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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?
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stella_black336mo ago
Avoid natural lubes near bearings, they wash out grease fast.
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troy_allen226mo ago
Saw my buddy's board seize up last week.
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lucasw846mo 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.
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wren2304mo ago
Got a buddy who used bacon grease once as a joke, said his skateboard smelled great for a week until the bearings literally welded themselves together.
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