pointless (with the exception of Sticky topics).

I think you make an excellent point.

I don't think the two are mutually exclusive, though. I think it can serve BOTH purposes.

I guess the tack I'm advocating is to make generic the generic stuff (like the stickies mentioned above -- most of which really are NOT bike-specific in nature), condensing them to a reasonable degree, and then making them as accessible as possible.

In my thinking, that would then pave the way for ALL of the bike-specific inquiries that are a wonderful part of this forum.