I just bought a set of Shamal wheels, and I had the hubs serviced at my LBS. When I innocently asked them how and with what I should lube the hubs through the grease ports, they looked at me in horror and said, "Don't ever do that!"
Naturally, I asked why, and no one could come up with a plausible answer, other than, "You just don't need to."
Can someone enlighten me? Does Campy put those ports on there just for looks? What part of the owner's manual don't I understand? What do you all do?
I repack the bearings once in the spring with white lithium grease, and have repacked when I got caught in the rain. There doesn't seem to be a compelling reason to repack more frequently.
Got to hand it to Campy - the hubs on my Zondas have the slickest bearing adjustment scheme I've ever seen.
it is unlikely that u will need to grease the hubs very often. Maybe once a yr depending on use. The grease ports can be used with a light grease, but if it is time to do this u r probably better off repacking the whole hub as opposed to putting clean grease on top of the old stuff.
I may be wrong and please correct me if i am. Arent those ports primarily for oil? It has been scientificaly proven the fastest hubs are ball bearing cup and cone designs lubed with oil.
IIRC they are helpfull for maintenance because at a race you simply flush the hubs with oil or grease rather than dis-assembling and repacking them.
miamijim, this may be the case (i honestly didnt consider it as a possibility.....but now that u mention it), but if so, why do campag have the "lube ports" on all of there hubs? road and track included. wouldnt this be primarily a track thing (ie running ultra smooth hubs with oil as opposed to grease) as u would have to use an awful lot of oil to keep a road wheel running smooth (wouldnt u?).
Originally posted by BianchiJock I just bought a set of Shamal wheels, and I had the hubs serviced at my LBS. When I innocently asked them how and with what I should lube the hubs through the grease ports, they looked at me in horror and said, "Don't ever do that!"
Naturally, I asked why, and no one could come up with a plausible answer, other than, "You just don't need to."
Can someone enlighten me? Does Campy put those ports on there just for looks? What part of the owner's manual don't I understand? What do you all do?
Thanks, Roger
--I've got Campy Eurus, which have grease ports. The owner's manual says grease every 3000 kilometers, I think. In any case, that's what I do. If you go to the Campy website, you might be able to find a PDF file for the Shamal wheels manual.
I had oil ports on a Shimano Deore XT hub I used as a front hub on my roady. I put oil into them every now and then and the hub ran fine, however, thinking about it now the oil might actually break down the grease in the hub depending on grease type, and then you would be relying totally on the oil.
Also, depending on how the ports are designed, you would want to make sure that the new grease (if you use grease) is flushing the old stuff out somewhere, otherwise any dirt/crud would get forced into the bearings.
I think Campy's intention is that one should use a lube that is thinner than in manually repacked hubs (though perhaps not as thin as oil.) This would have several consequences...
Rolling resistance would be lower, as pointed out by miamijim above.
Injection would be much more frequent; therefore, fresh lube would be continually forced through the bearings and seals, flushing dirt and metal residue out around the axle.
Disassembly would only be necessary when perceptible grinding or ticking indicated worn bearings, cups or cones.
One obvious trade-off is that more lube will be continuously leaking out, but that should be minimized if the lube is of optimum consistancy. So...
What would be the best lube to achieve these results?
Originally posted by BianchiJock I just bought a set of Shamal wheels, and I had the hubs serviced at my LBS. When I innocently asked them how and with what I should lube the hubs through the grease ports, they looked at me in horror and said, "Don't ever do that!"
Naturally, I asked why, and no one could come up with a plausible answer, other than, "You just don't need to."
Can someone enlighten me? Does Campy put those ports on there just for looks? What part of the owner's manual don't I understand? What do you all do?
Thanks, Roger
Follow the manufacturers recommendations. Like changing oil on a motor vehicle, it depends on the "service" as to whether you should "change your oil" more often. Is you LBS an "Authorized Campagnolo" dealer? Do you have the oringal instructions? If you do, take them to the LBS and ask them to read them. Then ask your question again. A more appropriated question might be is: "What grease and grease gun do I use to follow these procedures"? It may be less wateful and more complete to disassemble, flushout the bearings, and pack in new grease. Close examination off all parts is a good idea. Following all manfacturers recommendations is also a good idea.
From what I have heard, the norm is to lube the hubs with grease and not oil, which although being less viscous and therefore provides lower resistance than grease, does not last as long and therefore needs to be relubed more often.
It seems that most of the hubs on the market are designed with grease in mind, with the exception of Goldtec hub (a British product with the distinctive gold colour from its titanium nitride coating) which is intended for use with oil. Some racers, particularly the time triallists, prefer to replace the grease with oil for special events in order to gain that little extra edge over their competitors. In doing so, they have to take all the trouble to disassemble, cleanse and repack the bearings because oil doesnot mix well with grease.
As for the lube ports, I do find it very useful. I always carry a syringe (the cheap and light plastic one) with me on tours lasting more than a few days. After each rainy rides I would use it to inject grease into the headsets and hubs and watch the water being flushed out. Quick and convenient.
I have a set of daytona hubs on my training wheels - I clean and repack them with Finish Line (white) grease every 6 months or so. Partly because I'm anal about maintenance, and partly to keep the freehub noise down (they are NOISY). Some campag officianados tell me I'm not supposed to pack the freehubs, as it might make the cams slip - I'm a big guy and I have not had that experience and I like quiet freehubs, despite the noise being part of the italian experience.
