For the past several years, going back to the fish even, I’ve been PMing back and forth with a number of people as we’ve all been trying and testing different greases, and bouncing impressions off each other.
Schaeffer 274 has stood out.
Most of the people I’ve talked with actually drop it because they’re just riding gravity boards and it has more drag than other good greases. But that doesn’t really apply to Eskate, under power you’ll never notice that difference.
But what it does have is really excellent staying power and super low wash out compared to any of the other greases we’ve tried. Which means it does its job at protecting your bearings and improving their lifespan way better than other options.
I know on Eskate you can pile miles on your bearings way faster than when you’re having to push around. And those who are using it as a daily transport are going to, by necessity, be riding their boards in all sorts of less than ideal conditions. This is the grease that I’ve found puts up with those bad conditions the best.
I’m sure a lot of you’ve heard of Archoil AR8300. Very good high performance grease, very fast.
But the consensus I think is, it washes out too easily. Great performance but it won’t keep your bearings kicking through thick and thin.
Superlube EP seems to be the grease a lot of gravity riders have settled on. Generally describes as nearly as fast as Archoil with much better staying power and protection.
But 274 is always the one that people say lasts the longest.
It puts up with the miles and the conditions of Eskate, and the drag that normally puts people off from it doesn’t matter when you’re not relying on 9.8ms^2.
I use no fling motorcycle chain lube in shielded motor bearings, in sealed bearings, it’s a different solution I… like @b264 consider wheel bearings consumable products convince me further…
I feel if you frequently jamb almost anything with some lubricating properties with enough propellants into shielded motor bearings we have a winner… convince me further
Most bearing made are using abec-1 standard because for 608 size is no need be so precise. Ceramic bearing can be good but is depend for many factor like cage and type of ceramic using.
That I don’t know. There’s a lot more movement happening in gearboxes than in bearings on the wheels. Electric motor bearings and wheel bearings are what its listed for. So long as NLGI #2 is appropriate for the gearbox than I’m sure it would be fine.
Brine in particular I’m not so experienced with. I don’t put very many winter miles on my boards.
Anti wear (extreme pressure) additives in automotive products sketch me out, like Archoil says not for use with plastics. I’d worry about contact with nylon or ABS wheel hubs, or POM wheel gears. I’m not clear if it’s prudent to use with rubber bearing seals.
I have not!
I’d encourage people to continue to try new things and not rely on just established recommendations.
One thing to note when looking for new lubes to try is that Alumimum complex greases seem to be the best for water and weather resistance, and Fumed Silica seems to offer high performance. Past that you want a synthetic base.
For plastics, the Superlube EP is actually excellent. Its loaded with teflon. Works great with nylon cages.
I think the detergents and anti-corrosion additives in automotive products might me pretty helpful for resisting brine and that sort of thing. But I’m not sure how much greases have that.
Does anything else even ruin the grease in bearings? I’ve only ever gotten problems after riding in the rain. (or maybe I misunderstood and that was your point – regular rain VS winter slush)