Grease

[martint235]

Ok I now have several different types of grease/lubricant:

Weldtite TF2 teflon spray
Weldtite Oil
Lithium grease

I also have some industrial looking stuff called Free-IT and WD40.

I've heard people mention copper based lubricant, do I need this? What jobs can't be done with the stuff I have above (I know I should get some special chain lube at some point)

Ta

 

[tyred]

Copper grease is an excellent ant-seize compound for threads but ordinary grease will do a decent enough job. The other thing I use it for is on car brakes, a little on the back of pads to stop squealing, lubricate the sliders on sliding caliper designs, the handbrake linkage, etc. It's good for this as it can cope with high temperatures, ordinary grease would melt. You won't need it on a bike's braking system as you won't achieve the type of temperatures you do in your car.

 

[chriswoody]

Copper based grease is a must where you have disimiliar metals, like a steel frame and alloy seat post. Without it you get corrosion leading to a stuck seat post for example. Ordinary grease only agrevates this situation.

However it's not suitable on all materials that are used on modern bikes like carbon fibre for instance. Some one with a metalurgarist type background would be able to explain better than me!

 

[HLaB]

IIRC I'm using this stuff (Lithium grease), it seems to have lasted for ages and I can't really fault it; I used Finish line Teflon stuff before whilst it lasted for ages too at 3 times the price i can't say its any better (or worse mind you)

 

[Fab Foodie]

Been using Vaseline for bike greasing duties for 30 years and it works perfectly. Anything 'better' will be just fine.
They're bikes FFS, not F1 cars or Victorian steam trains...

Don't degrease or use WD40 on chains. Use the Mickle-method. Search this (or chain lubing/cleaning), enough reading for days.

 

[barongreenback]

White lithium grease for general greasing, copper anti-seize for threads (buy the cheap Halfords stuff rather than the double the price Shimano stuff) and wet lube for my chain during the winter months. Has served me well through my recent spate of repairs!

 

[CanucksTraveller]

Been using Vaseline for bike greasing duties for 30 years and it works perfectly

Thank you for that, Foodie, I'd honestly not thought of that. I'd recently started to get signs of rust on a few allen bolts, and I didn't want to buy a special tub of grease just for those plus a couple of cables. It's a good tip.
I suppose at the end of the day, the whole point of grease is only to form a barrier between metal and the damaging effects of water / oxygen.

 

[martint235]

Thanks for the advice everyone. It looks like I should be fine with what I've got.

M

 

[potsy]

Wow Martin what's going on? You're cleaning your bike and now putting grease on it,has ianrauk threatened you or what?

You'll be cleaning your chain next.

 

[Fab Foodie]

Thank you for that, Foodie

Welcome Handy stuff on long trips, comes in handy tiny tins and useful for sore undercarriage/chaffing sore lips and greasing of all kinds!

 

[martint235]

Wow Martin what's going on? You're cleaning your bike and now putting grease on it,has ianrauk threatened you or what?

You'll be cleaning your chain next.

Nah, the bike is just making a noise. Had a new BB fitted and still a noise so tomorrow, it's having bits removed and greased. Contrary to popular opinion I do look after my bike, just don't clean it too often.

And for the shiny bikes, I must add that it runs a lot quieter than most of them!!!

 

[potsy]

I'd need a bloody big tin of grease to stop all the noises mines making

It would definitely fail the shiny bike test

 

[Fab Foodie]

Grease is the word...

 

[martint235]

Oh there's not much good to be said about my bike by other people but it is quiet.

 

[airbrake]

I used to use general purpose lithium grease for everything, until I realised a couple of things - it has very poor water resistance, and it can cause some nylon seals to swell and degrade. I found that after a small amount of moisture had penetrated a front hub, the grease had broken down and the ball bearings were starting to rust. It also explained why small traces of rust would appear inside the seat tube.

There are (more expensive) high performance waterproof greases such as the aluminium-complex types, but also the more affordable 'water resistant' Castrol CL grease that has good protection against corrosion / salt and can be bought for around £6 for a 500g tub.