10
Cleaning and Lubrication

Grease or Oil?

Lubricating bicycle bearings is a compromise between effective lubrication, effective cleaning, and getting the lubricant into the bearing. We sometimes don’t use the theoretically best lubricant because we can’t apply it or because we are too lazy to do so. Besides, traditional bicycle bearings are made deliberately simple so that they will be cheap, light, and efficient; simple bearings require simpler lubrication methods than the best bearings would.

Bearings that slide or pivot back and forth intermittently should be grease-lubricated, but most of these on a bicycle are too small to get grease into; thus, we use oil instead. Bearings that rotate continually should be oil-lubricated, but some cyclists are so lazy that many of these bearings are built for grease lubrication instead. Thus, on hubs, bottom brackets, and pedals, we have a choice between oil and grease.

Grease is simply oil mixed with soap. The soap is firm enough to hold a supply of oil in place. The trouble is that it also picks up and holds water, grit, and mud, which will quickly ruin a ball bearing. So the life of grease depends not on how long it holds its oil, but on how long it takes for contaminants to build up. Grease is hard to put in and take out, because in most cases you must disassemble the parts, but it lasts until contaminated. Liquid oil leaks out, but in doing so it removes contaminants—and the oil is easily replaced.

Lubrication Systems

There are three general lubrication systems used on bicycles:

1. Semipermanent grease

2. Frequent oiling

3. Permanent grease

Semipermanent grease means that the grease has to be renewed periodically, and in the case of bicycle parts this means disassembly, cleaning, greasing, and reassembly. This maintenance is typical for the cranks, pedals, and hubs of cheap bicycles, which are not expected to receive either careful maintenance or many miles of use. It is also used where it is the best means: brake and gear cables, and headset bearings.

Frequent oiling provided the lubrication of most bearings of good bicycles until recent years; it is still the best method for those older bearings, and for the pivots of brake levers, brakes, derailleurs, and similar items, and it is the only method suitable for chains.

Permanent grease is the system in which “sealed” or “cartridge” bearings contain both a lifetime supply of grease and the seals that keep out contaminants. “Sealed” refers to the seals that are intended to keep the grease in and contaminants out. “Cartridge” refers to the fact that each bearing is a self-contained unit (consisting of the inner race, the balls, the outer race, and the seals) that is never disassembled, but is replaced only with a new bearing that is pressed into the component that uses it.

Today, all reasonable-quality hubs, pedals, and bottom brackets use cartridge bearings. If that is what you have, don’t touch them. If a bearing fails by becoming stiff or noisy, you may choose to get the tools for replacing the bearings, but this is normally a job for a skilled bike-shop mechanic. The other type of bearing is called a cup-and-cone adjustable bearing.

Oil

Lubrication

If you have a high-quality older bicycle with adjustable bearings, make sure to oil them properly. Even though these bearings should be oiled, not all of them are properly set up for oiling, relying on occasional grease instead. Look for the oil holes. If a bearing doesn’t have an oil hole, then drill one.

Pedals are the easiest components to convert and the most likely to pick up water in wet weather. If the outer dust cap has no oil hole in it, unscrew it and drill a 1/16-inch or #52 hole near its center. Then replace the cap. That’s all.

Hubs are next easiest to convert to oil lubrication. Look for oil holes in your hubs. One may be in the center of the barrel with a spring clip over it, or one may be in each bearing dust cap. If there aren’t any holes, drill one in the middle of the barrel. If you can find one, get a little spring-steel cover band for each hub—Shimano and Campagnolo used to make them. Disassemble the hub, drill the hole, clean out the chips, reassemble the hub, and snap on the spring band. If you don’t have a band, then plug the hole with a round toothpick.

Figure 10.1

Parts needing oil lubrication. Three are for bottom brackets. Two are spring clips for hubs. One is a pedal dust cap drilled for oil.

Bottom brackets are more difficult to convert to oil lubrication. The best way is to drill an oil hole in the bottom bracket and tap it for a small machine screw, say a 3 × 0.5 mm or a #4-40. Get the appropriate drill (2.5 mm or #39 for the 3-mm screw, #43 for a #4-40) and tap. Remove the left-side bearing cup and the bottom-bracket spindle. Then lay out the bracket to drill a hole in the V between the down and seat tubes on the left side. Be sure that the hole is far enough from the edge so that the adjustable cup will not block it when that cup is reinstalled. Drill and tap the hole. Shorten the screw, add a rubber gasket to it, and screw it into the hole as a cover. If you use a longer screw with a stack of nuts on it, secured with epoxy or Loctite, you can remove it with your fingers instead of a screwdriver. Make sure that the screw is short enough to clear the axle. If you can’t tap a hole, you could drill a small hole and plug it with a toothpick instead of a screw.

Lubricants

You need automobile chassis grease (the black stuff with molybdenum disulfide), automobile rear-axle oil (SAE 90), and some white gas (sold as fuel for camping stoves and lamps). You also need an oil can with a 1/16-inch-diameter tip (or smaller). The tip can be made from a ballpoint pen tip soldered or cemented into a regular oil can. Fill the oil can with SAE 90 oil.

Make chain lube by mixing one part SAE 90 oil and one part paraffin wax with about five parts white gas. If all the wax doesn’t dissolve in a few days, just let it sit at the bottom.

