Bicycle Mechanics - good quality lube/grease for hubs and BBs?

I will be repacking the bearings of my shimano XTR hubs this week and was wondering what good lube/greases are good to use.

I am not limiting my choices on Cycling specific products such as Pedro's , Shimano, etc. These products are a bit expensive, right?

I'm sure there automotive products that can be used on our bikes, but I don't know which would really work as good as those products from shimano, pedros, etc.

Thanks.

No offense but, your runnig mega $$$$$ top of the line XTR and you dont want to spring 5 bucks for a tube of Shimano/Pedros/Campy grease? Anyways, white lithium automotive grease is a an in-expensive alternative to the bike specific grease. Your local automotive store will have a Crisco sized container for a few bucks. It holds up well.

Spend the $5 and get the green stuff.

Get a tube of waterproof synthetic grease, ala Amsoil, this stuff is REALLY good. It only comes in greasegun tubes, but you get about three times as much per unit/cost, and it'll last a looong time.

Only problem with most automotive grease is that it is alot thicker then bicycle grease so won't work as well. Bicycle specific grease is not that expensive you can buy one tube of phil wood grease which works very well for about $4 and it will will do that complete job plus have ALOT left over.

I started out with automotive stuff. A while ago I bought a tin of Park Grease. WHAT A CHANGE!!!!!! The bearings seemed smoother and the stuff is really waterproof. A tin will last you (the DIY bike mech with one or two bikes)for a very long time.

Keep those wheels spinning

Big H

I've been using Finish Line Premium grease,which contains teflon and water repellant polymers. It's available at www.nashbar.com and is thin applying and easy to work with.

Regards.

I guess all of you are right.. spending $5 for grease is justifiable for the $$$ spent on my components.

Anyway, I was just wondering if there were better products out there aside from those bike specific products.

Thanks everyone.

I like Phil's Grease, been using it for years and
it does the trick very well.

Marty

When it gets down to it you probably won't go wrong with any of the better known brands. I have used several - Shimano, Park, Pro Line - and all worked well. Keep in mind that in mind that wheel hub bearings are the fastest moving parts on a bicycle, and even those are moving VERY slowly compared to machines. It's not like we are going to be burning up anything on a bike due to our blazing speed.

Speak for yourself Rain I have burned up more bearings by burning up the grease with my great speed :) hahhaa

Seriously Rain is correct 90% of the grease out their designed for cars, motorcycles etc is designed for larger bearings, surface area so is denser and is made to handle higher temp's and speeds. These things would make it not work as well in the smaller areas, lower speeds, lower temps that are bikes work on. Same could be said why bike grease would not work as well in you're car. I do agree for the amount you get price is not that great, but you use such a small amount on a bike one tube of phil wood (my personal choice) will probably last you over a year.

I use std white lithium bike grease.
Seems to work just fine for me.
If you do get a large tub of grease (a lot cheaper than small tubes), keep it clean.
If you want to grease bolts and stuff which are not totally clean , decant some grease into a 35mm film canister, so you only contaminate a small amount.

White lithium grease is a general purpose non-specific grease that is much thinner than automotive grease. You'd be surprised at how many shops use white lithium because it works reasonably well and is dirt cheap. If oyur repairing lots of bikes grease costs add up.

Everyone is right, for the amount of repacking a home mechanic does a tube of bicycle specific grease will last a few years. I never liked the Phil grease or Campy grease, it seemed to seperate out after awhile.