# Best freehub lube/grease?



## tinball (Sep 24, 2014)

I just had to service my freehub for a BHS SL210 rear hub. I ended up having to take it to the LBS to get some grease/lube for it. I only have Phil Wood grease and it's so think I didn't think it would be appropriate to use. 

The local shop uses a grease that was in a sizable tub, grey in color. Didn't catch the name on the tub however. 

What I did notice however is that now with that grease in there, the wheel while MUCH quieter (no longer a swarm of angry bees) it spins less freely and will wind down much quicker than when the hub was new. 

What is the best freehub grease that everyone would recommend?


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## ibericb (Oct 28, 2014)

About any good GP grease will do. The Phil grease is liked by a lot of people because it tends to stay where you put it for a long time. The stuff you saw at your LBS might be Park Tool PolyLube. I personally like Motorex 2000 grease for about everything where a GP grease is indicated.

Don't let the apparent drag bother you. It's a result of the viscous drag of the grease. When the bearings are under load, the grease will move out of the way, and the drag effect largely disappears.


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## ericm979 (Jun 26, 2005)

Krytox. It's what Saris recommends for their Powertap hub. It's not cheap though.

Any thin non sticky grease should work. I've used moly grease left over from an automotive grease gun on my freehubs.

Sometimes on BHS/Bitex hubs the bearings have not been fully seated in the hub shell. They're close but not quite. So when the axle end caps are tightened there is a little too much preload on the bearing. Not enough to damage the bearings but enough to make a noticeable difference in wheel spin down. Whether there is a difference under a rider is open to debate.

I've gotten the habit of disassembling my BHS/Bitex hubs and pressing the hub bearings in with a bearing press and drifts. I also replace the freehub grease with Krytox, and use locking compound on the axle caps when I assemble the hub. The axle caps tend to come loose otherwise.


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## upstateSC-rider (Aug 21, 2004)

And to piggy-back off of the OP's question, is it OK to use a lighter oil such as Shimanos recommended freehub oil or PW Tenacious Oil as long as you service it more often?
K
I kind of like the louder freehub sound when mt biking to give warning to oblivous hikers wearing ear buds.


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## ibericb (Oct 28, 2014)

There are people who do that, and relube frequently as the oil will run out. Grease is really nothing more than thickened oil. The thickening does two things - it keeps it in place, and it acts a reservoir for oil replenishment. With oil you I would expect you would loose some service life. How much would surely depend on how frequently you serviced the parts. I suspect that with frequent attention, and a durable oil like Phil's the difference could be negligible.


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## SPlKE (Sep 10, 2007)

I like this stuff:










One tube seems to be a lifetime supply for me.


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## coachboyd (Jan 13, 2008)

This is the freehub body lube that we asked Josh at NFS to help develop for us. I've been super happy with it, and this amount is a lifetime supply.
NixFrixShun Race Grease - NixFrixShun

We have our private label version in 1 oz tubes, but it's the same stuff that NFS is selling.

You should try the chain lube as well!


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## BelgianHammer (Apr 10, 2012)

This stuff:










Use it once a year, in all my hubs...I'm still using FH-6500 and HB-6500 Shimano Ultegra 9 speed hubs across my bikes, with 10 spd on them. The cups and cones on these hubs are as new as the day I've bought them since I changed this grease out once a year, plus swap out the BBs every 20-25k. Some of these hubs have over 100k on them. This grease, which is much like Phil Wood (but to me it seems to last longer than Phil's), is pretty darn good imho, especially given the amount of rain we see here in Beglium, and it just keeps repelling water and sticking right where I put it..


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