Can someone explain grease to me...?

[Wobbly John]

Years ago I used to use the Weldtite 'White grease', but my grease of choice is now JCB special HP grease - about £1.30 for a grease-gun refill tube from our local agricultural merchant. It seems to out-perfom the Weldtite stuff, lasting longer and keeping water out more effectively.

Plus, it's a nice blue colour. 

Rogerzilla will probably be along shortly to tell you exactly which oil to use on hub gears. 

I use 'Copperslip' on threads and components like seatposts as an anti-seize measure - either from a tube or aerosol. My LBS guru swears by the Shimano white version, but I think he told me it's a trade only product - he gave me a dollop in a plastic bag once. 

[loadsabikes]

My preference for general purpose lube requiring grease is Weldtite TF2. For a couple of reasons.

Firstly it comes in a tube which screws directly to a needle nozzle gun which allows you some degree of accuracy when refitting ball bearings.

Secondly it's RED in colour. As most bike shops use white or amber grease - possibly because cost - it means I can generally tell if I've been in there before.

I bought some of that specifically because that's what the two LBS I trust most with bikes seem to use... Seems decent enough stuff, but I ditched the gun for a better one I've had for years. The white Finish Line is good as well.

Campagnolo grease is very expensive but those in the know rate it highly. One day...

Does CAmpagnolo grease work with Shimano groupsets?

No no no Campag grease is pasta based whilst Shimano is sushi, the two should not be mixed!

[Jurek]

I've owned a tub of Castrol grease for about 25 years, I mean the SAME tub.

You push down on an internal plate and grease oozes out of a hole on the middle (so it keeps the contents clean).

It has about 1/3 remaining which could keep me going until retirement.

It's just the perfect viscosity to hold ball-bearings in the race until you can get an axle in there.

Every bolt ever refitted on any of my bikes received a dab.

Blimey. Not just me then.

Not just you Nicknack.
I would date my 500g tub of Castrol LM ~ 1986 / 1992, it having been acquired for car and motorcycle duties - (I wasn't cycling then)
It has an 01 telephone number prefix on the £2.99 price sticker from Midnight Auto Spares in Harrow.
Heady days...
In an uncharacteristic fit of generosity on my part,  Pippa OTP has been the recipient of more lubricant from this tub than she is likely to need in her lifetime.
I think it was decanted into a curry paste tin, and I fabricated the plate with a hole in it from styrene or acrylic - I forget which.
What remains in the tub for me, is more grease than I am ever likely to need.
Assuming, of course, that someone fixes my spaceship and I am able to go home at the earliest available opportunity.

[hellymedic]

... I read on a newsgroup that the there's this stuff called molybdenum disulphide ...

FTFY

I think IUPAC has standardised the 'f' spelling now.
f IUPAC!

[redshift]

I have a tub of white Finish Line Teflon grease that I've had since 1992-ish, and it's still going.  However, it usually goes missing about a week before I need it and turns up about three months later, which probably explains
a) it's longevity and
b) why John has introduced me to the Weldtite grease gun thingy which is very handy.

Copper ease for the bits that need to not seize.

Oh, and Finish Line 'wet' for the chain because it's Manchester...

[Fab Foodie]

I don't think the type of grease matters much for short service intervals ....

This mostly. 
I think it's another area of bicycle Cychobollox.  I've tried all sorts of different 'special' greases and I've come to  the conclusion after 40 years cycling and a current 12 bike fleet in the garage that nothing works any better than simple Vaseline (chain is Finish Line Green*).

Wheel bearings, headsets, threads, pedal bearings, bottom brackets (even the old kind) all work just peachily with Vaseline and seem to last well.
Furthermore, it doesn't dry-out, it's cheap and readily available and the little tiny pots are great for touring as it can serve for chapped lips, arse-sores and bicycle maintenance.

Bicycles are not car engines or bearings, I really don't believe that we need to get that excited by alternative grease technologies.

I'm available for burning after 3pm tomorrow.


*only 'cos this seems to stick best to the chain, doesn't coat the bike with spray and washes-out least easily in the wet, otherwise 3in1 fits the bill.

[Jurek]

I'm available for burning after 3pm tomorrow.

Vaseline?
That surprises..... srsly.

[Mr Larrington]

Campagnolo grease is very expensive but those in the know rate it highly. One day...

The late Mr R Ballantine described Campag grease as "a load of old cod".

[Kim]

Thanks all.  In the absence of a tub of Castrol grease that's been lurking since the early 90s (as I say, wrong kind of engineer, though in my defence the 60:40 solder stash is lasting well) I'm liking the sound of the Weldtite grease gun arrangement, so might just get myself some of that.

I'm also deeply sceptical about how much it matters, and nobody seems to be saying "don't get $thing-based stuff anywhere near your suspension seals" or anything, which I suppose was the important bit.

