I had a pedal start squeaking on the weekend, a quick google search says to lubricate with some brand of “waterproof” grease that I have not heard of. What would be a good lube choice for the job? Rod & reel grease maybe? Wheel bearing grease? (I think that would be too heavy)
I wouldn’t use grease personally. I’ve been using Keo’s (mostly Carbon’s) for 5-6 years. The squeak is where the oval pad in the center of the cleat contacts the middle of the pedal. If you’ve ridden them much, you’ll see a witness mark from the pad. I put a few drops of Triflow on that spot, smear it out a little and off you go.
Keep an eye on cleat wear as well. If you walk much at all in them, the rear section wears down quickly. You’ll gradually notice your foot easily rocks side to side. Look molded in 2 holes as wear indicators. My experience is that they get “arc’d” well before the indicators are gone. With shoe in hand, put the rear cleat surface on a flat surface like a bench or countertop. It’s quite easy to see how much wear is there.
Since I’m on a roll, I’m not a fan of the slip resistant cleats. They’re more expensive and the overmolded material peels of quickly. They do certainly help with the hockey skate syndrome on concrete or wet surfaces but they obviously have to work on the pedal as well.
Just so I’m clear, you’re saying that the squeak noise is likely from contact between the cleat & pedal rather than the axle & bearing assembly?
Yes. It’s very easy to test as well. The bearings do go bad but I’ve worn out the platform before this occurs. I probably have 30K miles on Keo’s for reference.
I just used Phil Wood grease on any bike part that calls for grease plus I put in on threads unless I am using Loctite. No problems so far . . . . Buy a tube. It will last for years. Plus, it looks pretty in your tool box.
I’ve had Keos squeak from the cleat but that usually means the cleat is worn and I’ve fixed by replacing the cleat. I’ve never lubed my cleat or the surface of the pedal.
I also wore out a set of Keo pedals this spring but it took about about 30,000 miles. That started to show up as a squeak too then very quickly there was play in the pedal body. It obvious they were shot. Its a really easy 5 minute job to take the pedals off the spindles and lube the bearings. But of course I did not do it very often. I think if I would have been a little more disciplined about doing that a couple times a year, the pedals would have lasted longer than they did.