Bicycle Mechanics - When is Grease Essential?

I just set up my beater/utility road bike with a nice new stem and bars (aluminum alloy) with aero brakes. Looks sweet! It occurs to me that I didn't use even a dab of grease for the job.

Should I unscrew, disassemble everything and grease it up?

I can be sort of lazy sometimes but if I have to I will.

I just set up my beater/utility road bike with a nice new stem and bars (aluminum alloy) with aero brakes. Looks sweet! It occurs to me that I didn't use even a dab of grease for the job.

Should I unscrew, disassemble everything and grease it up?
Yes!!!

Sheldon "The Glory That Was Grease" Brown

If you have quill-stem, then a very thin layer of grease is pretty much required. Or else after a while, corrosion between the quill and steerer tube will pretty much weld the two together. I've also had mysterious squeaks coming from the brake-levers when putting weight on them in the hills...

Grease is essential in any activy (bike building included) that requires an agent to reduce friction.;)

Reduces friction, helps fight corrosion. You decide.

Especially good for mixing metals. Alum screws in steel frame...etc.

Oh okay, if I have to:mad: :rolleyes:

Thanks guys!

Whenever you work on your bike have a tub of grease right next to you. Apply it to any bolt, thread, seat post, stem wherever. The only places not to grease are the rims, obviously, and tapers on square taper bottom bracket [debatable?]. Any others?

Grease is interesting stuff. For years I thought grease was just thick oil, but it is not.
Grease has a thickening agent called "soap", there are several agents such as lithium, urea and others.
Fine quality thin oil is mixed with these thickeners, the oil is contained and allowed to be present at the wear areas, where plain oil would drain away.
On precision machine tool bearings, the amount of grease is critical, generally never more then 1/3 fill, otherwise friction and heat will result.
So, it may be wise to service items more often then completely fill up with grease and leave it for 20yrs. Grease does break down, I would say clean out and service at 5 years max and 1 year on hubs and BB.
There is many qualities of grease, from the auto store $3 a gun tube to a $100 for 30cc such as from Barden.
http://www.bardenbearings.com/scan%20pdf/Machine%20Tools%20brochure.pdf
There are other less expensive precision ultra filtered grease, such as Kluber multiflex and some from Dow Corning.
These can be had from major bearing houses, but dont say its for bicycles, say its for angular contact bearings and low speed application.
These greases are not made for public consumption, most are toxic, use a barrier cream on your hands!
Better Living Through Chemistry!

Don

Some may argue about greasing carbon seat posts. Whatever the case, I use tacx carbon paste for that.

You need grease if you ever want to move that stem again.

Oh okay, if I have to:mad: :rolleyes:

Thanks guys!

You don't HAVE to but please don't come back in a year or two with a posting asking "how do I get my stuck (fill in the component) off of my bike?" :)

Try an experiment to see if lubrication is as important as these so called experts are telling you. Drain all of the oil out of your car and drive it around but for no longer than a week to minimize possible damage. Let us know the results.

Grease is essential in making good frosting. Well, shortening anyway, and that's grease too.

Come on. Stuck components mean you never have to worry about someone stealing them!

Whenever you work on your bike have a tub of grease right next to you. Apply it to any bolt, thread, seat post, stem wherever. The only places not to grease are the rims, obviously, and tapers on square taper bottom bracket [debatable?]. Any others?

I don't grease handlebar tape, but other than that, I super thin film of grease is your friend, with all exposed grease wiped away.

DT (I think) used to sell a spoke thread lube as well, it was a dip that you would use and let dry before building the wheel.

Sheldon

Whenever you work on your bike have a tub of grease right next to you. Apply it to any bolt, thread, seat post, stem wherever.
+1! :D


The only places not to grease are the rims, obviously, and tapers on square taper bottom bracket [debatable?]. Any others?

