Weight Weenies

Hey y'all,

I've got a new Zipp 900 disc and the free hub has more drag than I'd like (slightly more than my well used 808 rear, I'm curious why they have as much as they do. Do they use a thicker lubricant to keep the Pawl noise down? If this is the case what could I run in there that would give the lowest friction?

Usually, its just a stiffer new spring.

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Mobil1 on the pawls.

Do this come with Mobil 1 or similar from the factory or is it something thicker?

Zipp recommends Mobil 1, any similar synthetic lube would work. A very light synthetic grease would also work, and shouldn't perceptibly increase drag.
I use Mobil 1, but it does require a bit more frequent maintenance, but it runs smoothly.

current zipps come with greased pawls/ratchet. they used to just oil them, and recommend mobil1. i am under the assumption that their new grease is mobil1 compatible, as their recommendation hasnt changed on the web or in manuals, so thinning it out with oil is a good alternative. another is to just crack the hub open and wipe some of the excess away. not all of it, but they seem to be applying a lot of grease in there.
i'd smear some of the excess onto the axle to help with axle/bearing id fit, and onto the supplementary bearing shields to help with sealing.

Zipp sells a specific freehub body oil now as well. Open it up and CLEAN the pawls and ratchets with mineral spirits/degreaser first and then apply a decently generous amount of the lube. Mixing the two creates a messy sludge since they don't always combine.

If I was to run a very low friction engine oil, aside from shorter service intervals what would the downside be? I couldn't find Mobil 1 10w-30 like Zipp recommended so went wandering round the Internet and stumbled across a race race engine oil with very low friction but less wear protection...

What do you think??

P.s great suggestions so far guys I'm just curious about other options.

Viscosity and weight matter more than that mumbo jumbo 'technology' shit they use to sell more oil.

Seeing as there can't be any meaningful temperature in the freehub would a low SAE rated oil be best then?

Also just to reiterate, I'm not expecting this to make much difference I'm just not happy with the stock hub and curious what the best solution would be. Not expecting the world here...

Its weird that you have drag, are they the 180 hubs? Mine have been amazing and have been through some terrible conditions.

Its a 2011 900 disc which still uses the previous Zipp hub generation I believe. I'll take it apart later and see if it's different from my 2011 808's which where better when they where new, maybe just too much grease in there. I'll have a look later.

Out of interest how would a PTFE dry chain lube work in the freehub?

Ruds wrote:Out of interest how would a PTFE dry chain lube work in the freehub?

most "dry" lubes have a solvent carrier that is intended to evaporate after application. you dont want that in there.
similarly, i have witnessed someone put a couple drops of triflow on the orange freehub seal and it curled up right away. that's the real issue, seal compatibility.

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Got it apart tonight, quite a lot of thick viscous grease, I removed it and used a lightweight engine oil. Quite a lot better, not as good as Zipp's latest 182 (I'd that the right number??) hubs but much better than before.

Thank you for all the help and suggestions!