bikemig 

I don't think Park grease is crazy overpriced but it does cost more than marine grease.

A 4 ounce tube of Park grease runs around $10 at REI and you can find if for less in a few other places.

3 3 ounce tubes of Marine grease from Amazon (and quite possibly less from a local store) is $13.

Bianchi84

I've been using Finish Line Lithium grease for years with no problem. When I needed something for my Regina CX-S Freewheel, I took BF advice and used chainsaw bar oil... worked like a champ!
[Way back when, the bike shop I worked at bought a ton of Bullshot grease. I hated it! It never seemed to "stick" and, (has anyone else used it?), it seemed to "leak" in the heat].

zandoval 

Do note that its the maintenance that makes the difference. If you are keeping up with your bicycle your maintenance is going to replace the grease long before any brand will fail.

Its the frequency of maintenance not the grease itself that makes the difference...

jamesdak 

Yep I've used the same tub of Parks forever it seems like. That's with me running so many bikes plus all the one's I've refurbed and moved on. It was finally pretty much used up last year and I just bought a tub of generic marine grease from the auto parts store. I'd have bought Park or the like again but realized that all places a bike needs grease are pretty low demand and the likelihood of need some kind of super fancy grease is just all in my head.

sd5782 

I seldom comment on grease threads, but here goes: I use two cheap kinds. I usually see bikes with dried up hard grease and that got me thinking about the high temp thicker automotive wheel bearing grease I had been using for everything. I still use that in the bottom bracket where it needs to stay put a bit better.
For wheel bearings and headsets I use a tub that just says “grease”. Current one is STP. It is black and a little less thick than the high temp wheel bearing grease. I doubt my hubs get as warm as an automotive disk brake hub. My rational was this grease may not dry out and harden as readily. No proof of anything at this time. I sure don’t like seeing hardened dry grease, and with a dozen bikes, mine don’t get serviced too often as they don’t get that many miles.

roadcrankr

The Park grease works well for everything except wheel bearings.
For that, I use Rock-N-Roll Red Devil. And rebuild rears every 4k miles and fronts about 8k.
My Park tub store sticker indicates Dec 2002 with about half gone. Good stuff.
Neither one ever dries out. The old Campy grease will harden a bit after many years, but sure smells good.

markwesti

I bought a set of velodrome wheels some years ago . They spun like butter , but of course I had to inspect the bearings . I found something interesting , although the grease was still good there was very little of it . Everything had just a thin little film , not a big pack . I packed in my usual more has to be better pack (Park PPL-1) and a careful bearing adjust . The wheels spun fine , but not as good with the thin film .

IMG_0459 by mark westi, on Flickr

jethin

I use Park grease, but the grease in my last two tubes has become hard, so much so that it’s difficult — like need two hands difficult — to squeeze out of the tube. Not sure what’s up with that.

Russ Roth

Gonna join the bike grease is bike grease club. I get a tub of park every two years and use it for hubs, BB, quill stems and metal on metal seatpost installs, any threads, and its never failed. Before that I used finish line white lithium, liked it just as much, seemed to last just as long but the shop stopped carrying it when they had trouble finding it, if next month I walk in and find the finish line instead of the park I'll just switch with no worries. Only one I stopped using was Phil, as someone else mentioned, they think far too much of their product. Other than having a distinctive smell I never noticed anything special to justify the premium they started demanding.

My understanding of automotive grease is that its thicker than it needs to be. Its meant to be subjected to higher temps and rpms than a bike will ever come close to experiencing and has a higher viscosity as a result. Markwesti mentioned finding just a film of grease in a set of velodrome hubs, when I first bought kings they were claiming you could pack the bearings with ring drive lube which is just a thick oil, I redo the hubs every 3-4 years with ring drive lube and today was riding on a pair that are now 20 years old and spin really smoothly, they're also not the oldest pair I have. Bike bearings don't need a thick grease or even lots of it, which is what I believe separates bike grease from car or boat grease and would shy me away from them. I'm not the fastest but I also don't want to add extra resistance.

trashbiker

I've heard of track cyclists removing seals and grease and lubricating with just oil. You can't get much faster than that aside from going to ceramic. Obviously indoor velodrome only

I like the finish line white grease for stuff that want lubrication that I will maintain regularly because of the teflon marketing. It seems to seperate when it gets hot even just in the garage so I don't really trust it to keep parts from seizing. On bb cups, seatposts, quill stems, etc. I use red devil.

jetboy 

I only use the grease I find behind my ears. Best in the business. You got to store it up though- take a little every day.

zandoval 

Nice Bike!

Bianchi84

I think they sometimes used to use oil instead of grease for each track race. Maybe that was the thin film?

markwesti

Bianchi84 It was defiantly grease . Someone was very how they applied it . I wish I never sold that bike .

markwesti

The tube of park grease that I just got from the bay was somebody's old stock for sure . The white on the plastic tube had yellowed and the blue print was flaking off . I tested it and it was still good , much to my relief .

smd4

Shimano Dura Ace grease is the best I've used. That stuff never hardens or loses its viscosity.

icemilkcoffee 

I like Park grease. Too bad my tube of Park grease separated inside the tube after maybe 2 year in my garage. Incidentally I have a tube of friction paste, which also separated in that similar span of time. That leads me to conclude that grease does not do well inside tubes. My tub of automotive grease lasted decades without ever separating.
TLDR: Tub > Tube

John E

I agree in part, although some greases thin out and break down faster than others.

In a similarly "lubricated" discussion, we get lots of arguments about automotive oil change intervals at PassatWorld.com, BobIsTheOilGuy.com, AudiForums.com, etc.

John E

The grease will easily outlast the plastic tube.