Quite so.

Not only that, but grease is sticky, by design, and as Pastor Bob knows, it's much easier to assemble/reassemble all those little balls when they have some grease to stick to. Once it's all together though, the grease is unnecessary. It's sticky. Freewheels need to be free, not sticky.

I've done my share of tedious freewheel rebuilds, so I'm speaking from experience. On one vintage three-speed one that was rough and snaggy, I discovered that the ball bearing complement was, let's say, less than "complete." There were maybe eight or ten bearings per side, with spacers made of arched wire between them. One such spacer had broken, hence the problem. I replicated a new spacer, and reassembled as original. No reason that doesn't work basically as well as a full complement of balls. Maybe slightly more friction, but as long as there's a slick-slidy oil in there, no problem.

[MENTION=42162]pastorbobnlnh[/MENTION], my statement was that freewheels only spin when they are bearing no load. When they are bearing a load, they move as one with the rear hub, so the bearings themselves are static, and functioning only as spacers. A freewheel's bearings thus operate in a different way from every other bearing on a bicycle. Those all bear loads only while in motion, and are always in motion when the bicycle itself is (except possibly the BB when coasting.) Grease is better at keeping those bearings lubricated under the loads they experience. Do you disagree with any of that?