What kind of grease for bike

The key static areas on which to use grease are saddle posts and bolt threads. These components sit against metal for long periods of time under pressure, and can seize up making them very difficult to remove. I would recommend greasing any bolt before tightening on a bike, and once every few months removing your saddle post, cleaning it down and regreasing to prevent it seizing to the frame. It is perfect for both examples described above and lasts ages.

The grease is white which helps you see where it has been applied. All purpose lubricants are your day-to-day workhorses for keeping the bike moving. It is best to invest in something that has a waterproof element such as teflon and is suited to outdoor use. For an all purpose lubricant, products in spray cans make application easier especially when blasting it into those hard to reach areas like down cable housing.

All purpose lubricants have a whole host of uses like freeing up a sticking brake cantilever, stop a squeaking pedal, get your brake cables shifting smoother and a lot more besides. This spray contains Teflon which helps to make it more waterproof, and has one of those handy red tubes for spraying it into hard to reach places. Bike chain lubricated and ready to go, but have you thought about insurance?

They all have at least some kind of dust seal. My analogy was aimed at the overkill side of the comparison. You can pay double the price with questionable benefits if any. Yes, serious. Trust what is written on the label, as a marketing slogan.

Same goes for other properties. See what standards or other data producer provides, and see how they compare. Judge by thickener and base oil types — general guides are provided and explained in this post — quite in detail.

Basically we can conclude that you have literally zero data comparing the greases to substantiate your opinion. The only argument here is NLGI 2 is easier to find. In addition your bottom bracket and headset takes sweat and your drink of choice constantly. In addition NLGI 1. A single tire will cost more than you spend on grease during the next 30 years regardless of which type. Fact: Lithium grease without direct injection of rush inhibitor additives perform just as bad as sodium grease.

Specific grease formulations matter and NOT this over generalized drivel purely based on thickener that you have posted here. Idiotic comparison made by someone who has a very weak stance — really. Comparing two different types of grease that will cost pennies per application is the difference between a tank and an old Volvo?

You have a very limited understanding with a very narrow viewpoint and I hope to anyone who reads your blog understands just how limited and questionable your opinions are and weigh them as such. Allowing this, in my opinion, trolling post, just for objectivity sake. Because I think vanity is a dangerous thing, so deleting what I consider trolling might prevent me, in the future, from considering valid objections and arguments.

Further more this is long before you even consider that for headset bearings they generally have a range of motion of less than 20 degrees during a ride. Bottom brackets, headsets and numerous wheels use cartridge bearings so your primary argument is moot for most users. If you want to solely address open angular bearing cups for certain wheels, fine, do so. This is NOT a trolling comment, this is a critical series of comments demanding data be provided to back up your recommendation.

This is a great post — thank you. This provided basic understanding of grease metrics I needed to compare technical specs of greases. So now I can make my own choice about the best grease for my situation, my bike, my riding conditions.

I am considering Mobil SHC Both have NLGI 2 thickness. The synthetic base oil is part of my attraction to the SHC range — not withstanding that it will make minimal difference to the riding experience. I looked at 16 vendors selling grease for bicycles.

MotorEx was the only one that provided technical specifications for the product. With a better quality grease, this can be extended somewhat, but most problems in bike bearings come from dirt contamination, even more than from water washout.

To be more specific — water washout creates a problem if bearings are not serviced at least annually, with riding in wet conditions AND not using a higher quality grease. As for Mobil — any of the two should be OK.

Even such greases of renowned manufacturers are usually of relatively high quality and do the job they are meant for very well. I value the contest-ability Reason brought and improvements to the article this provided. I also think comments by Reason lack encouragement deserved for the effort that went into the post. So, in the spirit of bringing contest-ability, I will challenge points made:.

The research is into how each soap-type is effected by temperature. It does not purport to compare friction between different greases. In its conclusion the paper makes no claim that the aluminium soap formulation has lower friction: only that friction lowered with heat irrespective of the soap used.

Additionally the conclusion is very careful to say the results were derived with respect to a particular base oil, using specified RPM, and specified load. Given that base-oil, RPM, and load all contribute significantly to friction it is unfair to draw the conclusion that grease with Aluminium soaps have lower friction generally.

So when it comes to comparing the two — with additives — there is no clear winner. I say the value of the post is in the explanation of grease technical specifications that allow others like me to make our own evaluation based on local conditions and habits. Just purely as a base oil, additives will only improve that. Additionally we see basic lithium grease, which Relja links as his recommendation, in the second white paper is measurably worse in friction and than the other greases.

So one must minimally one must have some level of additives but we see in the study that molybdenum or zinc suffice to help make basic lithium grease a much better grease.

All it does is create a sense of pseudo intelligence without any actual understanding. One technical fact that gets overlooked is lithium grease and lithium complex greases in general have one of the higher flush out rates and poorer performance in the presence of salt water sweat or environmental should tell you something regarding how well thought out this entire article and actual thought that goes into these articles.

