Anna_Sazzi

I have some blue 'marine' grease and one of those Speedplay grease guns for my pedal bodies. Is there anything incorrect about using this type of grease on some bottom bracket bearings -- Campagnolo Ultratorque crank bearings? Or should it be some other type of grease? Finish Line has 'premium grease' or 'ceramic grease', etc. I also have a tube of Park Tool "PolyLube".

I guess I'm asking what type of greases are ok for bearings (versus simpler things like seatposts or pedal threads).

FiftySix

If you ride through wet conditions, marine grease should be an excellent choice. But I'm not going to be the one able to say if it makes you use more effort to pedal the bike over some specialized wonder grease.

Iride01 

It's okay in my opinion. How thick or thin the grease is will be more important. Thick not necessarily better, So any grease that's good enough for automotive or marine use is likely adequate.

Bill Kapaun

Most any grease & occasional service is good.
I used to use boat trailer wheel bearing grease until it occurred to me that I don't ride in the rain.
Synthetic since.

woodcraft

For bicycle purposes, grease is grease.

Anna_Sazzi

Thanks everyone. I decided to splurge on a small tube of some Finish Line Ceramic Grease.

fietsbob

Park grease tubs are what the shop uses I have a 30 year old tub of boat trailer wheel bearing grease Ive used fot those 3 decades

It's thicker than the Park .. both happen to be blue..

Anna_Sazzi

Which Park grease? I thought originally that grease was grease, but even from the same company they have different offering
Park has at least 2 versions, not including their anti-seize product:
1. Park HPG-1
2. Park PPL-1

fietsbob

It comes in a tub, they get it from their wholesalers..

here is a picture of the only one that comes in a tub. (you could have looked, yourself)

LesterOfPuppets

I like Motorex 2000 just because it's the same translucent neon green color of Dura Ace grease. I got a lifetime supply for $24 a couple of years ago:

Bill Kapaun

Bicycle hubs don't require a "space age" type of grease. The grease they had 100+ years ago was adequate if serviced on a somewhat regular basis.
The cheapest automotive wheel bearing grease is more than adequate.
Get a tub of that or if you want to spend more like me, get a tub of synthetic.
It'd be pretty hard for anyone to argue "their grease is better".

bitpuddle

It will work fine, but marine grease tends to be very waterproof and quite difficult to clean out when you need to refresh it. This is great in marine applications where there isn’t much dirt, or in Speedplay bodies where you push out the old grease with new, but for other applications you might find the stickiness annoying.

rosefarts

I've got some nice thick gray/blue grease from the auto store that works great. I only use it in big areas because I don't have a gun for it.

Pedro's in a gun for more exact greasing.

I used to have a tube of white silicone grease, the cheap stuff for garage doors, it also was fine.

I think just about anything would work at the low speeds anything on the bike turns.

Maybe avoid vaseline?

Edit to add, if you're selling hubs, a bike branded grease seems to matter to buyers. So resale with Phil's or Park and the items will sell easier, it shows that you care. I don't think it affects the ride.

Crankycrank

Haven't found this to be true at all. After decades of trying many, many different types/brands/price of greases I finally settled on a tub of cheap marine grease for just about everything including bearings, threads, clamp areas and seatposts. Only thing I don't use it for is lubing the cassette body innards as it's too viscous. Never had any more trouble cleaning it off or collecting more dirt than any other greases. For general cleaning, like many others here, I use Odorless Mineral Spirits which cleans grease and oils including your chain and can be reused after letting the gunk settle to the bottom when stored in a jar. I've eliminated a cabinet full of various lubes and cleaners with these two items.

pdlamb

Speedplay might sue you for using the wrong grease, but the pedals won't care.

JohnDThompson 

Bicycle bearings are not a particularly challenging environment for grease (low speed, low load, low temperature), so just about anything will suffice. If you ride in wet weather a lot, a marine grade grease may resist washing out better than a general purpose bearing grease. I like white lithium grease, largely because the color makes it obvious when the grease has gotten contaminated and needs to be replaced.

gsa103

I have two types of grease. Shimano Dura-Ace, which I use in wheels and anything I would consider critical (basically just my DA wheels). And some red boat trailer bearing grease, which I use for virtually everything. The wheels are only ridden in good conditions and rolling resistance is the primary concern hence DA. For everything else, low cost and durability are the primary concerns.