To grease, or not to grease - Lubrication database.

Thank you for the info.

Recently been using yamalube waterproof (and heat resistive to around 150c iirc) for motorbike head bearings (usually caged taper/needle bearings with not much weather sealing) as it stays put and doesn't run out when frame gets hot (engine oil in frame).
Found on bikes with loose ball/caged bb and headset it's also ideal ime

Not a lot of money either, £7 for 250ml tube retail is fine.

I just had to remove the front wheel on my mountain bike for the first time since getting it, a year ago, and the Suntour q loc 2 thru axle was horribly stuck.

The axle nut is a strange collapsible contraption, but that wasn't what gave me grief, it was collapsing like it's meant to. In the end I needed to grab the axle at the lever end with pliers to yank it out, after freeing the other end with a mallet.

On getting it out, I could see only a tiny white smear of dried up grease on the axle. I assume this was the problem? I would be fucked if I had this problem on the roadside, so I have now greased it very very thoroughly. I haven't made a mistake have I?

Whatever size your skewer is...

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I've never had a qr that's even remotely hard to pull out though, this was something else

The Qloc things are a little odd, get some new forks.

Agreed that I don't really like it, but the actual q loc bit wasn't what caused me grief

Not happy with TP-42 in my DT Swiss star ratchet. Makes it super quiet for a few days but then squeaks under high load.

This moly grease has been suggested.
https://www.modelsport.co.uk/index.php?product_id=40215&gclid=CjwKCAjwopTYBRAzEiwAnU4kb1K5BDAcGxc9zKTLv9grgJvKx5vgi9okLuQ2srTkV9NcEGUwk5BPDhoCZlcQAvD_BwE

Maplins likely to have any Moly grease that's suitable or anyone want to suggest something better I can buy quickly?

@mdcc_tester

I can't find the recipe for this (now called Gadus).

Common or garden general purpose grease?

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Has anyone tried lubing up their gear cables with graphite powder?

Cargo bikes at work use long runs of gear cable, fully enclosed in outer. It’s difficult to change the outers because much of it is internally routed... so normally when the gear shifting gets really stiff we just replace the inners and line the inside with grease... not ideal

Not tried. I think lubing cables was a thing in the old days but more modern cables have teflon or something in them already so it tended to make things worse than factory.

Have you tried teflon powder? (or Di2 :D)

Yeah these deffo have Teflon liner.

Do rohloff do a di2 model?? :D. Probably

Hydro shifting is also a thing
https://kindernay.com/products/

I think the main problem I’ll have with using graphite lube in the existing cable runs is that there’s already old grease in there, which will probably mess it up.

Might get some and try it out next time we completely change the gear cabling

Do rohloff do a di2 model?? :D. Probably

Doubt it but they do Di2 Alfine.
https://bike.shimano.com/en-EU/product/component/alfine-s7050s705-di2.html

Di2 Alfine

I doubt that any Rohloff users are going to downgrade to Alfine just to get electric shifting 🙂

I don't know anything about hub gears except that I don't want any flavour of them in my life.

Don’t think we’ll make the change anytime soon though

I've used prolink pro gold chain lube with a siringe for that, it's very thin and clears a lot of rust and gunk.

Thanks, that stuff sounds good and gets good reviews. Think I’ll get some!

Just bought a bottle of boeshield (personal fave) so will see if that’s an improvement on the misc. lubes we’ve had knocking about

Pro gold is great for freeing up stuck stuff.

Best grease for headset, marine grease?

Best grease for headset

Whatever you're using for your other ball bearings. The important thing is not what you use, but that you replace it before it stops working.

Fear this may have gone past that point.
It was really tight when I moved my bike earlier, 2 rides ago I rode in truly horrific weather rode 70km earlier in the week fine. Rinsed it down and it’s looser but definitely needs some tlc

Found pile of old Campagnolo junk in the basement.
These are C Record ball bearing pulleys from about 1990. The grease was dried out.
What can I lube them with?

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ball bearing pulleys...What can I lube them with?

See above. As the fasted rotating part on the bike, you'll probably want to bias you selection towards the less viscous end of the spectrum.

I expect the factory spec was 10-N. I never liked the product, although the 90s packaging was quite chic

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