Bearing Maintinence

Cobben Sence said:

How often should a bike be re greased?? I have a bike that hasn't been
done in years; however, everything turns smooth and I hear no grinding
or any other indicator that it needs lubrication.

About every 2years if ridden in the dry, more frequently if ridden in
the wet, as often as every 6 months.

Qui si parla Campagnolo said:

Cobben Sence said:

How often should a bike be re greased?? I have a bike that hasn't been
done in years; however, everything turns smooth and I hear no grinding
or any other indicator that it needs lubrication.

About every 2years if ridden in the dry, more frequently if ridden in
the wet, as often as every 6 months.

Based on roughly how many miles per year?

On 16 Nov 2006 21:19:56 -0800, "Cobben Sence" <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

How often should a bike be re greased?? I have a bike that hasn't been
done in years; however, everything turns smooth and I hear no grinding
or any other indicator that it needs lubrication.

Most of the bikes I work on are rehabs of neglected units from garages
and storage bays. The fact that everything turns smoothly does not
mean that it's properly lubed; it just means that nothing is fouling
the moving parts.

IME, front wheel bearings usually dry out first, then rears, then the
BB. Headsets are hard to characterize; I've seen them trashed on
bikes whose other bearings were pristine and apparently untouched, and
I've seen them be the only thing still not rusted out on a bike that
looked fine until you tried to ride it.

I'd go with every couple of years on the front, a bit longer on the
back, and probably 4 years or so on the BB if the unit is non-sealed.
(I will note that I'm currently working on an early-70s cottered-crank
bike whose BB has obviously never been repacked, and it's still in
good shape although the grease is more like caulk at this point.) For
the headset, it's hard to say. If you never ride in the rain, and the
bike is always parked indoors, it's probably good for as long as the
BB, if not longer.

OTOH, if it's parked and ridden in the rain, *everything* drops to 6
months or less.

This only works if the grease last used was decent stuff; I've seen
greases that would dry out sitting still in less than a year. I once
lost a set of irreplaceable steering knuckles on a car front end due
to the front wheel bearings having been packed with such a grease just
prior to its being parked for 10 months. 20 miles later, the bearings
on both sides were chewing up the outboard ends of the spindles. It
would be an understatement to say that I was not real happy about
that.
--
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Ben C said:

Qui si parla Campagnolo said:

Cobben Sence said:

How often should a bike be re greased?? I have a bike that hasn't been
done in years; however, everything turns smooth and I hear no grinding
or any other indicator that it needs lubrication.

About every 2years if ridden in the dry, more frequently if ridden in
the wet, as often as every 6 months.

Based on roughly how many miles per year?

I suspect the answer would be "lots".

In my experience, on a bike hub or BB, modern greases tend to
deteriorate more with time or contamination than mileage.
--
Typoes are a feature, not a bug.
Some gardening required to reply via email.
Words processed in a facility that contains nuts.