You would think so, wouldn't you. I mean, it is common sense, but did you ever see a bike mechanic with a grease gun before the 1990's? I first started seeing grease guns when the WTB Grease Guard stuff came out in the late 80's. They got really popular in the 1990's. But I don't think they were at all common (in the bike world) back when the Record hubs came out. I also question whether the hole in the hubshell, the one covered by the OIL clip, was intended for grease injection. Filling the entire hubshell with grease is not the best approach, though I've overhauled hubs on which this obviouosly was done. Given that the center hole was almost certainly intended for oil, not grease, I'll speculate that the same is true for the dustcap holes. Tom Dalton Bethlehem, PA "m.rawlings" <m.rawlings@verizon.net> wrote: i have been using a grease gun to lubricate my campy bearings for a couple of years now. i believe it's the way the hole was intended to be used but i have no proof. mike 'just common sense" rawlings shillington , pa.
>
> 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
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Tom Dalton"
> To:
> Sent: Friday, April 12, 2002 8:34 AM
> Subject: Re: [CR]Oilling Ports on Campy Hubs
>
>
> >
> > 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
>
> _______________________________________________
>
---------------------------------
Do You Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Tax Center - online filing with TurboTax