Lube, Grease, and Whatnot

[Tubes6al4v]

So, I just pulled my bike apart at work, and I ran out of some of my lubes, so I am deciding on what to get next. Here is what I use, post up your favorites and least favorites.


Grease:

Park Tools T-1000  - Good assembly grese. Not all that smooth though. Feels like it adds quite a bit of lag to the parts.

Pedro's Velo  - Smooth, vinilla sented, and stays put. Good for most purposes. Can add some resistance to bearings though.

Phil Wood Waterproof - Long lasting, fairly smooth. And deffinitly prevents corrosion.

Rock 'n' Roll Super Web - Stays put. Forms a good bond. It feels a little more slugish on clutches and bearings though.

Pro Gold EPX Lithium - Very long lasting in bearings and makes the bearings last longer themselves. Makes them spin pretty fast. Doesnt work very well on other pieces.

Automotive Brake Bearing Grease  - Heavy, Smooth, and Sluggish. Basically all I can say to describe this.


Lubricants:

Tri-flo (Teflon) - This is the favorite of many bike shops. It is easy to apply, but can get dirty and messy easily. The teflon does make it smooth though. Just watch your pants legs on chains.

Krylon (Krytox Wax) - Gunky. It works smooth and lasts long on chains and lube. But can be pretty difficult to apply correctly.

White Lightening (Wax) - Great for cables. Smooth, dries nicely. Some people complain of added drag because of the wax. This can be remidied by taking a little more time when applying. Can work in a few other applications as well.

White Lightening Epic (Silicone) - Smooth, fast, and silicone. It feels real nice on chains. Does not get them very dirty, can be friendlier to apply than it's wax counterpart.

Pedro's SynLube  - Fast, smooth. Doesn't really bond well to the metals though.

Pedro's Ice Wax  - Fast for wax based. Messy to apply, but it gets into the crevices and coats everything.  Wears down somewhat faster.

Phil Wood Tenasious Oil - Very Thick for oils. Stays put, is sticky, and smooth. But adds quite a bit of resistance.

Rock 'n' Roll Extreme - Fast for chains. Ok for cables, but not the best.

Rock 'n' Roll Gold - Faster than the extreme, but does not stay put as easily.

Rock 'n' Roll Cable Magic - On order right now, very excited to try.


Anti-Sieze:

Finish Line Ti Prep  - Great. Widely used, does the job wonderfully. It is copper based.

Misc Anti-sieze - Silver in color. It needs to be mixed first. Works well, Haven't had issues with seizing.


Metal Prep:

White Lightening Metal Prep - The best I have used. Desolves almost anything right away. Cleans metals amazingly. Works great on rims.

Finish Line Speed Degreaser - Works fast, but not as clean as the White Lightening.


Ok, This has taken a while to write, so Let's here from you all.

[meesh]

man you put a lotof time into that i can tell, there's so many people(beginners) out there that ride who don't even bother to lubricate there chain or use grease when installing parts. it makes a huge difference

[Tubes6al4v]

man you put a lotof time into that i can tell, there's so many people(beginners) out there that ride who don't even bother to lubricate there chain or use grease when installing parts. it makes a huge difference

Yeah, the shop is boring as hell. I screwed myself out of a lot of parts when I first started riding by not using the correct lubes. It makes a big difference in the feel of the bike.

[big_papa_nuts]

chain - whie lightining
threads - random grease or ti prep
bearings - slick honey

i just random grease for assembly lube (Metal to metal contact areas).

[along]

what's the preferred lub for brake cables? grease? lub with teflon? thin oil?

i've never tried thin-oil,but cables with grease and teflon felt the same. so, please correct me. thanks.

[along]

oh yea, thanks for putting up this post. lubs et al have been underrated.

[big_papa_nuts]

what's the preferred lub for brake cables? grease? lub with teflon? thin oil?

i've never tried thin-oil,but cables with grease and teflon felt the same. so, please correct me. thanks.

the best thing i have found is purple extreme.