There are two reasons to use SAE 90 rear-axle oil to lubricate the bearings and other parts of a bicycle. First, it flows well enough to coat the working parts and, when applied in excess, to wash out contaminants. Second, it has good sticking power (it doesn’t drain off the parts completely) and good film strength (to float the balls in their races as they roll). The white-gas thinner allows this thick oil to penetrate into tight and hard-to-reach places (for example, inside the chain pivots and into the bearings of derailleur jockey wheels). Then the gas evaporates and leaves the lubricating oil behind. You don’t use enough at one time to make the gasoline dangerous.

You also need some kerosene for cleaning, a baking pan to catch drippings, an old 1-inch paintbrush, and some jars with screw caps. The kerosene can be reused almost indefinitely, even though it gets black. Keep clean kerosene clean, and put only a quart or less into your jar. While using it, catch the drips and pour them back into the jar. When the sludge settles to the bottom, the rest of the kerosene is reusable for cleaning.

Make a cleaning basket out of two tin cans, one of which will nest inside the other. Punch many small holes in the bottom of the smaller can. Half-fill the larger can with kerosene. Put small parts for cleaning in the smaller can, and use it to dunk the parts into the kerosene and drain them after cleaning.

Washing

Hang your bike from its stand (see chapter 2), place newspapers under it, and put the drip pan under where you work. Dip the brush in kerosene and wash off the derailleurs, the chain, the chainwheels, and anything else that is oily and dirty.

To clean the chain well, remove the rear wheel. Unscrew the little screw at the bottom of the front derailleur cage. Take the chain off the chainwheel and out of the front derailleur cage so that the chain hangs in a loose loop. Put kerosene in a basin, and, piece by piece, dunk the chain and brush it clean. Lubricate before use. Afterwards wipe everything clean and dry.

To wash your hands, use either mechanic’s hand soap or a teaspoon of cooking oil, followed by soap and water.

How Often to Lubricate?

Table 10.1 lists frequencies on the basis of 200 miles a week. If you ride less, you can stretch “weekly” jobs to monthly, but no further.

Table 10.1

Lubrication frequency

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Part	Lubricant	Method	Frequency
Bottom bracket	Oil	Oil can, 1 squirt	Weekly/rain
Grease	Disassemble	6 months
Pedals	Oil	Oil can, ½ squirt	Weekly/rain
Grease	Disassemble	6 months
Derailleurs	Thin oil	Brush	Weekly/rain
Oil	Oil can	Weekly/rain
Brake cable ends	Oil	Oil can, 1 drop	Weekly
Brake calipers	Oil	Oil can, 4 drops	Weekly
Headset	Grease	Disassemble	Yearly
Shift cables	Grease	Disassemble	Cable change
Brake cables	Grease	Disassemble	6 months
Brake levers	Oil	Oil can, 2 drops	6 months
Freewheel (not freehub)	Oil	Wash in solvent, dunk in oil	Noisy/removed/sticky/6 months
Chain	Chain lube	Wash in solvent, apply chain lube	Monthly

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How Much Lubricant?

There are two levels of lubrication: replenishing and cleaning. If you haven’t been out in the rain, a half squirt from a pump oil can is more than enough for the hubs, the pedals, and the bottom bracket each time. If you have been really soaked, use two or more squirts and lay the bike down on one side to let the excess oil wash out water and mud, then repeat the oiling and let it drain out the other side. If it has been a mild rain, just put in extra oil into the pedals, which pick up splashes from the front wheel in their inside (crank-end) bearings. Do the chain after every rain—you will feel the smoothness if you do. After a heavy oiling, you will have to wipe off the hubs, the spokes, the pedals, and the cranks, but that is better than having rusty parts and ruined bearings. Take special care to keep oil off the rims, the tires, and the brake blocks—oil is bad for rubber.

How and Where to Lubricate?

Follow table 10.1. Notice that hubs, bottom bracket, and pedals are listed for both grease and oil—use whichever you choose.

Head bearings must be disassembled and greased. Riding without mudguards in the rain forces grit into the lower head bearings quickly.

Brake-cable inner wires must be disconnected, removed, wiped clean, coated with grease, and replaced. Between greasings, oil the ends where the inner wire is exposed to prevent rust and wear.

Derailleur cable housings are best stripped of their plastic jacket and lubed with thinned oil. If you leave the jacket on, treat them like brake cables.

Some brake levers and brake calipers have plastic bushings in the pivots. These don’t need oiling.

Oil your freewheels after washing them in kerosene. The best way is to dunk them in oil and hang them up to drain. An alternate method is to apply lots of oil through the small end bearing while rotating the freewheel backward. Continue the application until oil shows at the large end bearing and the action is smooth.

Two parts that rarely move should be lubricated. Stems and seatposts (usually made of light alloy) will corrode and jam in the steel tubes in which they are mounted. Before inserting a stem into the steer tube or a seatpost into the seat tube, clean out the inside of the steel tube and grease the stem or seatpost. Clean and regrease these parts whenever you do a major overhaul, or when you suspect that water or sweat has penetrated into the joint. Don’t tighten the clamping bolts of either of these very hard. Of course, a seatpost shouldn’t slide down, but it doesn’t require much torque on the clamp bolt to fix it, and too much torque will bend the ears of the seat lug. A stem bolt should be tightened just enough to hold against normal cycling forces, but if you fall, will pivot before the front wheel folds.