Those oil ports are there to allow you to run the bearings in an oil bath with no grease.
You state this without any qualifiying comments, so I have to assume that you got this info directly from the engineer who included those ports in the hub's design or that the information is for some other reason beyond question.
You might want to do that for a short time trial where every reduction in friction is important.
You might, but I'm not sure there would actually be a benefit. While reducing friction is good, be it for a time trial or otherwise, this question must be asked: Does grease really create more friction than oil in a hub bearing that is under load? Sure, the wheel may spin longer in the truing stand if there is grease in place of oil, but what happens on the road? Once the oil gets warm and flows out, once the bearing heats up and siezes, I suspect you will see a real change in frictional load. I think the whole "oil your hubs to go fast" thing is just old-tyme vodoo based on the observation that an oiled hub is easier to turn with your fingers than a greased one, combined with the suspect assumption that this would also be the case under load. The whole oiled hubs thing has been taken well past the limit of common sense by some track riders who used to remove the grease, the dustcap and one ball. Some used lighter fluid as lube. Same load, fewer balls, no protection form contaminants, and essentially no lube... sounds fast to me.
I've been told, and certainly believe, that the oil will not stay in the hub very long.
No doubt. I think if Campy knew you ran a hub with oil the warranty would not stay in the hub very long either. Alas, the days of substantial warranties from Campy are long gone.
Tom Dalton
Bethlehem, PA
>
> With a fine-point grease gun you can pump grease through the ports on
Campy dust caps, but back when those hubs were current issue, bike people
hadn't really discovered grease guns. I've been told that the reason for
the ports was to allow pumping a few drops of oil into the bearing to loosen
up the grease if the hub had sat unused for some time. I never tried this
myself, preferring to overhaul a hub if the grease thickened up.
> Tom Dalton
> Bethlehem, PA
> handsfie@aol.com wrote: I was just wondering if anybody uses the oil
ports to lube their Campy Hubs?
> Were they designed to be used without grease? Oil only? Rod Handsfield,
MD.
> Las Vegas
_______________________________________________
---------------------------------
Do You Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Tax Center - online filing with TurboTax