Hence the reason why the actual conclusions drawn in this article section 5 on are so sparse of all those requirements outlined in 3. BTW nearly all the specific bicycle manufacturers grease is repacked grease from larger grease manufacturers.

Molybdenum as an additive has its place, but this is not it. Some lithium complex greases are very good at water washout resistance. Find what you do. How else can one rate various greases? Do a personal lab test for each? Thickening soap generalizations Thickening soap is just one of the ingredients. There are better and worse lithium soap based greases, just like any other thickener type used. Personal experience and lab tests are also fine, but they take a lot more time and effort.

Friction: The white papers already included refute these new claims already. Lithium soap without any additives show increased wear and friction compared to ones with moly or zinc by statically significant margins.

Further highlighting a lack of research or knowledge in your own recommendations. Lithium complex vs lithium complex.

There is no standardized test. Water washout tests show other greases fairly consistently washout less grease by weight simply by being exposed to water eg. Compatibility: Your argument here is the hub grease will not only leak out of the sealed hub, cross over the pawls, pass then through the freehub seals in sufficient quantity to contaminate the freehub grease to render it ineffective before environmental contaminants would require you to service the hub anyway?

Recommendations: Your recommendations in 3. Which greases are you trying to highlight fail these standards? This emphasis on DIN and ISO standards not realizing that none of these greases will fail those tests again indicates the level of understanding in the area. Final comments: One would be fine with ANY of the commonly available bicycle greases.

One more time. It does increase the price and take up space. XHP is a very good grease for bike bearings. Friction For applications of higher loads, other thickener type based greases make sense. I have stated the general pros and cons of each thickener type. So each can choose for themselves. The recommendations I give are based on my knowledge and experience, with explanations why. Lithium water washout I have stated in the thickener type general specs which ones are better at water washout and rust inhibition protection.

I ride all year long, including winter when roads are full of very salty melted snow — no problems with bearing rust when using lithium complex grease. Compatibility Bicycle hubs are not sealed. It is a valid argument. If they were really sealed, water washout attributes would be irrelevant. Bike bearings have covers that both leak and allow dirt and water intrusion.

Differences being temperature range, water washout resistance etc. It is all nicely explained. Final comments Among other things like explaining the DIN — ISO labels, thickener types, compatibilities, base type oils… you know, the whole article , the basic idea for the article was to show and explain why low loads and speeds etc.

You can if you like. Complete misunderstanding of the whole post and subject , trying to find something to criticize.

Why do trolls troll? On washout… the reason I knew SHC was weaker on washout was indeed because I looked up the data sheet and eye-balled the washout figures. Sorry you miss-understood me Vagabond. Vagabond — what would you recommend for my situation? There is interesting XADO revitalisant grease that can actually regenerate wear in ball bearings. I asked manufacturer if they could be used in bicycles and they told me that due to low revolutions and friction effect would be little.

To put it shortly — IMO — snake oil, until proven otherwise, by independent testing. I want to use grease for NEXUS 7 internal hub and generator hub ball bearing cup and cone lubrication for parts to last as long as possible because they are expensive to replace unlike in ordinary bicycle ball cup and cones. Although ball bearings themselves are standart and pretty cheap.

I actually remember hearing once about revitalising car engine additive that forms metal ceramic coating on friction surfaces. What is not clear to me are conditions of this protective layer formation. Since bicycles are so much more efficient than engines, have lower friction and temperatures in bearings how well revitalisation would work out.

Promises were big. Well, the best ones did nothing, meaning they did no harm. I would expect Germans for one to be using such, or similar products if they were as effective as promised. From what I could gather, the product s require high pressure and temperature to really work.

Not something present within bicycle bearings. It works fine and regularly serviced hubs last for ages. Having used scores of lubes over fifty years, I still fall for the hype now and then. Random observations: First major bike rebuild, circa , saw me using some ancient Texaco canned pumpkin-colored grease my father had forever.

It was sort of NGLI 1. Mobil 1 worked well enough for about fifteen years, but is very stiff for most bike bearings. Zero corrosion but may be bearings were stainless anyhow; it displayed very little separation unlike other greases. Phil grease and oil just seemed too sticky, attracted dirt. No apparent shortcomings in bearing life. The original Park grease seemed fair, but definitely would allow and absorb more water into emulsion which could lead to bearing corrosion.

As bike parts and tech have become ever more exotic and finicky, it is harder to just assume any standard grease or oil from basic suppliers is really up to a special application. Maybe for a mountain bike that has drops and jumps , mos grease with nlgi 1 is even better. ANd not at all expensive.

Not like the marin grade stuff. NLGI 1 hardness will do the job just fine. Any gains from using NLGI 1 grease for bicycle bearings, in terms of lower friction and better lubrication, compared to NLGI 2 hardness are marginal regular overhaul — cleaning and re-greasing — is by far more important.

