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Grease for cup&cone hubs

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Grease for cup&cone hubs

Old 01-15-21, 07:49 AM
  #1  
Amt0571
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Grease for cup&cone hubs

I only had a bike which used cup&cones, which was my beater bike. It does a low mileage and I didn't care a lot about it being perfect, so from time to time I repacked the hubs with whatever grease I had at hand. Last time I used Weldtite TF2 teflon grease.

However, I now have a bike with more expensive hubs (XT) and which does way more mileage in muddy and wet conditions and was wondering what grease should I use on it. Is the Weldtite TF2 ok? or should I buy something specific?
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Old 01-15-21, 08:52 AM
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Originally Posted by Amt0571
I only had a bike which used cup&cones, which was my beater bike. It does a low mileage and I didn't care a lot about it being perfect, so from time to time I repacked the hubs with whatever grease I had at hand. Last time I used Weldtite TF2 teflon grease.

However, I now have a bike with more expensive hubs (XT) and which does way more mileage in muddy and wet conditions and was wondering what grease should I use on it. Is the Weldtite TF2 ok? or should I buy something specific?
Use what you've got, it'll be fine.

And send me $10 to assuage any guilt you might feel about using the same grease on your less expensive and more expensive bearings.
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Old 01-15-21, 08:55 AM
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Most any grease will do, especially since it seems you service your bearings on a regular basis. I use Buzzy's Slick Honey grease...


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Old 01-15-21, 08:58 AM
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Making sure to set an optimal preload, and do regular service (every year, or each 5000 km, whichever comes first) is a lot more important than the type of grease.
It's similar to bathing: no matter how expensive, or cheap soap you use: as long as you wash regularly, all's good. If you don't, then even the most expensive soap doesn't cut it.
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Old 01-15-21, 09:29 AM
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Buy grade 25 bearings in quantity, in the correct sizes, and replace those when doing the service.

I've found that, with good bearings and good grease (and plenty of it), cheapie hubs spin beautifully.
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Old 01-15-21, 02:02 PM
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Originally Posted by Koyote
Buy grade 25 bearings in quantity, in the correct sizes, and replace those when doing the service.

I've found that, with good bearings and good grease (and plenty of it), cheapie hubs spin beautifully.
If the bearings have their original finish they are good to go. Any automotive grease is perfect for our use. A bike wheel spinning at 350 rpm is traveling at about 27mph. Not much strain on bearings that are capable of 10k
to 20k rpm.
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Old 01-15-21, 02:28 PM
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Originally Posted by ARider2
Most any grease will do, especially since it seems you service your bearings on a regular basis. I use Buzzy's Slick Honey grease...


I have SRAM Butter, which is basically the same, and I use it for my dropper and forks, but I thought hubs worked better with something a bit thicker. Maybe I'm wrong.

Is there any grease expert here?
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Old 01-15-21, 02:42 PM
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I would use Phil Wood grease personally. If not that then probably the ceramic grease from Finish Line.
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Old 01-15-21, 02:48 PM
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I still have an old tub of Campagnolo Special Grease that I use all the time. Still works great!


Campagnolo Special Grease
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Old 01-15-21, 02:57 PM
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I am not a grease expert, but I play one on the internet. My Campy grease dried out so I threw it away. I've been using Phil Wood grease because I have it.
It's a little on the light side, but really good. If you live in PNW or east coast or really wet climate, you might use trailer marine grease... it's heavier.
The Slick Honey or SRAM butter... I have that, but it's really for forks....might be too light.
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Old 01-15-21, 03:03 PM
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Originally Posted by keithdunlop
I still have an old tub of Campagnolo Special Grease that I use all the time. Still works great!


Campagnolo Special Grease
Campagnolo's grease is Kluber Isoflex Topas NB52. I use it in my Campag hubs just because I have a tube, but just about any decent grease will work.
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Old 01-15-21, 03:23 PM
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frequency of service is more important than grease, assuming reasonable quality of the grease used.
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