I have been looking around for what type of grease I should use to lube up the hubs on my wheels this season. I have used DT Swiss in the past on my MTB and road bike with no issues.
I read the thread about how the best grease is probably one that is made in bulk by the automotive or marine industry. I am leaning toward the idea that there is nothing out there that is “made for the bicycle” That said I will gladly pay $25 for 2oz of grease if it works better or makes expensive equipment last longer. Especially since that 2 oz will last a year on 3 bikes.
I have used some automotive wheel bearing grease for a number of years. It worked fine and was cheap. I then got hold of some white lithium grease. That seems thinner and possibly faster, but doesn’t seem to last as long. That’s fine for wheel bearings that I service regularly anyway, but I prefer the auto grease for putting in BB’s and such.
I ordered some Finish Line grease from a buddy that owns a bike store. I haven’t had a chance to use it but it appears similar to the white lithium stuff I had before. As the tubes don’t screw into the Exustar grease gun I have, it will probably just go in the bin.
I have ordered some other grease from a different store. It was screwed into the same grease gun as I have. It’s the Vaseline like grease with the flouro yellow green colour that seems to come on Shimano stuff. As it’s the right consistency and fits my grease gun, I suspect it will be what I will use. Remember that new grease is better than old grease and old grease is better than no grease.
Remember, that I’ve never threatened to bump anyone off any podium in a tri
Are you going to be lubing the bearings or freehub/pawls? If it’s the former, any decent waterproof grease will suffice. If it’s the latter, I recommend Dumonde Tech’s freehub lube. They make oil and grease, and I’ve had excellent results with both (some freehubs require oil, some use grease).
IME… Just use standard automotive bearing grease…
No appreciable benefit to the small volume highly priced “bike specific” products…
Far better to use this and change annually or example (or more often again if you use the bike in wet conditions)…mainly as you can rmove contamination, moisture and inspect bearings and races and address issues before it becomes terminal…
This is not the case however if you use ceramic or ceramic hybrid bearings (specific lube required for those), and also for track hubs, where often grease will be replaced for an oil… i use castrol edge…
No crazy cool ceramic cyborg hubs for me. Just an 10/11 speed powertap and a shimano stock whatever. Both hubs arr suprr easy to open and i do so at least 2x a season. Thanks for the info.
Re free hubs, be careful not to pack grease into the free hub mechanism IF it has pawls i.e. little arms… they can stick them down preventing the free hub engaging causing it to spin… on these a very thin grease or thick oil is good, again automotive engine is great for this… not too much as it will piss out of the seal to the hub and end up on the wheel rims…
DT Swiss free hubs do require a grease on their star ratchet system… again bearing or lithium based grease is generally fine here…
As per the hubs, regular cleaning and re lube is as, if not more important than the lubricant used…
