Is grease grease.

[Drago]

I use Castrol LMX grease, or whatever it's called now. The cartridge I bought ten years ago will easily see me out and it's not expensive.

Funnily enough, for general use I use a tub of Castrol LM from the mid 80's. Also have moly grease and several other flavours, but for the typical bearing, sleeve or sliding part the LM is appropriate.

I suspect too it will be in use with my grandchildren.

 

[biggs682]

This is my favourite bit of Grease

View: https://youtu.be/itRFjzQICJU

 

[vickster]

You can get 100g tub from Amazon for about £3. Would last me a lifetime (as will the small tub of copper grease I have!)
Weldtite Lubricant Lithium Grease https://amzn.eu/d/gUM3yil

 

[Dogtrousers]

Are you riding in elite sporting events?
If no, then most day to day grease will work just fine as long as it's not the thickness of mollasses or flows out of the bearings on a warm day. Have run bikes for years on Vaseline without problem - wheel bearing, bottom brackets, general thread usage.
Regular maintainance is more important than some overhyped and overpriced specific grease.
It's a bicycle not an F1 car....

I can agree that you don't necessarily need to use fancy grease in bearings. But it does seem a bit wilfully eccentric to use something that isn't actually intended as a machine lubricant. Sure, use vaseline in extremis, like you are on tour and your bearings are binding and you happen to have some. But surely it would be easier (and maybe even cheaper, I dunno) to nip down Halfords and pick up a tin of something with "grease" written on it.

 

[Fab Foodie]

I can agree that you don't necessarily need to use fancy grease in bearings. But it does seem a bit wilfully eccentric to use something that isn't actually intended as a machine lubricant. Sure, use vaseline in extremis, like you are on tour and your bearings are binding and you happen to have some. But surely it would be easier (and maybe even cheaper, I dunno) to nip down Halfords and pick up a tin of something with "grease" written on it.

Oh, I have bought 'grease' as well, bike specific greases too, posh brands with lithium and all sorts at great expense over the years. None offered any advantage (some were worse) than Vaseline which is cheap and readily available in the house. I don't have much call for grease other than the occasional bike useage.

 

[Fab Foodie]

I was just trying to get across the point that the temperature in the bearings will not just be the ambient temperature. Friction and shearing will cause local heat.

Yes, I agree, but it's never (knowingly) been sufficiently high enough to cause melt-out/loss from the bearings when riding.

 

[Drago]

Look on youtube at the Derek and Clive "Labels" skit. It explains how Fab Foodie came to be using vaseline on his bearings and why he keeps a tub of Copperslip next to the bed.

 

[Ian H]

I'm sure this will be fine.


For bearings I tend to use a very soft (& extremely messy) graphite grease.

 

[Peter Salt]

For 99% of cyclists, in 99% of cases an NLGI 2 or 'general purpose' grease is entirely appropriate.

If you want to top up bearings, you may want to use an NLGI 0.

I would personally recommend Lucas Oil White Lithium. Good lubrication, lasts ages in British weather, and is white - which makes visual inspection much easier.

 

[kenmiles]

When I was a boy in wartime I found that my moms margarine (called Special Margarine) was excellent .

 

[lazybloke]

I use Castrol LMX grease, or whatever it's called now. The cartridge I bought ten years ago will easily see me out and it's not expensive.

Pretty sure i bought my 500ml tub of Castrol moly grease in the mid 90s for a car CV joint.

I dont do car stuff anymore, so with just the odd dollop for bike bearings the tub will easily see me out.

 

[tyred]

What's wrong with good old-fashioned goose fat?

 

[lazybloke]

What's wrong with good old-fashioned goose fat?

Fine if you're cycling from England to France

 

[rogerzilla]

Calcium grease is more waterproof than lithium grease (all greases are a mixture of oil and a thickener; in this case, a calcium-based soap like calcium sulphonate). Lithium grease is more heat-resistant but that is rarely a concern on bikes.

 

[Venod]

I tend to use whatever I have available, most of it borrowed from work over the years, the only specific application was silicone grease in Race Face bottom bracket cups, on the MTB they seem much worse than Shimano for failure and not a patch on hope.