Grease is grease is grease. Or not?

[nirakaro]

I'm just stripping down and reassembling a pedal that was feeling a tad sticky. The grease I'm using is a blackish stuff called CV Lith-Moly. Because it's what I've got. Is there any reason why this would be a Bad Thing? What would I use in a perfect world?

[NUKe]

moly grease is fine for most cycle stuff

[beardy]

If it is a pedal with metal shell bearings in place of some ball bearings then Moly grease would be my grease of choice.

If the pedal was "open" and prone to water getting in then I would use waterproof grease.
For the threads copper grease.

Even on all ball bearings pedals I wouldnt have any concerns about using Moly grease if there was no ordinary Li grease around.

[Brucey]

CV joint grease is much better quality than most other greases; it has a much tougher job to do, because CV joints see a very unusual (and aggressive) wear regime.

Oddly enough most bicycle bearings see a load regime that is much more like what happens inside a CV joint than it is (say) a car wheel bearing, yet most people would assume that car wheel bearing grease would be the best thing for bicycles too.

CV joint grease is much better than your typical car wheel bearing grease and if you read the small print you will probably find that you can use your CV grease in wheel bearings too anyway.... so yeah, go for it.

cheers

[Mick F]

.................... but not in headsets.

Long long thread about The Right Grease if you look for it.

[Brucey]

CV joint grease is excellent in headsets too. The only qualities it lacks for some bicycle uses are;

- water resistance; it is 'only' as good as lots of other greases, and there are more waterproof greases if you seek them out...
- consistency; CV joint greases often have a high solids content and (for any given NLGI grade) it seems to me they work slightly less well in some lip seals because of this.

A lot of greases that are described as 'excellent in bearings' etc are still not good enough for CV joint use...

cheers

[Mick F]

Read this thread:
viewtopic.php?f=5&t=42374

Just found a tub of Constant Velocity grease that I've had for a while from when I worked on cars.
It says:
A high quality lithium based No2 grease with added molybdenum disulphide (MoS2), ideally suited for CV joints or homokinetic joints. High in extreme pressure additives to give long life under heavy loads. Also ideal for chassis, wheel bearings, hubs, and universal joints. ....................... Includes a laminar solid lubricant which overcomes boundary lubrication.
(My emphasis)
Is this any good for headsets, hubs and other bicycle bearings?

[Brucey]

Mick, there is five pages to that thread and it rambles all over without reaching complete agreement, so I'm not sure what your point is exactly.

In any heavily loaded low speed bearing, the addition of MoS2 (or other solid lubricant) to a grease almost invariably makes things better, so if your 'perfect grease' doesn't have it in, then it probably isn't perfect after all, not for headsets anyway.

cheers

[nirakaro]

Oddly enough most bicycle bearings see a load regime that is much more like what happens inside a CV joint than it is (say) a car wheel bearing

I'm intrigued Brucey. Why?

[Brucey]

because in a bicycle bearing the relative speeds are low, the loadings per ball are high, and there is very likely going to be some scuffing of the balls. This is basically what happens inside a CV joint too.

cheers

[Mick F]

Mick, there is five pages to that thread and it rambles all over without reaching complete agreement, so I'm not sure what your point is exactly.

My point is that the debate is long, and an expensive grease was decided upon, and bought.

I bought two tubes.
It's been bought since and distributed to interested parties only recently.

No doubt CV grease is ok. I still have a part tin of it, but meanwhile I'll still be using my SHCPM 460 for the headset.

Here are the final exerpts from the thread about The Right Grease.

Have i got all this right? ......
CJ would chose Mobilith SHC 1500, but in the absence of it, he would suggest XHP 222 as a second choice but smelly, so SHCPM 460 was picked.
531Colin has said he would organise the purchase of 24 sachets of SHCPM 460 and I'm happy with that.
Now we have Tony suggesting that what has been decided is OTT for bicycle bearings and standard Moly grease will do.
I'm confused ..............

I'm not saying the expensive stuff isn't the better product far from it, I'm saying can it be cost justified.
I give the information to the best of my knowledge and where to look for stuff at a good price. I'm quite sure that people are able to do their own research using all the information available & from others own personal experiences & come up with the right choice for them.
simplez

OK Tony, thanks for that, thats pretty clear, even to a numpty like me. And thanks for your input, sorry i didn't understand it!
CJ's favourite is better than the Moly. grease, so if we dont mind paying for it, as far as I'm concerned, all is well.
I will have a look to- night and see if I can get up to 24 tubes.

.................. and we bought it, and as far as I know, we're all happy bunnies.

[Brucey]

I'd argue that for headsets and some other bearings in bikes, if you took the Mobilith and then added MoS2 to it, it'd make it even better.

For headsets alone, a decent CV joint grease might do just as well as the mobilith but at a fraction of the cost.

cheers

[mig]

interesting.
how much MoS2 is best to add per volume?

[Brucey]

most moly greases have a relatively small amount in them, 1% or so. I think that the rest of the grease chemistry may have to be altered in some cases to accommodate the MoS2. There are lots of different EP additives and solid lubricants you can use, they vary in how (and how well) they work, as well as how they make the grease look and smell.

An objection to using an additive that turns the grease black is that you can't see if the grease is contaminated or not. Whilst this is true enough, it is a moot point; on most bicycle bearings you would have to be taking stuff apart to get a look at it and by that time you may was well overhaul what is there anyway. Inspection of the bearing surfaces is the final arbiter in this event, not the colour of the grease.

cheers

[Gattonero]

I'm just stripping down and reassembling a pedal that was feeling a tad sticky. The grease I'm using is a blackish stuff called CV Lith-Moly. Because it's what I've got. Is there any reason why this would be a Bad Thing? What would I use in a perfect world?

Put the things in a simple way: you can be absolutely fine by using only Teflon grease, which is good for everything from hubs to headsets to suspension forks.
The downside is that it doesn't last long. That's where Lithium-based grease comes in help, however the Lithium grease would damage seals so is a no-go for suspensions, etc.
BTW, grease should NEVER be used on chains or sprockets.

So a long story becomes short:
-things that move slowly (headset, BB, etc.) or threads/spindles that do need protection from water and/or corrosion ---> Lithium grease
-things that move quick (pedals, hubs, some types of freehub pawls) or any other part where you don't want something too "sticky" ----> Teflon grease
-for chain and cables and pivots of derailleurs or brakes ----> medium-weight oil


Three products, is very simple.