Scott Minneman wrote:
"Speaking of grease, did I gather that somebody on the list had actually packed the barrels of their Campy hubs so full of grease that they could use the oil port to force contaminated grease out the side seals? There's no way they should be packed like that, right? The drag of spinning a hub body around that blob of stationary grease and fixed spindle (yes, I know enough about fluid dynamics to realize it'd be more complex than that, but would still have massive drag) would be really nasty.
I hope, at least, that whomever even considers that style of lubrication is using *really* light consistency grease (NLGI 0). If not, unpack those hubs and your pedaling will get a lot easier."
The drag is actually very minimal. Once the hub is ridden around the block, the grease is no longer tight against the axle and with the wheel out, the hub feels almost no different from a stock hub (I have a NOS front hub and a 20-years-of-grease-in-the-barrel hub in my home office now). The drag when you are out on the road would probably be measured in small fractions of seconds over a kilometer.
To me, the thought of always having clean grease on the bearings is worth it. Nobody is paying me to race against the clock. These are hubs on my daily riders, and not only am I not paid to race, I'm also not paid to fix my own stuff, so I don't want it breaking down.
Regards, Earle Young, Madison, Wisc. Offering expert wheelbuilding service for classic and modern bikes.