Grease Suggestions
 

I am about to disassymble my vintage cannondale for powder coating and figured I'd regrease and replace parts while its apart. I am going to replace the bottom bracket and clean up the headset (Shimano Dura-Ace). I know the required parts and will buy them soon, but I don't know what to look for in a grease. I have looked around and haven't seen anything. I'll post pictures when I can, if they are needed. Thanks for any suggestions recieved.

Go to auto parts store,stand in front of wheel bearing grease section,close eyes and grab one.....It's perfect.

If you can't sleep at night doing this,Phil Woods cost enough to put your mind at rest......:)

I use Mobil 1 because that's what I use at work.

Some are entirely content using generical products. Some like marine grade grease. Some swear by boutique stuff - I seem to remember the name "Phil Tenacious" or something like that. Lithium grease gets used occasionally too.
Bicycles may see a bit of contamination, but in terms of loads and RPM bike bearings have it easy. As long as you avoid the outright poor choices, like graphite grease or copper assembly paste, you should be OK.

I use this stuff b/c it's the Park PolyLube but at a fraction of the price.
Lucas Oil Products X-Tra Heavy-Duty Grease (1 Pound Tub)
Park PolyLube is pretty good, too, but too expensive. Basically, as others mentioned, any ol' grease will do for most bike applications. I do demand something higher temp for coaster hubs--most HD bearing grease will work for that.

A lot of ppl like white lithium grease for bike stuff, but I find that it smells realllllly bad once it's contaminated, so I kinda hate it. It works pretty well, but it seems to break down more quickly than some of the higher-end options..... maybe I just think that b/c i can smell a stank fishy smell coming from riding buddies' headsets sometimes.

I prefer Vavoline Synthetic Grease. I used it all over my cars, so I always have tubs of it in the garage. It can be used on cars for everything from wheel bearings, cv axles, tierods and balljoints, and I have used it on bicycle bearings for over twenty years with great results. Mobil One synthetic grease will work on bikes, but Mobil specifically recommends against using it on CV axles, so I don't use at on cars, and I don't have it sitting in the garage already.

Many of us use boat trailer wheel bearing grease with the belief that it will handle water/moisture better.
I use it even though I avoid the rain when possible.
When my tub runs out in the next 10-30 years, I'll probably get synthetic. If I'm still alive.

What is the advantage of synthetic grease?

I don't find a big difference between bike grease and automotive (or marine) grease. Same for oils. The good news is that Park grease, available at the bike shop, isn't much more expensive. Maybe it's not more expensive at all. It's quite reasonably priced, unlike oils marketed for bikes.

I happen to have Park grease in the city and marine grease in the country, not for any reason. I like them equally well.

Personally, I don't like Mobil 1 because it has a tendency for the oil to separate (as do most synthetics, it would seem)... while it's not a concern with lubrication ability, I worry about it dripping while the bike is being stored indoors over carpet. I'm using Mobilgrease XHP 222 at the moment; agree just about any wheel bearing grease will do.

Surprised that the smell of white lithium grease smells bad to you. The Lucas heavy-duty polyurea smells bad in my opinion (their red&tacky only smells marginally better).

Yes, I'm a grease sniffer. LOL

No huge advantage for bicycle use. It works for a wider temperate band than mineral/paraffin oils (so a big advantage at high temps such as used on automotive disc-brake wheel bearings). It's also more temperature stable in regards to viscosity at a given temperature, since it can be engineered that way (not an inherent property, but one that is often designed into it). If you plan to ride in -40F or plan on riding through any fires, it might be worth picking up.

Down side is that it tends to separate and make an oily mess... some brands more than others.

The biggest advantage is that it is something you already have in the garage and don't have to run out and buy another grease just for your bicycle. ;)

Best options that are widely available are the Lucas grease already mentioned (polyurea) at most autostores, HomeDepot, or tractor-supply. Mystik JT-6 general purpose (anhydrous calcium) is available at most Mal*Wart locations, or Sta-lube/CRC marine grease (aluminum) available at Napa. A lot of off-road motor bike guys like BelRay's marine grease (aluminum). Lowe's carries Liquid Wrench brand marine grease (calcium sulfonate) and also a trailer bearing grease (polyurea). Lots of other high quality greases out there but not quite as ubiquitous (you can get carried away with comparisons if you want to order online or have a good industrial supply store nearby... I've been buying from Grainger as of late). I feel comfortable with anything that makes the technical data such as bearing wear available online to the consumer, and meets NGLI GC and LB standards.

If you are just using it for your bike, might as well spend a couple bucks more for bike-specific grease like Park so it looks good on your work bench.

Years ago I bought a tube of the famous (and seriously over priced Phil Wood bicycle grease). You can't imagine how disappointed I was when it melted and flowed out of the wheel bearings the first time I had the bike out after servicing the wheel bearings. I had not even ridden the bike since serving the wheel bearings. The bike was carried in the roof top Thule rack of my Taurus station wagon. When I went to get the bike off the roof, I noticed the roof and the wheels had Phil Wood grease spilling off the bearings onto the wheels and from there onto the roof of the car.

