I used to over-lube everything on bikes until a sticky brake lever changed my mind

For years I thought more grease was always better - I'd put it on every pivot point, inside shifters, even inside cable housings. Then last month I was working on a customer's old mountain bike at the shop and their brake lever was sticking so bad it wouldn't return. I took it apart and found a glob of old, gummy grease mixed with dirt that had turned into basically cement. A retired mechanic named Rick was hanging around and told me that most bike grease actually attracts grit and traps moisture over time. He showed me how on shifters and brake levers, a dry lubricant or even just a clean, dry pivot is the way to go. I spent an afternoon cleaning out 3 other bikes I'd over-lubed myself and now I'm second guessing every tube of grease I own. Anyone else been putting too much lube on stuff and had it backfire like this?

2 comments

2 Comments

cameron_owens491mo ago

My buddy Rick actually told me the exact same thing a few years back and I brushed him off. I used to pack grease into every bearing and pivot on my old GT without thinking twice, and ended up gumming up a rear derailleur so bad it wouldn't shift past 5th gear. After cleaning that mess out I switched to dry lube on cables and just a tiny smear of light grease on pivots, never had a problem since. The sticky brake lever thing is real though, I saw a customer's bike where the lever return spring couldn't even budge the piston because of that dried up gunk. Now I'm way more careful with what gets grease and what stays dry.

daniel5521mo ago

Yeah you're not wrong about most of that @cameron_owens49 but I gotta push back on one little thing. That rear derailleur locking up was probably more from using too much grease rather than the grease itself being bad. A tiny dab on the pivot points is fine, just not a whole tub of it like some folks do. I've seen bikes that sat for a year and the grease turned into basically candle wax inside the shifters. So you're right to be careful, just don't throw out all grease entirely. A little bit in the right spots still helps keep things from rusting up in the rain and mud.