I DO apply a very thin coat of grease to square tapers, but I DON'T grease the threads of the bolts that hold cantilever arms to the bike. I use Loc-Tite so that the bolts don't have to be tightened too much.
But I do grease the pivots!

DT (I think) used to sell a spoke thread lube as well, it was a dip that you would use and let dry before building the wheel.
I think that was made by (or marketed by) Wheelsmith. It's called Spoke Prep.
But linseed oil will work quite well too! :D

I DO apply a very thin coat of grease to square tapers, but I DON'T grease the threads of the bolts that hold cantilever arms to the bike. I use Loc-Tite so that the bolts don't have to be tightened too much.
Ooooh, I strongly disagree! I'm not an absolutist about greasing the tapers, but it is REALLY important to grease the threads and the undersides of the bolt heads. Otherwise, too much of the applied torque is wasted overcoming friction, rather than pulling the crank onto the spindle.

Loctite has a very few uses on bicycles, and this is definitely NOT one of them!

Sheldon "Grease!" Brown

I use Loc-Tite so that the bolts don't have to be tightened too much.


It is VERY important that the crank fixing bolts be tightened to the proper spec during initial installation and it's NOT so the bolts don't loosen.

This same discussion is going on in another thread here: "Grease the BB spindle/axle?" One poster referenced an article by Jobst Brandt that's reproduced on Sheldon Brown's web site detailing just why this is so critical. Here is the URL: http://sheldonbrown.com/brandt/installing-cranks.html

Grease is essential in any activy (bike building included) that requires an agent to reduce friction.;)

Agent: "a person or business authorized to act on another's behalf"

Uh ... this is something I'd prefer to do personally, ya' know? :D

I've seen a couple "grease everything but the brakes and bars" comments above, and thought I'd ask this: I've always understood that threadless stems shouldn't be greased (where they mount to the steerer tube), because they can slip while riding. Makes sense to me, and I've never seen an ungreased stem bonding to a steerer...but I've been wrong before. What's the word?

Every threaded fastener should be lubricated, but they don't need grease. Oil is fine.

But, all bearings, quill stems, seat posts and cables need grease.

What about anti-seize? Coming from car/moto wrenching I tend to use anti-seize on threaded fasteners. Any opinions on where/when to use anti-seize and pros/cons vs oil and grease?

Thanks,

C

What about anti-seize? Coming from car/moto wrenching I tend to use anti-seize on threaded fasteners. Any opinions on where/when to use anti-seize and pros/cons vs oil and grease?

Thanks,

C

I think its overkill on a bike. Anti seize is usually for high temp, dissimilar metals aplications which don't exist with bikes.

Anti-sieze is used with dis-similar metals and "static" interfaces, say a steel bottom bracket cup in an Al or Ti frame. Actually, it's overkill for most bike uses as it's particularly valuable under high temperature and pressure conditions (like sparkplugs in an Al head) and bikes don't require it.

It is VERY important that the crank fixing bolts be tightened to the proper spec during initial installation and it's NOT so the bolts don't loosen.
Sorry HillRider (and Sheldon), I think you missread my post.

~I DO lightly grease the tapers (and the bolt/nut threads as well as under the bolthead/nut.)

~I use Loc-Tite on the threads of the bolt that holds the catilever arm to the bike. (with grease under the washer & on the pivot post of the boss)

Sorry that I blurred the two ideas together so misleadingly! :o

Try an experiment to see if lubrication is as important as these so called experts are telling you. Drain all of the oil out of your car and drive it around but for no longer than a week to minimize possible damage. Let us know the results.

no longer than a week? :D more like a few minutes and maybe 100 feet or so :D

~I use Loc-Tite on the threads of the bolt that holds the catilever arm to the bike. (with grease under the washer & on the pivot post of the boss)

Sorry that I blurred the two ideas together so misleadingly! :o

Aha! That is a major difference! I thought we were still talking about crank arms. :)

no longer than a week? :D more like a few minutes and maybe 100 feet or so :D
Actually a modern car and modern oils will tolerate a bit more. My daughter in law drove about three miles without any oil after my son changed the oil and filter but missed the filter gasket. The oil blew all over the place within the first block or so and the engine was empty for the next couple of miles.

