Greasing Speedplays without their expensive grease gun! - th

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drmutley
Posts: 338
Joined: Fri Feb 11, 2011 4:23 am

by drmutley

I know its been suggested a few times in some threads but i thought an illustrated thread might convince users that a special grease gun is not only expensive, but overkill. To save speedplay users a few dollars, here's what I use to inject grease into my speedplay pedals... A simple 3 ml syringe.
Available at a chemist or drug store near u....

Steps:
1) remove screw in grease injection port in side of pedal body
2) put desired lubricant in syringe
3) inject lubricant until old lubricant is expelled from crank side of pedal body
4) wipe off old lubricant and replace injection port screw

Refer to pics & video below....

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_x1hst38NpA

Not sure why the YouTube vid doesn't embed but that's the link anyways....

Forgive the quality as I was injecting the grease one handed while holding the iPhone with the other! I guess however, it does demonstrate how easy the process is if I can do it one handed, and proves that u don't need a $40 speedplay grease gun to do the job!

Hope that saves a few quid ;-)

Edit:
If anyone has trouble finding a suitable syringe at the chemist or local doctors surgery, drop me a PM and I'll send u some...

by Weenie


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ultimobici
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by ultimobici

Seem to remember that it's not just the gun that is specific but the grease is a different viscosity too.

roselend
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by roselend

Have been doing this for years and it keeps the Zeros in a mint condition for a long time.
Doing it after every ride in pouring rain or bike clean and I use standard thick-viscosity bearing grease from Cyclone.

The speedplay manual says "a waterproof, high-quality grease" will work.

FAQ on speedplay website says:

What type of grease do you recommend for the bearings?
A synthetic, waterproof grease such as marine wheel-bearing grease works best. Speedplay uses waterproof bearing grease in its factory. Do not use thin viscosity grease, spray lubes, oil, or dry-type (PTFE) lubricants on pedal bearings or damage may result. Speedplay Grease guns and recommended grease are available at your local Speedplay dealer or call us at 1-800-468-6694 to order.

Wingnut
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Joined: Sat Jun 23, 2007 12:41 am

by Wingnut

I have a spare Speedplay grease gun for $5 if anyone wants it, it's unused...I think I have several grease cartridges too.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk... ;-)

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sugarkane
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by sugarkane

Been doing this for a while.. I use syringes for all of my lube and paste needs.. Carbon paste, Ti prep, extralite grease and phil wood water proof which is ace for ya speed plays

FrankTC
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Joined: Thu Aug 04, 2011 6:31 pm

by FrankTC

The expensive grease gun is only expensive when purchased with the speedplay label on the bag. You can get the exact same gun at any hardware store or Home Depot for $8-$10 dollars. The super lube is available from multiple sources for about $6 per tube. I'm not commenting on the OPs method, just another option if you want to go with a traditional gun. I use mine for lots of other jobs in the shop

Gearhead65
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ipaul
Posts: 231
Joined: Mon May 30, 2005 2:06 am

by ipaul

Just picked up two tubes here. Nice price but not sure what shipping's gonna cost me :?

http://www.kleen-ritecorp.com/p-4566-su ... rease.aspx
Last edited by ipaul on Wed Sep 28, 2011 10:55 am, edited 2 times in total.
:P

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MaLóL
Posts: 533
Joined: Thu Mar 25, 2004 4:17 am

by MaLóL

I do just the same, with a big bigger sryringe, the one i use for everything else...
Happy trails !!!!!

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bearsdidit
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by bearsdidit

any recommendations on a grease thats available at a local US based store? REI, home depot or LBS type of thing.

Thanks

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Rick
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Joined: Sat Aug 29, 2009 4:30 pm

by Rick

I am a Phil Wood grease fanatic, so I bought their "portable grease gun". It is similar to the Finish Line grease injector. In fact, I also have the Finish Line grease injector and like its feel better , so I later took the "tube threads" adapter off the Phil Wood and use it on the FL so I can use PW grease with the FL gun.

The advantage (I think) of a gun over a syringe is that you can hold it very tight against the grease hole and inject grease with a lot of pressure.

I am not convinced Speedplays really need a lot of pressure or frequent greasing however. I used them for years with NEVER greasing them before I bought the grease guns. Frequent greasing certainly couldn't hurt though. Luckily, I live in a very dry area. maybe in a wet area more frequent greasing is warranted.

Phil Wood portable grease gun:
http://www.aspirevelotech.com/Merchant2 ... Code=Tools

dodge
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Location: Brisbane QLD Aust

by dodge

ilvwhtgrls wrote:any recommendations on a grease thats available at a local US based store? REI, home depot or LBS type of thing.

Thanks

You can go into your local CAT Earthmoving Dealer and speak to the parts dept..Ask for this part number... 183-3424 (US sized cartridge)..or if in Aust quote this part number 183-3425(450g)..

Its a water and temp resistant grease :thumbup:

Cheers Joe

Butcher
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by Butcher

I have replaced the bearings in my Zero and all but the inner [roller] bearings are sealed. So, it is not hard to remove the pedal body and grease the roller bearing. Just remove the cover, the torx bolt, and body. Much cheaper than any gun and you get to see the bearings and clean the old grease out. I have a grease gun that I use for work but as a mechanic, I would rather see what the bearings are doing rather than pushing more grease thru it.

As an experiment, I have oiled my right pedal and greased the left on my dry bike. Just to see if there was a wear issue. After 3 months, none what so ever. The right pedal does spin much more than the left [by hand]. If you remove the rubber 'O' ring, then it spins much more. If you are the type of rider that plays with their bike a lot, you can probably remove the seals and oil them regularly.

Both pedals are greased on my wet bike.

NickyM10
Posts: 26
Joined: Wed Jun 29, 2011 4:59 am

by NickyM10

I have never had to but grease on my speedplay pedals only a little on the cleats which they
recommend you to do,perhaps this is because it does not rain very much here.
Great advice to us speedplay owners! :thumbup:
Thank you.

wasabi1
Posts: 191
Joined: Mon Jan 31, 2011 9:57 pm

by wasabi1

Sorry for digging this thread up, but my Speedplays are starting to seize.

Just wondering what other greases people have been using? Do not want to go down the expensive speedplay route.

Will use syringe, and something like this...?....??

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/white-lightning ... 100g-tube/

by Weenie


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