For chains I settled ages ago on a 50:50 mixture of white spirit and chainsaw oil.  This seems to give the right balance of getting into the rollers easily and drying out to obnoxious stickyness, and performs as well as 3-in-1 or the proper wet lube I tried (a worthwhile investment, as it means I have a nice dripper bottle to refill).  Dry lube sounds nice, if you've got some dry weather to go with it.

Dérailleurs and the like get a squirt of GT85 from time to time.

[IanN]

I've taken to using outboard motor grease for bike wheel bearings. I can tell myself it helps if I ride through deep water. Might do.

I've got some spray grease (Hal****s probably)  which is good for general squirtage

(I tend to assume that all the fancy grades and sub-types are for applications that don't warn you if they are about to fail, or it really matters if it does)

Like many here I have a part used tub of LM grease from 20 years ago, that will probably be passed onto my grandchildren, along with the half used tub from the 70s / 80s my dad left. He was that sort of engineer, so there's all sorts on the shelf

[Jurek]

Thanks all.  In the absence of a tub of Castrol grease that's been lurking since the early 90s (as I say, wrong kind of engineer, though in my defence the 60:40 solder stash is lasting well) I'm liking the sound of the Weldtite grease gun arrangement, so might just get myself some of that.

I'm also deeply sceptical about how much it matters, and nobody seems to be saying "don't get $thing-based stuff anywhere near your suspension seals" or anything, which I suppose was the important bit.

For chains I settled ages ago on a 50:50 mixture of white spirit and chainsaw oil.  This seems to give the right balance of getting into the rollers easily and drying out to obnoxious stickyness, and performs as well as 3-in-1 or the proper wet lube I tried (a worthwhile investment, as it means I have a nice dripper bottle to refill).  Dry lube sounds nice, if you've got some dry weather to go with it.

Dérailleurs and the like get a squirt of GT85 from time to time.

I too has a stash of Pb heavy solder

[Fab Foodie]

I'm available for burning after 3pm tomorrow.

Vaseline?
That surprises..... srsly.

Works a treat 

[nicknack]

I've owned a tub of Castrol grease for about 25 years, I mean the SAME tub.

You push down on an internal plate and grease oozes out of a hole on the middle (so it keeps the contents clean).

It has about 1/3 remaining which could keep me going until retirement.

It's just the perfect viscosity to hold ball-bearings in the race until you can get an axle in there.

Every bolt ever refitted on any of my bikes received a dab.

Blimey. Not just me then.

Not just you Nicknack.
I would date my 500g tub of Castrol LM ~ 1986 / 1992, it having been acquired for car and motorcycle duties - (I wasn't cycling then)
It has an 01 telephone number prefix on the £2.99 price sticker from Midnight Auto Spares in Harrow.
Heady days...
In an uncharacteristic fit of generosity on my part,  Pippa OTP has been the recipient of more lubricant from this tub than she is likely to need in her lifetime.
I think it was decanted into a curry paste tin, and I fabricated the plate with a hole in it from styrene or acrylic - I forget which.
What remains in the tub for me, is more grease than I am ever likely to need.
Assuming, of course, that someone fixes my spaceship and I am able to go home at the earliest available opportunity.

Mine dates from when I motorcycled.
The last bike I had was in 1978.

[mzjo]

One of the finest things I have ever used was aerosol copperslip - brilliant but no way of making the can last 25 years.

I think modern lithium greases go hard and soapy  more quickly than the old ones used to. This may be tied to temperature resistance - I would avoid anything marked high temperature on a bike. It could just be that the LM that I pinched was not very good quality.
I use the molybdenum disulphide stuff (called MS2 over here) but that's 'cos I have some that didn't cost me.
Vaseline might work well but that is not its true purpose. We used it on hydraulic re-assembly.
Water pump grease is frequently white as well.

Avoid anything coming free from a digger driver if it's marked chisel grease. Chisel pastes are not grease and kill bearings (and looks like very dark copperslip). They are for breaker chisels which get very hot.

[zigzag]

i've got a tub of texaco molybdenum grease which will last forever, especially as most bearings are sealed nowadays. i only use it on screw threads, inside ss freewheel, bb threads and axle - only tiny amounts. used finish line white lithium as well, also good.

[Kim]

Wandering from the bicycluar to the more theoretical, where do lithium and molybdenum disulphide come into it? (This is where I'm really clueless)

I assume the lithium compound is the soap... presumably distinct from, what, sodium compounds?  Why would you choose one over another?

I assume the molybdenum disulphide is a lubricating additive, like the PTFE in the stuff recommended upthread?  Sounds like a Good Thing, presumably important in some applications.

Vaseline I'm familiar with; that's for lubricating ball-cocks.

[nextSibling]

I assume the lithium compound is the soap... presumably distinct from, what, sodium compounds?  Why would you choose one over another?

