I don't know if Campagnolo grease is any different from others, but being "period correct" with lubrication is important on practical rather than asesthetic or "curatorial" reasons. Most pre 1960s bicycles, especially British ones, were designed and built to be lubricated "little but often". There's nothing a British bike doesn't like, beyond an open road, than oil and the manuals all suggested lubricating every fortnight. It really is essential to, as they charmingly suggested, to "ensure sweet running". Pre-war, it was a common beginning of season ritual to repack hubs and bottom brackets. I suspect more modern synthetic grease negates the need for this. And Cyclo-Benelux derailleurs absolutely demand frequent oiling and cleaning.
The other essential is gear oil for Sturmey-Archer hubs. This seems to be a bone of contention among some who believe you can inject any old motor oil into the hub and be done with it. Sturmey made, of course, their own cycle oil which was specially made for hub gears being non-gumming and highly refined. That ended with Sun Race took over. But you can still get the same oil under the Raleigh name and also Halfords in the UK. It's essential to use this and not motor oil; a S/A gear is not a motor, it's a gear and so many gear problems arise from using too thick or gumming an oil. The closest to S/A gear is sewing machine oil. I've seen S/A gears dating from the 1940s opened up and absolutely clean as a pin thanks to using the right lubricant whereas others look like the EXXON VALDEZ at low tide. A simple expediant to clean out an old gear is to flood it with WD40 first and then use proper gear oil.
Peter Kohler Washington DC USA
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