I Wouldn't Buy That: Bike Specific Grease

February 15th, 2008 by JoelGuelph

I wouldn’t buy bike specific grease. There are a few companies that sell it, Park, Pedros, Finish Line, Shimano, to name a few. Automotive wheel bearing grease has worked well for years for me and shops I have worked in.

Browsing through some online sites, a 1lb tub of bike grease goes for anywhere from $12-$30, and 3 or 4 oz tubes going for up to $10. I can find 1lb tubs of automotive wheel bearing grease for $5. My local Canadian Tire also has white grease for the same price.

There is no question in my mind that automotive bearing grease is just as effective as bike specific grease when greasing threads and various other installation tasks. I can, however, understand why there is an argument when it comes to repacking bearings. I personally feel that if there is a difference in efficiency, it is so minor that it is outweighed by the more frequent service interval required for a lighter grease. If I was trying to set a world time trial record, I might feel differently but, I’m not.  Apparently posters at BikeForums.net agree with me:

	Votes	%
Absolutely - noticable performance difference	9	12
Don’t Be a cheapskate!	9	12
No - automotive grease works just as well	57	76
Only the best grease makes a noticable difference (Phil Wood)	6	8

From this topic on bikeforums.net.

This argument is relatively moot if all the grease you use is to repack your hubs once or twice a season. A 3 oz. tube will likely last you a number of years at that rate. If however you do multiple overhauls on multiple bikes or if you are the go to guy in your community for repairing bikes, chances are you’ll go through a tube fairly quickly.

I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that most bicycle grease is just repackaged automotive grease as I can’t imagine many bike companies have a huge R&D budget for grease. Does anyone know where bike grease comes from?

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