Though I use a large pilot's aluminium case for the cycling tools relevant to my "low maintenance" bike, space is still at a premium in it, and the more tubes of stuff you have, the greater the chance of a messy accident inside your toolbox. Also, tubes of lube can be expensive.
So I started the search for a single all-purpose, universal gunk. Let me immediately say that chain lube is excepted; clearly a different consistency is required than everywhere else on the bike. Also, getting it right for the chain is critical, unlike almost any other serviceable part on the bike. (We're also excluding the the Rohloff, where it is a matter of protecting your warranty to use the Rohloff cleaning and all-seasons oils rather than of any proven knowledge that other gunks won't do the job.) But that leaves a lot of components, threads, and suchlike.
Here are the four tubes I currently have, with some notes:
1. Oil of Rohloff.
http://www.sjscycles.co.uk/rohloff-special-chain-lubricant-50ml-bottle-4200-prod11989/ Chain oil with a remarkable stickitivity, and superb on threaded parts where copper gunk is too thick and resistant; I found that Oil of Rohloff was perfectly water-resistant, still sitting two years later in a bottom bracket where Park Assembly Grease simply wouldn't let me fit a Kinex or Shimano bottom bracket. I'm not at all sure that this beautifully clean oil won't do for all the jobs on my bike. Also cheap at about €5 for 50ml, which last forever -- I've used 30ml in three years, including two years and 4500km of using that bottle as a chain lube! A few drops really go a loooong way.
2. Park Assembly Grease.
http://www.sjscycles.co.uk/park-tool-asc1-anti-seize-compound-prod13562/ Nasty, dirty stuff, but very effective. Too thick really for precision cut threads (as all threads should be but so rarely are on bicycles or bicycle components). Dirty stuff to work with. Expensive . To be chucked next time I rearrange my toolbox.
3. Finish Line Ceramic Grease.
http://www.sjscycles.co.uk/finish-line-finish-line-ceramic-grease-2oz-60ml-tube-prod17942/ This is for moving parts, and supposedly makes a micro-layer on them. I bought it specifically to put in the Rohloff EXT click box, which contains moving parts that should, according to the manual,have a spot of grease applied every 500 kilometres. Almost nobody except me greases this box, and after some experiments I now do it every 1500km -- and rising. But I no longer us the ceramic grease in the EXT box or almost anywhere else, because I suspect this lightweight gunk of washing away in water. In any event, it disappears, and any residue appears to have broken down. One place I still use it is on vintage rubber block pedals with unsealed ball bearings, which have a hole at one end of the axle just the right size for the pressure applicator I have attached to this tube of stuff. Maybe it leaves a layer of ceramic protection on those ball bearings; I hope so as I like the pedals and they're likely not replaceable. Expensive for gunk that doesn't seem to work well when exposed to the elements -- and when does a year go by that a touring bike doesn't repeatedly get wet? Definitely the least likely candidate here.
4. Finish Line Teflon Grease.
http://www.sjscycles.co.uk/finish-line-finish-line-teflon-grease-35oz-100g-tube-prod1588/ My go-to grease for every conceivable purpose. This too is meant for moving parts but its smooth, light consistency, attractive spreadability, and superb water resistance and longevity persuades me to use it as an assembly grease, to coat threads with it, to smear it on parts that need protection, and generally just to reach for this one tube when I need grease. I've even wondered how it would go on a chain, though I haven't tried that yet. In particular, I would never use anything else in my Rohloff EXT click box, which is a component vulnerable to the entry of water (it sits real low on all bikes with a good cable-run) in which you want enough gunk to pack it but not to make the operation stiff. Another agreeably clean lube. The white colour is also useful because a line of it appearing is clear evidence of parts fully greased at their mating surfaces.
AND THE WINNER IS: Finish Line Teflon!
Do you have a single-tube candidate for a universal grease?
Andre Jute
