Rich said:Chris wrote:
Quoted message said:Quoted message said:I've never heard anyone arguing that steerer tubes should be greased...the only great grease
debate I know of is in the BB/crankarm interface (and everyone knows you grease ISIS, and do not
grease square 🙂
The only things I grease north of the headset are stem bolts and tiny bits of complex seatposts.
Quoted message said:Actually, IIRC the manual for my RaceFace square taper bb calls for a smidgin of grease.
FWIW, to boil down the whole "to grease a tapered BB spindle or not" debate over on r.b.t..
Without grease, the friction between the spinde and crank will result in a very slightly less
repeatable seating of the crank. This means when the crank "sqirms" into its final resting place
during the first ride, the crank bolt will be slightly looser since the crank has moved further
"up spindle".
Greasing causes the crank to slide slightly further (and more repeatably) up the taper, so the crank
will move less distance up the BB spindle taper during the first ride. The crank bolt will stay
slightly tighter.
Residual grease/oil on the BB spindle or crank (or even touching the spindle faces) has essentially
the same effect as slathering grease on the BB spindle. "Dry" in terms of installing a crank means
using a solvent and cleaning all the surfaces thoroughly.
Bottom line: Installed dry or wet, a crank torqued to the proper tension will not cause any
problems, and won't need to be adjusted after the first ride. However, most people don't use a
torque wrench and don't really know what the proper torque "feels like" (it's probably tighter than
you think). This is why so many cranks come loose, and are converted almost immediately into
recycled aluminum scrap.
Repeated tightening of the crank bolt is also a very bad idea on a tapered BB spindle. The crank is
SUPPOSED to move slightly up the spindle to reach an equilibrium (to the regulars here, that's kinda
like drinking the perfect amount of beer). Each time the crank moves up the spindle, the crank bolt
will APPEAR to be looser than it was, but the torque that you used (or should have used) to install
the crank is designed to allow for this. Install it right, leave it alone.
Mark Hickey Habanero Cycles habcycles.comhabcycles.comOpen ↗ Home of the $695 ti frame