When I got home, I pulled the cones and found the ball bearings were completely dry. The Phil Wood had melted out 100%

Then I took samples of the Phil Wood, and some other types of grease from my garage and dropped dollops onto a large piece of cardboard and set it outside in the sun for over a month, observing the condition of the grease every few days.

Only one grease sat there without separating or changing shape or discoloring after the approximate five to six weeks that I ran the experiment. The outside temperature ran between 107F and 55F as it was the middle of the summer. The only grease that survived unaffected was the Valvoline Synthetic. The Valvoline looked the same the last day of the test as it did the first day. The Phil Wood was completely gone having melted and soaked into the cardboard. StaLube Lithium based white grease changed color to dark yellow and suffered some change of shape (chemical breakdown) and some absorbed into the cardboard. StaLube moly based did better, changing shape, but not color, and suffering less separation and less absorbed into the cardboard.

Since that test, I threw the entire tube of the Phil Wood into the trash, and I've used the Vavloline Synthetic for almost everything. I still have the tub of StaLube Lithium base, in fact I used it up and bought another tub of it for use primarily on hinges. The StaLube Heavy Duty disc brake wheel bearing grease (moly based) was used up. I had in install on the rear wheel bearings of the Taurus wagon, and with over 233K miles on the original wheel bearings (I changed the rear wheel bearings on the old wagon at 233K because I felt guilty about having forgotten to repack the wheel bearings for 100K miles), the wheel bearings were actually still good with the races showing virtually no wear, and I'd say that grease was pretty good stuff.

:beer: Dang't man... don't be giving me ideas!




:banned:

Fresh white lithium grease is fine, but when i crack open some old bike's headset, and the PO had packed it with white lithium grease, which has since turned cream/brown swirls, and stinks like long-dead tuna? That smell bothers me a little bit. :twitchy:

I firmly believe that Park Polylube is Lucas XHD, but with Park's packaging. I and several acquaintances (riding buddies, most with mechanic experience) took the Pepsi challenge with Polylube and Lucas XHD, and could find no discernible difference in appearance, texture, smell, or any other parameters that can be measured by some guys' senses. Once used on the bike, the performance of the Polylube and the Lucas XHD seems identical, although TBH we haven't developed any scientifically valid testing procedures for it.....

Doe anyone really think there's anything "Bike specific" about Park Polylube, beyond the marketing? I think it's crazy to think that Park would set up facilities to produce a quality grease, just for one product in their entire line. I think they commissioned Lucas to package an existing product into Park-labeled containers because the Lucas XHD is made in America, is a blue-green color (to compliment Park's blue corporate color), and it easily meets/exceeds the lube needs of bicycles---which is true for most grease currently available. I just feel like, if I'm going to get the same product, I'd rather pay between $5 and $7 per pound than $15/pound.

As others have noted, any automotive bearing grease ought to be fine. Bicycles don't challenge grease properties the way motor vehicles do. It's probably easier to define the types of grease to avoid; i.e. bacon grease, as when it goes rancid it produces fatty acids that could corrode the balls and races.

Your story is entirely plausible, and your rationale makes total sense. On the other hand, $6 or $8 (or whatever it is) for a tube that will last a few years isn't a lot of money thrown out of the window. The reports of Park grease above are good, and they're even better than for some greases. Given that I know it will work well, I might as well buy it if it's convenient. Now that you mention Lucas XHD, I can see if I can get it conveniently, too. I never heard of it before. Then again, now that I have two tubes of Park in New York and a pound of marine grease in the country, it will be years before I buy any more grease.

If I did a high volume of repairs needing grease, there's little question that I would buy it at a price as low as possible. I don't, so price pretty much doesn't matter.

How about Vaseline? ;)

Vaseline would work, although I suspect it would have a tendency to run out in hot weather.

Oft-quoted internet legend: Sturmey-Archer suggested the use of vaseline to lube their hubs during WW2.......

I don't think that it is Lucas XHD... I mean, it could be, but I have no convincing evidence. I've had the Lucas in my hand, as well as the Mobil Polyrex, and also the Liquid Wrench stuff... all three are US made polyureas and all three have that same distinct aqua sort of color and yet they are all different formulas based on the tech data sheet. I definitely think that the Park is just repackaged from a major supplier, but which one... I have no idea. What state is Park based out of again? I'm gonna go dumpster-diving for 5-gallon drums in order to solve this mystery. :thumb:

You pay $15/lb for the collector's tin! LOL

Park is HQ'd in Minnesota, while Lucas HQ is in Cali. I challenge you to have a friend smear some of each on some plastic for you./... repack some hubs with'm.... and see if you can discern any difference.

I was going to suggest wheel bearing grease, as I use it for my v brake so they don't lock up.

Thanks for the heads up. This is why we come to Bikeforums.

A moly-fortified marine grease would be ideal if not overkill for that use (generally an automotive chassis grease more so than a wheel-bearing grease but the two often overlap anyways)... of course, use what you have. I've been using the mobil-1 that I'm trying to use up on v-brakes. :)

No need, I'm already convinced.