trance 27.5

I want to clean and re- grease my bike's pivot points, which lube is best? I have Parktool HPG-1, will a marine grease be better? I am in Arizona and my trails are always dry and dusty.

Thanks

cyccommute 

The Park grease should be good enough.

easyupbug 

↑↑↑ is good advise, HPG-1 is very good and I have been in and around Tucson for over 70 years.

soyabean

This is like asking what's the best beer.

To each their own.

You really need to try many diff kinds out there. Easier when you are wrenching on a ton of bikes in a shop or flipping them.

When a DIY doesn't know what to choose, your choice of Park Tools is always a safe bet to start from, and then build personal preference from there.

veganbikes

The Park stuff is fine. I like to use Phil Wood Grease but the HPG-1 is excellent grease and will do the job quite well.

As far as the best beer, it is actually not beer but Skrewball Peanut Butter Whisky (they probably use the "e" but whatever)

KerryIrons

The grease/heavy oil you have on hand is the best. You can find a good selection at your hardware store, or pay significantly more for the same thing in a bike shop. As long as it is waterproof, you're good. Don't overthink.

frogman

Yes it would be "good enough" but there are other less expensive options that would work just fine.

KerryIrons hit the nail on the head with his advice:
"The grease/heavy oil you have on hand is the best. You can find a good selection at your hardware store, or pay significantly more for the same thing in a bike shop. As long as it is waterproof, you're good. Don't overthink."

cyccommute 

KerryIrons said to use the grease/heavy oil on hand. trace 27.5 asked if the Park HPG-1 he has is good enough. Going out to buy new grease isn’t cheaper than what he has in hand.

Try to keep up.

70sSanO

My advice, use the Park grease and don’t bother to read the next hundred posts that will probably follow as the thread spins off to parts unknown.

John

frogman

Try to keep up ?
Ouch, you seem to be unable to express yourself with out adding sarcstic jabs.

I won't correct your analogy............ nuff said

icemilkcoffee 

If you are taking the parts apart to grease them, then any grease will do. However, if you are too lazy to take every pivoting point apart to grease them, then I suggest something that allows you to drip the lube into the pivots. I use Finishline lube for this purpose but there are lots of other suitable lubes, including silicone spray.

soyabean

Agreed.

Don't let the tr***s get to you.

It's important that they can prove themselves to get edification from strangers on the internets because they can't otherwise from real life

70sSanO

While cyccommute can rub people the wrong way he’s been here for almost 20 years. You’ve been here 15 minutes.

John

soyabean

Agreed.

Those 20 years are sure important to ones existance.

cyccommute 

Perhaps you’d better say more. What “analogy”? I made no analogy.

70sSanO

No, but a lot of posts and advice given over those years. And a lot of people have come and gone.

Everyone posts replies that aren’t “kinder and gentler” from time to time, some more than others, it is just the nature of posting on the internet.

I know I’ve posted replies that I stumbled across years later and think, “Wow, what a jerk.”

John

soyabean

Don't forget: always beat down the newbies

70sSanO

I’m not sure that always applies, but it does happen too often.

Some of it depends on the newbie.

John

soyabean

Surely such that 20 years is much more valuable over some 15 minutes newbie.

Seems important you need to show newbies their place

cyccommute 

Who is trolling whom? How is my advice any different from yours or veganbikes’ or KerryIrons’ or easyupbug’s? frogman even quoted KerryIrons’ post with the same advice I gave.

I don’t think you are using that word properly. From vocabulary.com

Often I learn things from people on line. Even trolls can make me go out and learn something new,or at least reconfirm something, like “edification”.

frogman

Thanks soyabean.
That makes sense.

trance 27.5

Thank you for all your input everyone.

Perhaps, I should rephrase my question a bit. Since I really don't like taking stuff apart too often, is there any better grease that will last longer and better than the parktool grease I have on hand, so instead of re-greasing every 6 months, I will do it once a year or even longer.

Like I said above, I am in the dusty desert, and I forgot to mention, I wash my bike every after ride because I'm "ocd" ...

Thanks again

70sSanO

Not sure what the maintenance schedule is for the bushings, but if you are in dry conditions, I would guess the grease will last longer than the maintenance interval.

John

Bike Gremlin

Apologies in advance for the off-topic post.

First, this being a written "conversation" in a language that isn't my native, it should be stressed that I'm not being sarcastic nor trying to address any single post or poster in particular. With that out of the way:

What I love about bikeforums is that practically every question gets some very good advice/answers within a really short time.

What I don't like is when people start doing 1-up on each other (is that the right expression). It doesn't matter "who started first."

Forum is what we all make of it. Let's try to make it as good as possible. "Let's all get along."


As for the topic, I have nothing to add - great advice as usual.

cyccommute 

Yes, it will last. Probably for years of service. Modern polyurethane grease grease doesn’t “dry out” like grease of old used to. Greases from 30 to 40 years ago was made of oil and, essentially, soap. The oil could drain away and leave the “soap” as a dry residue in a relatively short time. The oil in the modern polyurethane greases is held more tightly and doesn’t drain away.

I also question the need for greasing pivots anyway. With the exception of some really low end bikes (think HelMart), modern mountain bike pivots (like post 2001) use sealed bearings which can go for hundreds of thousands of miles on a bicycle without service. Even then, it’s best to just replace them if they have issues.

And you really don’t need to clean your bike all the time. Dirt won’t hurt it.