Rant: Was convinced grease was grease until a seized bearing proved me wrong

I used to think any old lithium grease from the auto parts store was fine for bottom brackets. Last month I rebuilt a customer's old 90s mountain bike and packed the bearings with that stuff. Three rides later the hub started grinding and when I pulled it apart the grease had basically turned to crust. Had to spend $35 on a tub of marine grade stuff from a boat shop and it's been smooth for 200 miles now. Anyone else run into a situation where the cheap lube just didn't hold up?

2 comments

2 Comments

lilyt9023h ago

Honestly I think you might be overthinking this a bit. I've been using cheap lithium grease from the auto parts store for years on all my bikes and never had a bearing seize up on me. Maybe you got a bad batch or something, or maybe the hub was already damaged before you packed it. Marine grease is overkill for most bike stuff unless you're riding through saltwater or mud bogs every day. I dunno, sounds like a user error situation to me.

emma_young23h ago

Used to say the same thing till it happened to me.