What type of grease to use for bottom bracket?
 

Hi, I am building new bike, got Truvativ rouler cranckset with integrated bottom bracket. It came with some yellowish grease on it. The BB manual says to grease bearings and threads, but I am not sure what kind of grease shall I use there? I have some white lithium grease from Home Depot, but on the instructions to this lithium grease it says "do not mix different types of grease", so I am unsure what shall I do. Checked my LBS today and most of the greases there are the same lithium grease but 5 times more expensive. Any ideas?
Thanks!

Clean out the yellow grease that came with the frame, then get Lubrimatic marine wheel bearing grease from Home Depot (about three bucks) and lube away. It is good grease for BBs and hubs.

Regards,

i like park polylube for bearings

^^^I like polylube for bearings, but it could be a little thicker.

Anyway, to the OP- clean-up that grease and use teflon tape. the lithium grease is ok too and it wont hurt it to mix with the other stuff, but you should always clean things when you disassemble them. please, do us all a favor and stop going to home depot.

And Wal-Mart :mad:

Now, what about Phil Wood Waterproof grease???

What about Sta-lube Moly Graph multi-purpose grease? That is what i use, now i think you should use it too!!! :rolleyes:

I use marine bearing grease, usually purchased from a mom-and-pop boat supply/mechanic place.

For an integrated BB/crank, do you actually have access to the bearings themselves? I figured they'd be in sealed units, and you'd have to grease the spindle where the sealed units fit overtop of it.

^^^ that's right, you don't touch the bearings themselves, but it's still important to lube the BB cup well so that the frame is still usable in 12 months' time!

I use lithium white grease on the roadie (take it out once a year anyway) and regular lithium (thick and kinda brown) grease on the MTB - more heavy duty and longer lasting. Never had a BB seize on me yet!

Grease is grease. As long as it lubricates, you're in good shape. Always remove all the grease that is there and replace it with new, clean grease. I bought the very expensive and completely waterproof Phil Wood grease in a $15 tub about 3 years ago. I'm almost 1/10 of the way through it. Grease just isn't expensive.

Man, you've effectively and correctly dispelled a myth about the relative expesiveness of grease, and suddenly all the marketing hype I subscribed to when I bought my £6 tube of Finish Line Teflon seems so irrelevant.

Can someone here offer the same advice about beer? I keep drinking the cheap stuff, but it does nothing for me and I always end up with a brutal headache.

Teflon tape is for plumbing (unless you're expecting your BB to spring a leak?).

Grease on the threads not only eases installation it inhibits corrosion, something tape will not do.

I wholeheartedly agree, although I've has some incredible debates on the subject in these pages.

I use decent quality automotive grease and I still haven't had anything fail because of it, and several of my bikes have all non-cartridge bearings.

FWIW, Phil is too expensive, too.

I third that. Grease is grease. I've been using CV joint grease because I had some left over from a car repair, it very convenient because its in a tube and its cheap.

I still have the "tub-o'-grease" lying around but it gets so dirty that I have to excavate a a half inch before I get to the clean stuff.

Please do us all a favor and stop your anti-big box ranting outside P&R, jeez.

I'm a fan of Supertech marine bearing grease. Bright red, and stains everything it touches(ok, so maybe that's not a plus. But it's easy to see when you have excess grease). And it's 1/5 the cost of phil or park stuff.

When you rebuild as many hubs and BBs as I do, that does make a difference.