I'm not a chemist, just un endjuneer, but my understanding is lithium is good as a soap because it's water repellent, has an affinity for metals, and is non-corrosive - it doesn't easily wash off, fall off or react with any surface it touches.

I assume the molybdenum disulphide is a lubricating additive, like the PTFE in the stuff recommended upthread?  Sounds like a Good Thing, presumably important in some applications.

Yes. It has a crystalline structure that has weak bonds between layers, so it slides over itself easily and is therefore useful as a dry lubricant as well as suspended in oil. It's chemically fairly inert but it has some interesting electrical and morphological characteristics. It's really quite interesting stuff.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molybdenum_disulfide

[Torslanda]

Most people will know molybdenum disulphide from the trade name 'Molyslip' which was marketed originally in the 50s & 60s - when the ASA was but a twinkle and manufacturers claimed all kinds of outrageous shite - as the wonder cure for worn gearbox bearings and noisy axles.

I believe it 'worked' on the basis that a noisy transmission would quieten down if you put something in it as opposed to the nothing that had all leaked away.

Cars really were heaps of shite back then . . .

and so the magic compound has stuck in the collective conciousness and perhaps has only recently been surpassed by PTFE*

*and if you think I'm typing polytetrafluoroethylene at a quarter past one in the morning you've got another thing coming!

Erm. Hang on . . .

[sojournermike]

I'm also deeply sceptical about how much it matters, and nobody seems to be saying "don't get $thing-based stuff anywhere near your suspension seals" or anything, which I suppose was the important bit.

Actually, I was told to keep GT85, oils and grease away from suspension seals as they can swell under the influence and thenn wear more quickly, needing earlier replacement. Having seen the impact of grease and electrolytic action on an alloy stem in a carbon frame (or moreaccurately not seen as I can't separate the two) I'm inclined to take that one seriously.

[sojournermike]

Most people will know molybdenum disulphide from the trade name 'Molyslip' which was marketed originally in the 50s & 60s - when the ASA was but a twinkle and manufacturers claimed all kinds of outrageous shite - as the wonder cure for worn gearbox bearings and noisy axles.

I believe it 'worked' on the basis that a noisy transmission would quieten down if you put something in it as opposed to the nothing that had all leaked away.

Cars really were heaps of shite back then . . .

and so the magic compound has stuck in the collective conciousness and perhaps has only recently been surpassed by PTFE*

*and if you think I'm typing polytetrafluoroethylene at a quarter past one in the morning you've got another thing coming!

Erm. Hang on . . .

And, you may recall, that MolySlip was replaced in the snake oil stakes by Slick50, which was ptfe based. I heard it suggested that if quietened a transmission and reduced fuel consumption in the same way as sawdust - by filling any gaps including oilways, thus accelerating ultimate failure.

[pcolbeck]

I'm another one with a pot of Castrol. I've had it 30 years since I was 18 and first started mucking about with motorbikes. Unfortunately I dropped it and the base is cracked and in the summer it leaks slowly over the shelf so I may actually have to replace it. Unless I drop that as well the replacement will definitely see me out. Castrol for general greasing purposes and ball races etc, coppraslip for preventing bolts seizing and whatever comes to hand for chains usually 3in1 or whatever cheapish specialist chain oil I have to hand. I used to buy expensive chain oil for motorbike chains though as they are a) very expensive and b) likely to kill you if they snap.

[Torslanda]

Most people will know molybdenum disulphide from the trade name 'Molyslip' which was marketed originally in the 50s & 60s - when the ASA was but a twinkle and manufacturers claimed all kinds of outrageous shite - as the wonder cure for worn gearbox bearings and noisy axles.

I believe it 'worked' on the basis that a noisy transmission would quieten down if you put something in it as opposed to the nothing that had all leaked away.

Cars really were heaps of shite back then . . .

and so the magic compound has stuck in the collective conciousness and perhaps has only recently been surpassed by PTFE*

*and if you think I'm typing polytetrafluoroethylene at a quarter past one in the morning you've got another thing coming!

Erm. Hang on . . .

And, you may recall, that MolySlip was replaced in the snake oil stakes by Slick50, which was ptfe based. I heard it suggested that if quietened a transmission and reduced fuel consumption in the same way as sawdust - by filling any gaps including oilways, thus accelerating ultimate failure.

Yes. In the days when I worked for M*t*r W*rld, I used to sell all that crap.

[Ningishzidda]

Its also a term which describes ‘getting official documents processed quicker than normal in foreign lands.’

And,,, 'getting Brevet cards accepted that don't have the correct answers to Info controls.'

[Ningishzidda]

The 'elbow' type helps cyclists climb hills better.

[andrew_s]

I'm using a grease gun cartridge of some sort of blue marine grease that I got as part of a group buy when this subject was discussed on the original CTC forum way back when.
If I should ever run out (unlikely), I've a mate in Tewkesbury who has 3x25kg tubs that he liberated when the flour mill he maintained trucks for closed down.