Finish Line Teflon Synthetic Grease

Product Information

Loads, even with MTB jumps, are not the problem with bicycle bearings – their number one nemesis is the dirt intrusion (even more than water washout, except for very wet/salty conditions). NLGI 1 hardness will do the job just fine. German DIN 51 502 standard for labeling greases, unlike ISO, with legendary German precision and efficiency sorts greases according to base oil types, additives etc, so there can be no confusion when choosing the appropriate grease for a given application. 🙂 Example of a DIN label: As for heat, as the linked blog discussion indicates, while overall heat is usually not an issue, momentary micro heating, resulting in welding occurs regularly, and Moly might help here too, as would a high 4-Ball test due to a superior synthetic oil or Teflon film.

I respect your opinion, but disagree. The answer would be the same as for previous paragraph. For a particular grease performance – look at the standards it complies with. For general comparison, look at the given tables, or research more. For a wide range of working temperatures (for -25 °Cto hottest Africa heat), with very good water resistance attributes, but not too expensive – lithium complex greasewith ISO water resistance level I. With, or without EP additives (doesn’t really matter). Still, this grease costs about double the price of ordinary lithium, or calcium based greases. Some “Green” grease showed a very peculiar behavior in spin-testing in exposed idler pulley tests – it would spin inwards, like a tiny tornado, until the majority had coated the spinning center axle leaving the bearings naked. I did find a technical term for this but can’t find it now. Relja – This is the same consistent misunderstanding you gave to ‘Reason’ earlier. You simply don’t understand the topic as well as you believe.As for the greases, good quality calcium based ones aren’t bad. Not much worse than good quality lithium based ones.

PTFE is a thermoplastic polymer, which is a white solid at room temperature, with a density of about 2200kg/m 3 and a melting point of 600K (327°C; 620°F). [20] It maintains high strength, toughness and self-lubrication at low temperatures down to 5K (−268.15°C; −450.67°F), and good flexibility at temperatures above 194K (−79°C; −110°F). [21] PTFE gains its properties from the aggregate effect of carbon-fluorine bonds, as do all fluorocarbons. The only chemicals known to affect these carbon-fluorine bonds are highly reactive metals like the alkali metals, and at higher temperatures also such metals as aluminium and magnesium, and fluorinating agents such as xenon difluoride and cobalt(III) fluoride. [22] At temperatures above 650–700°C (1,200–1,290°F) PTFE undergoes depolymerization. [23] Property If riding environment has lots of rains and/or sea water, good choice is calcium (soap based) grease (or “marine” grease). Available, cheap, with good water resistance. The only situations where this grease is not a very good choice are extreme heats (bike left for hoursin over +35 °C summer sun), or riding in very low temperatures (below -15°C). Zero data or even practical knowledge (as you’ve never used it) showing that NLGI 1 or NLGI 1.5 won’t “hold” bearings well enough just to install into a cup and cone system.

Easily compared yes, but you don’t do it once in the entire article. Not once do you actually compare the greases on any scientific metric. It’s a half sentence of base properties and then conjecture, absolutely zero knowledgeable comparison done. What’s the typical lithium grease washout when compared to marine grease, when compared to aluminum grease, when compared to polyurea? You have absolutely ZERO numbers to give comparison. thus this ENTIRE article is basically how NLGI and DIN is determined with your unsubstantiated opinion on a list of greases are. That’s it. Soap greases. Soaps are usually made by saponification of fatty acids with hydroxides of various metals – aluminium, calcium,sodium, barium. I do not understanding all technical terms but in Wikipedia it is explained simply as treatment forming a protective cermet or ceramic-metal coating on the friction metal parts of the mechanisms directly during the process of their operation: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revitalizant The research paper provide by Reason as showing that “… polyurea is just a superior grease” is likewise flawed. The results do show that, on a friction/wear test, polyurea grease – with no additives – outperform Lithium – with no additives. However of the three additives tested, Lithium outperforms Urea when used with ‘MoDTC’, and they are equivalent when ‘ZnDTP’ is used. So when it comes to comparing the two – with additives – there is no clear winner. Non-soap greases. They don’t contain soaps, nor oil that soaps hold in suspension. Non-organic silicone, or bentonite, or organic polyurea.