[Smut]

phil wood grease and tri-flow lube are all i will ever need

[Admiral Ackbar]

Wal-Mart Supertech Marine gease. Its awesome.

Pedros Dry

White Lighning Wet

[gnar_rider]

I use: whatever anti-seize dad has around in the shop. Tri-flow for my chain. Grease from a grease gun for my cassette.

EDIT: I used to think that you never needed to do anything with your chain, as I had never done anything to my 410 in 1.5 years, so when I got my 510 I did nothing to it. and like 3 months ago something in my drivetrain would squeak really loud and I just assumed it was my bb. Well I took my chain off today to put some grease on my driver (WAY too loud, sounded like a fucking train) and I was handling my chain and realized that was what was squeaking. So I let it soak in Tri-Flow for 3 hours and now my bike is super quiet and I love it.

[greenreese]

Tri-Flow- in a spray can and a little bottle.  Spray works good on derailleur pivots and brake pivots, and the little bottle for cables.

Boeshield T9- For chains.  Drip it on while backpedaling, then wipe off the excess.

Finish Line Anti-Seize- Big Tub for certain ti and al parts.

Tacx Carbon Asm Paste- for carbon seatposts.

Baby Powder- For tubes and your nuts on hot days.

Pedro's Syn grease- A big tub for general purpose.  I don't like the Park or Phil Wood grease, this is smoother and they change its color every once in a while.

Pedro's Syn lube- I only use this to mix with the Syn grease to get different consistencies.

water- Keep a spray bottle of water on hand to quickly wipe my hands down.

Dazzle- Works alright as a general cleaner for benchtops and stuff.

alcohol- A big bottle from CVS with a spray top put on.  Works good for a final cleaning to remove residue from other cleaners.  Its also fun to spray on bugs and when I need to light something on fire, because it won't make any smoke or smell.

Pedro's shopworks and Simple Green- I fill up a spray bottle with one or the other of these to clean nasty shit off rims and bikes, and scum off the floor.

Super Penetrant- duh.

Park cutting oil- Thats just what we have sitting by the vises and spoke cutter.  I haven't really tried much other cutting fluids.

Zep 45- I don't use this much as it reminds me of death.

Pedro's Oranj Peelz- Doesn't seem to do a whole lot, but it smells ok.

Loctite 242, 262, 680- from mild to wild.

White Lightning Clean Streak Metal Prep- Like tubes said, this stuff is pretty cool.  It evaporates very fast and leaves no residue.  Kind of like a tough alcohol.

Park Chainbrite- Works about as well as the Oranj Peelz, but doesn't smell good.

Motorex Prep M- Pack it up pack it in.  Stuff that shit in suspension seals.

Slick Honey- Also works for suspension, but the syringes it comes it are even more useful for injecting and removing fork oil with a hose on the end.

King RingDrive Lube- For the buzz.

Wheelsmith Spokeprep- For spoke threads.

DT Swiss Spoke Freeze- To lock spokes if needed.

Dualco grease guns- One with a short nozzle filled with Prep M, and one with a long nozzle filled with Syn grease.

JP Weigle's Frame Saver- For steel frames.

Goof Off- To remove sticker residue, permanent marker, paint, glue.  It works really well but is very potent.

Thats what I have at my bench at the moment.

[amishrob]

i've got some finish line grease and some gt85. good for pretty much everything.

[Mike Hardman]

Finishline Wet XC Lube - Perfect fro chians and the insides of hubs.

Finishline Dry XC Lube -

[John B]

white lightning buddddy! i really really really neew to pull my bike apart, grease it up, clean it, i have so much fucked up shit on my bike as of now.

[Shovelcock]

BG-SS2000 Miracle grease for all parts. Works well for bearings, cranks, axles, pedals, headsets. Very thick, and very easy to apply. Works well for thread cutting too.