Showerthought: The weirdest fix I ever did was for a bike that sounded like a bag of angry squirrels

This guy brought in a vintage road bike, and the noise from the bottom bracket was unreal, like a high-pitched grinding and chattering. He said it had been getting worse for about three months. I pulled it apart and found the old cup and cone bearings were bone dry and pitted, which was no shock, but the real kicker was the cause. He'd been using a 'natural' chain lube his friend gave him, made from plant oils, and it had slowly dripped down and washed all the grease out of the bottom bracket over time. I cleaned everything, put in new bearings and proper grease, and the before-and-after was night and day. Went from that awful racket to near-silent spinning in about an hour of work. Has anyone else seen a weird 'fix' from a customer using the wrong lube in a strange place?

3 comments

3 Comments

stella_black3327d ago

Avoid natural lubes near bearings, they wash out grease fast.

troy_allen2227d ago

Saw my buddy's board seize up last week.

lucasw8426d ago

Yeah that checks out, read a whole thing about it. Some people use olive oil or coconut oil as a cheap fix. Big mistake, it breaks down the factory grease so fast. Basically turns your bearings into a dirt magnet and they grind themselves to dust. Seen it happen, total mess. Stick with the proper light machine oils made for it.