Originally Posted by
Square & Compas
I have heard the rear hub and bearings can be affected by cold weather. I think when it gets too cold the grease is not effective at lubricating the bearings and the hub tends to spin freely and not catch when you pedal. Is this not correct? If not then please correct me and explain what does happen. At what temps. does this happen or has happened to you? I understand there are lot of variable. Things like actual tempp. wind speed, wind chill, area of the country, humidity, etc. I just need to know at what temps. has this happened? Also is there a grease or method that would work and prevent this? Would this grease work in warmer weather as well?
I sense an analogy here with questions, in the past, on sailing on far-away seas and expectations of sea-serpents and other dragons. The paradox is that, in part at least, the question pertains to stepping outside.
In any case, a while ago there had been a report on the web of someone winterizing a bicycle for riding on the South Pole. I recall that the grease has been there a real problem and I recall that the solution was to use Dow Corning Molykote 33, that works down to -77C. Unfortunately, recently I could not locate that particular report anymore. However, there is some discussion of winterizing freehubs with Lubriplate Mag-1 at
Ice-Bike. Myself, I've been riding down to -30C and, as others, I have not had any grease related problems, no matter what grease I employed.