You have provided NO DATA AT ALL. NLGI2 is fine but is it ‘ideal’ or ‘optimal?’ No, because bicycles don’t need it. Please provide ONE study that shows NLGI2 is necessary for typical bicycle loads as thus far you haven’t provided ANY data so that would be a first. Greases that can bear high loads and pressures, i.e. with EP ( Extreme Pressure) additives. Just like special additives, greases with EP additives shouldn’t be used whenEP characteristics are not required. I suspect Mr. Reason is just obsessed with buying grease with “bicycle” written on the label and feels the need to defend themselves. Who argues for polyurea? Only someone with limited experience with it… the Park Poly formula is good, highly compatible, but it’s the exception not the rule. It’s usually a grease used in high speed bearings that are sealed and never serviced. Why do they choose it for a bicycle? I have no clue, but the fact that they use it for their general purpose grease doesn’t make it better than a lithium complex. For as much as Mr. Reason demands evidence, they certainly didn’t make much of an argument besides “but that’s what this company does although I have no idea why!!!” (how informative, not).Good water resistance, high dropping point, but limited low temperature use (slightly worse even than calcium greases). Very high price. Barium and many of it’s compounds are toxic! Zero data actually comparing the different greases on any physical measurable level. Be it friction, be it pitting/wear, be it wash out, be it oxidation, be it load capacity, be it literally anything. The only metric you’ve measured them on is price – which is one of the absolute weakest metrics due to how little grease a bicycle uses. A single tire will cost more than you spend on grease during the next 30 years regardless of which type. Criterion 5 – Keeping stable structure and hardness for a longer period of exploitation. Re-lubing bicycle bearings more often than once a year is highly impractical. With a better quality grease, this can be extended somewhat, but most problems in bike bearings come from dirt contamination, even more than from water washout. To be more specific – water washout creates a problem if bearings are not serviced at least annually, with riding in wet conditions AND not using a higher quality grease.

For deep freezing temperatures, below -30°C: choose either calcium, lithium, or calcium-lithium (mixed) grease, whether plain, or complex, with noted lowest working temperature of at least -40°C (preferably -50°C). Sure, one can completely clean the old grease, but if there’s not much to gain with an incompatible grease, I’d rather avoid it. Shimano freehubs come to mind first – not convenient to disassemble, and if some service grease finds its way into the freehub, I’d prefer it to be compatible with the grease already inside (though much NLGI2 grease intrusion into a freehub creates other problems). Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) was accidentally discovered in 1938 by Roy J. Plunkett while he was working in New Jersey for DuPont. As Plunkett attempted to make a new chlorofluorocarbon refrigerant, the tetrafluoroethylene gas in its pressure bottle stopped flowing before the bottle's weight had dropped to the point signaling "empty". Since Plunkett was measuring the amount of gas used by weighing the bottle, he became curious as to the source of the weight, and finally resorted to sawing the bottle apart. He found the bottle's interior coated with a waxy white material that was oddly slippery. Analysis showed that it was polymerized perfluoroethylene, with the iron from the inside of the container having acted as a catalyst at high pressure. [4] Kinetic Chemicals patented the new fluorinated plastic (analogous to the already known polyethylene) in 1941, [5] and registered the Teflon trademark in 1945. [6] [7] It should also be taken into considerationthat the design of a bicycle wheel witha hubin the middle makes the lever by which the force is applied to the hubso large that the dragthat hubseventually produceis practically negligible. Especiallywhen comparing the dragof oiled versus the drag produced byproperly greasedhubs. Even when each second counts,there are lots of other places where the time can be saved(bothon the bike itself, as well as with the equipment), while the hubsshould be the last thing to experiment on. Of course, everyone chooses by themselves, for themselves, but if hubs arelubricated with oil, it should be noted that this should berepeated every week, or every 500 kilometers ridden– whichever ofthe of the two comes first.So the weight and the speed with which bicycle bearings are loaded are quite modest. While frequent re-lubrication is not practical. Of important criteria listed in paragraph 3.1. these greases only have problems with fulfilling Crit. 1. (for extreme conditions of bicycle use), while Crit. 3. is probably best satisfied of all the other grease types, except some enormously expensive ones. Since bikes are ridden outside, bearing lubricant needs to keep dirt and water from entering. It should be resistant to being washed off with water, prevent corrosion, while operating temperature ranges from as cold as-20 °Cfor winter use (though some cyclists are even more extreme), to about 100 °Cfor bearings of bikes left in hot summer sun, then ridden.