Tib

Hello!

I was wondering if it is worth using a long lasting chain lube such as this: muc-off.com/products/team-sky-hydrodynamic-lube
and in a standard cup and cone bearing wheel hub.

Im aware than standard chain lube would not last long for bearings, but a high end long lasting chain lubricant makes me wonder. . .
Or is chain lube simply too fluid to stay in the cups and grease is always the way to go?

The bike in question is a cyclocross for commuting.

Thanks for your time

DrIsotope

If you choose to use oil instead of grease on bearings, you're exchanging service interval for (questionable) marginal gains. In the R/C world, it's not uncommon to use very lightweight bearing oil to decrease resistance, but we're talking about bearings with sub-1mm balls, spinning at several thousand RPM, being serviced every 10-15 hours of use. It's really the same with ceramic bearings-- I don't see the reasoning for them on a bike at all. I have ceramics in several of my brushless R/C motors-- all of which spin up past 80,000rpm and can grenade standard steel bearings. Ceramic crank bearings that might see 120rpm, and cost +10x what steel ones do? No thanks.

I repack all of my bearings with straight up Mobil 1 synthetic red grease, right out of the cardboard tube. It doesn't care about temperature or moisture, it lasts a really long time, and the cost-per-use makes it really cheap.

Bikesplendor

I like Lucas polyurea grease. Lasts long, works well, costs little.

AnkleWork

No reason not to switch everything around. Apparently, according to this forum, the very best chain lube is hot wax so fill your bearings with that. Then use this grease on your chain: Link
Reserve the muc-off hydrodynamic lube to keep your chamois moist.

I fear to think what you might put in your water bottle.

Tib

Nothing but the finest motorist tears.

Tib

Fair enough,
I know its not ideal to jam pack a C&B with grease because it can cause more resistance than necessary.
What do you think is the ideal amount?

Ferrouscious 

I would say it depends on the application and the grease you have. If you have an old unsealed bottom bracket, it makes sense to pack it full of grease. On the other hand, a cartridge bearing hub would probably benefit from less. Since the bike in question will be used for commuting, I would put in more rather than less. But TBH, it doesn't really matter how much you put in, as long as there's adequate lubrication and the grease is clean.

easyupbug 

I doubt using a chain lube with UV dye (& a flashlight) designed for wet conditions and sold at the very top price point for chains could possibly be good value in a hub. I wonder if you would have to wait the recommended four hours before you use the wheels?

HillRider

Oil in hub bearings was commonly used by track racers to reduce drag to an absolute minimum but, of course they ride under very clean conditions and relube the hubs before every use. There were Campy track hubs with oil ports in the hub shell to make frequent oiling possible.

John Forester's book "Effective Cycling" also discusses oil for hub bearings but recommends daily relubing and describes how to drill oil ports in your hubs.

As Dr. Isotope noted you are trading service interval (daily) for marginal to negligible gains.

trailangel

Wax vs oil in your hubs...... which is better?

phughes

When I raced BMX, I used a very thin coating of white lithium grease, and Gold Lube oil. I used very little grease. The result was very little resistance. I tore everything down after every race day though, and cleaned and lubed again. For a bike I rode on the street daily, I wouldn't do it. Not worth it.

fietsbob

going to re oil daily ? You will have to wipe off whar leaks out, but Knock your self out Do It and report back





Do Most obsessives write computer software code, and are posting here (from work)?





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Jon T

Phil Woods green waterproof grease for this old man. Been using it for 30-plus years and have never had a bearing problem.
Jon

Spoonrobot 

Take your bike apart the day before a race, clean out the grease for all bearings and replace with oil. Rebuild with grease on Monday. Racer's thing to do back in the day.

canklecat

Tried oil in hubs years ago. Made no discernible difference. Switched back to grease because it's low maintenance. I've used Phil's for years but any good grease would do as well, whether marine grease or the stuff Doc I uses.

Grease effectively excludes water and debris for years. None of the used bikes I've bought had been overhauled by the previous owner and when I finally redid the hubs and bottom brackets the original grease was still good.

The only problem I've ever encountered with hubs is races damaged by poor assembly -- cranking down way too much pressure until the bearings were palpably and audibly grinding. I've found chipped raceways in several hubs and bottom bracket. So far I haven't found a damaged bearing but I replace 'em anyway. But lube wasn't a factor. Just poor assembly, presumably hasty and careless assembly under high production pressure. It takes some fiddling and two or three tries to get the tension just right between race cups and locknuts to minimize slop without going overboard into grinding pressure.

There are places where reducing friction can matter: chains, rear derailleur pulley wheels. Plenty of debate and some data over chains and lubes. In my limited experience sealed bearing pulley wheels have lower friction than old school sintered bushing bearings -- enough to make it worth switching.

jimc101

Oil in hubs is awesome if the hub is designed for it, I have a few old Middleburn hubs, and these have a port for injecting EP90 gear oil, which you push till it blows past the seals.

For a regular hub, which doesn't have this port, would just stick with grease; for cup and cone, not really understanding how you would add the oil, and be able to get it re-assembled, unless it was really heavy motor oil, and even then, most of it will end up on the floor as your re-assembling, suspect he Mucoff oil will be far too light for this application, and not worth the time of trying to add oil to a part which wasn't designed to use it as a lubericant.

davidad

Neither

ArmChairRider

I'm sure some people wake up everyday with the idea of turning chicken fat into grease without realizing the consequences.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-1c...ature=youtu.be

Troul 

Pack it with an avocado.

Stick with grease. Oil would just make you become cheap labor for your bicycle.

Racing Dan

Just No. "High end long lasting chain lube" is not one thing. Its all sorts of concoctions with unknown characteristics. Use generic grease. Most will do just fine.