In my experience it does leak out from the bearings a bit more cup and cone hubs especially , but with regular service, that in and of itself is not a problem. For reasons explained above, with all the pros and cons, I go with NLGI 2 hardness and consider it an optimal choice. Pretty similar to what shimano uses in their hollowtech bottom bracket.

A bicycle bottom bracket can max out at per minute, so it is impossible to displace grease. But if someone, for some reason see leaked grease than it is certain that he or she has overgreased it.

That is also why i included grease nlgi 1. And like you said above, performance wise, it is better to know how much grease to implement rather than the thickness itself. Are you referring to loose bearings? Rotation speeds seen with bicycles are ridiculously low in that account, so that is not a worry. Not even with wheels and even much less so with bottom brackets, or steering — headset — bearings.

Lubrication, water washout resistance, even drag — none. On the other hand: price, availability and convenience if servicing loose ball bearings — all go in favor of NLGI 2, at least in my region. Loads that bicycle bearings take do not require NLGI 2 grease. Many thanks for the informative article. I would be interested however in more considerations on lithium vs calcium soap as there seems to be little difference between them according to your data, but I had bad results with reddish-brown calcium greases in practice washout and aging however it was with cheap all-purpose products whereas the lithium soap ones in the shop are branded.

Also does colour have a reliable meaning? I and some colleagues go with the colour traditionally. First to thank you for the correction — I find such input invaluable, in order to improve all the data.

Re-checked twice: it is. Probably had forgotten to divide the number of meters per minute with the wheels circumference which I rounded to 2 meters. Not much worse than good quality lithium based ones.

But that could be just marketing. Thank you very much for the knowledge. It is clear that lithium-based grease is the best, but what to do in cases where there are rubber or seals.

Everything else is secondary to that. Naturally grease does not come with contaminants in it, but, in the workshop it attracts any dirt going, as if it were some huge magnet. Therefore, packaging is important. Hence the small tubes, as sold in bike shops, are worth the money even if you already have a vat of the stuff at home.

With a tube you can always wipe the end. There are affordable tubes of grease, e. There are also more expensive grease tubes with fancy dispensers and fantastic formulations - imaginably these are vastly superior but, in practice, the grease is secondary to pre-load, part wear and correct assembly.

If you had two identical bikes, one packed with the posh grease and the other with the affordable stuff and did some 'blind riding' I doubt you could taste the difference or find that you would need to service one earlier than the other.

On the other hand, if you had a bike refurbished by an experienced mechanic with normal light lithium grease and an identical bike refurbished full of posh marine grease by someone that has to think twice about which way to tighten a bolt then I think the former would have noticeable ride quality. Sometimes a purchase is of psychological value. I would prefer to have my Campagnolo parts with Campagnolo grease, my Shimano kit with the 'correct' Shimano grease and not feel 'let down' by cheap grease.

The affordable lithium grease is light which is correct but one imagines it to wash away. As for your application of the seatpost, the stuff you have will probably work fine, so long as your seatpost is not carbon fibre or your frame not be titanium.

Otherwise, you must grease your seatpost unless you want to use the blowtorch to get it out again. The best grease for the seatpost is the light lithium stuff - a light coating of the affordable stuff wins because you don't have uneven distribution or it too greased needing the seatpin bolt to be massively tight. A third benefit is that you can clean the excess a bit easier.

For greasing a seatpost you wouldn't use the same grease as for a bearing. For the seatpost you want a "clean" grease, and one that will stick well, not a grease designed to stand the extremes of wheel bearings.

A hardware store will have options, if you describe the application. Not that any great harm will occur from using the grease you have -- it's just that it will be unnecessarily messy and will wash away in the rain a bit too readily.

For bearings you'd best use Phil Wood or Park grease from your local bike shop or online , unless you have an exotic bike that specs something different in which case follow the specs to the letter. You can also subscribe without commenting. What is the best bicycle bearing grease and how to choose it? Which lithium grease to use? Multipurpose lithium soap based grease, of NLGI 2 hardness grade 3. How to decipher labels of various standards on grease packages? L is ISO label for all the lubricants, while X is the label for greases.

They are sorted from slightly worse than C B , over slightly better D , to the best possible G. These letters mark highest and lowest respectively working temperature of a grease. For bicycle bearing lubrication, even BB will do. Letter E marks corrosion and water washout resistance.

E is the minimum required and perfectly fine for bicycle bearing lubricants. Instead of the letter A, there can also be letter B. B marks presence of EP additives. These additives help grease bear extreme pressures and are completely unnecessary for bicycle bearing lubrication. NLGI 2 grade is optimal for bicycle bearings. The rest are either too soft, or too hard. Instead of there can also be Only such greases should be considered. All other are either too soft, or too hard for the application.

They note additives to the grease. Mark after thickness grade number, in this example it is a letter K, notes resistance to corrosion and water washout and highest operating temperature. Finally, minimal operating temperature in degrees Celsius is noted. With DIN standard, marks with a gray background may not be present at all. Bolded marks are exceptionally good values all below are even better , marked just for reference, because any of the listed are perfectly good for the application.