I got an emergency phone call from her at a local parking lot when she noticed oil all over the front of the car and dripping from the engine bay. The car (a '96 Mazda Protege) ran fine for several years after that mishap.

Aha! That is a major difference! I thought we were still talking about crank arms. :)Me too!

I agree that cantilever mounting bolts are one of the few places where Loctite is appropriate on bikes.

Also good for French/Italian fixed cups, sometimes radial spokes...

Sheldon "Grease" Brown

+---------------------------------------------------------+
| It is good to learn from your mistakes; |
| It is better to learn from the mistakes of others. |
+---------------------------------------------------------+

Aha! That is a major difference! I thought we were still talking about crank arms. :)Me too!

I agree that cantilever mounting bolts are one of the few places where Loctite is appropriate on bikes.

Also good for French/Italian fixed cups, sometimes radial spokes...

Sheldon "Grease" Brown

+---------------------------------------------------------+
| It is good to learn from your mistakes; |
| It is better to learn from the mistakes of others. |
+---------------------------------------------------------+

Is grease or lubricant imperative with wheelbuilds? Or is it something you can let slide? I figure it's the former, but was curious as to whether or not there were any actual benefits of greasing spoke threads.

Is grease or lubricant imperative with wheelbuilds? Or is it something you can let slide? I figure it's the former, but was curious as to whether or not there were any actual benefits of greasing spoke threads.
Some form of spoke thread treatment is useful to reduce or prevent "windup" (i.e. spoke twisting) as the tension increases and to reduce spoke and nipple thread corrosion in use.

Depending on which "authority" you read, you can use grease, oil, anti-seize, linseed oil, Lock-Tite, or any of a number of commercial spoke preparations.

Once when out riding on my old Schwin LeTour 10-speed, my RD cable began to stick. I stopped at one of those large, glitzy bike shops where the owner (probably knowledgeable about bikes) was too busy to help me, so, one of his teenage helpers took my bike into the back room to "service" it.

The young man meant well, did manage to get some lubricant to that point causing the cable to stick, but, also lubed the friction shifter.

I could not use any but the smallest cog until I stopped at some old guy's house who gave me a bit of gasoline so that I could take the shifter apart and clean away the lube.

She's been shifting fine ever since (I do keep the cables lubed).

Caruso

I've been using DT spoke prep. It looks like Red Loctite and probably is Red Loctite. The instructions say if you don't lubricate the threads first with light oil, the bond is permanent (so it acts like red loctite). But if you do lube the threads first, its semi-permanent. They actually say build the wheel first, then drop the spoke prep from where the spoke threads into the nipple

I've been using DT spoke prep.

+1!

Unless I can't find it when I need it. :rolleyes:

In that case, I use linseed oil. Old Skool, I know, but it NEVER seems to get lost. :p
"Like" grease when fresh, "like" LocTite when it dries.
A drop of mineral spirits on each spoke and it's "like" grease again for retrueing. :D

I use a Q-tip and dab a bit of grease on the inside of the eyelets of the rim (where the spoke will seat). In theory, it will help prevent the spoke from fusing in place. It also heps during the build. I know some companies use a wax based lubricate when the are building carbon wheels for this reason.

I've seen a couple "grease everything but the brakes and bars" comments above, and thought I'd ask this: I've always understood that threadless stems shouldn't be greased (where they mount to the steerer tube), because they can slip while riding. Makes sense to me, and I've never seen an ungreased stem bonding to a steerer...but I've been wrong before. What's the word?

Again, this is a good place for Tacx Carbon Assembly Compound or equivalent. It's not going to slip when under pressure; it actually reduces the amount of torque necessary for tightening.

bear grease

with a spatula