Finish Line Extreme Fluro grease for S&S couplers.

[Mike Ayling]

My tube has solidified and all sites I find are out of stock or want eye watering amounts for postage.
Is there an alternative that I could use?

Mike

[mickeg]

I was unaware it could solidify.  Can you stick a nail in the end of the syringe to open it up and make the syringe work that way?

I see that SJS is out of stock.
https://www.sjscycles.co.uk/lubricants/finish-line-extreme-fluoro-ss-coupling-approved-grease-20g-syringe/

I would expect that any bike company in UK that sells a frame with S&S couplers would know where you could buy it.  Or, was SJS the only one in UK that sold an S&S bike?

I would use something else until you can find the right stuff later.  But you might not want to tighten your couplers toooooo tight if you use a lower grade of grease.  A few years ago one of my couplers came a bit loose during a ride, I now always carry a wrench that can tighten the couplers.  An old style bottom bracket wrench might also work.

I put sleeves cut from an old inner tube over each end of my S&S coupler nuts to keep the dirt out of the threads.  I think the key is to keep the threads clean.  See photos.

[Danneaux]

Mike, you are not alone in finding this lube hard to come by, as this recent Reddit tread shows...
https://www.reddit.com/r/bikewrench/comments/1kpyeha/s_s_connectors_grease/
Co-Motion Cycles, located near my house here in Eugene, has it listed as available on their website...
https://co-motion.com/products/s-s-coupler-teflon-lube
Co-Motion instructional video here...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tkv1Mqpwfq0&ab_channel=Co-MotionCycles
S&S User Guide here...
https://www.sandsmachine.com/guide_c.htm

Hopefully helpful, Dan.

[Mike Ayling]

Thank you Gents

Mike

[PH]

I'd never heard of it, so no knowledge or experience.
I note the active ingredient is DuPont and they won't be making it for just this application. What else it's used for is what I'd be researching if it were me.

[Mike Ayling]

I emailed Thorn and was advised by Sarah that they are now using this
Finish Line Ceramic Grease 60ml Tube - 60ml Tube
 in the workshop when prepping S&S Couplers.
Sarah offered to sell me a tube but their standard 20 squids overseas freight charge was a deal breaker as I was able to order the product locally with Aussie Post only requiring $AUD12.90.
Chapeau to Sarah for her prompt reply to my query.

[mickeg]

I emailed Thorn and was advised by Sarah that they are now using this
Finish Line Ceramic Grease 60ml Tube - 60ml Tube
 in the workshop when prepping S&S Couplers.
...

Thanks for posting.

[Andre Jute]

For years Finish Line Ceramic Grease was my all-purpose gunk.

It's optimized for moving parts, but it does well everywhere, for every purpose, starting with assembly. My experience is that the ceramic nano-balls provide enough separation between dissimilar metals to act as a sort of copper grease, at least in my mostly unchallenging use, where my bike rarely gets wet and attracts only enough dust to be wiped clean once or twice a year.

Since I hate getting my hands dirty, it also matters to me that Finish Line Ceramic Grease is clean to work with, and doesn't appear to cause rashes.

Finish Line's Ceramic Grease is definitely recommended by this user.

•••
I changed my go-to lubricant when Jags (with Danneaux's logistical assistance for international delivery to Ireland) gave me a tube of Phil's gunk, available only in the US, which has the added valuable active characteristic of self-announcing, by color change, when it stops working, for instance when contaminated by water, which is useful for instance in the EXT clickbox on the non-drive axle end of Rohloffs with the external gear change, in which after long experience, I change the grease packing only at the oil change at 5000km or annually, whichever comes first (Rohloff advises repacking at 500km intervals -- total overkill* when you have discovered the right grease), meanwhile contenting myself with a ten second inspection -- 4Gs: grease is green, good to go -- when I think of it, usually around the 2500km mark. It was hell cleaning the Finish Line Ceramic Grease out of the click box when I switched over; it took a couple of tries.

* As always, my advice is aimed at experienced Rohloff users. Newbies and even the less experienced, should stick rigorously to the manual's suggestions until the box is well run-in, which takes thousands of kilometers, because the most valuable thing about the Rohloff isn't the box or even the formal guarantee, it's the goodwill of the Rohloff team when you're in a bind in Outerstan-that-nobody-can-point-to-on-a-map, which you maintain by servicing the box regularly according to the manual.