Best grease/lube for DT Swiss ratchet system

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VTR1000SP2
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by VTR1000SP2

I use whatever gear oil happens to be on the shelf in the garage. May be 75 or 90w at the moment. I clean and relube when chain gets waxed so quite frequently.


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BdaGhisallo
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by BdaGhisallo

ms6073 wrote:
Mon Mar 12, 2018 1:26 pm
Calnago wrote:
Sun Mar 11, 2018 8:24 pm
I have some of that “special” DT red grease... I always wondered what was so “special” about it.
You mean besides it being red? I always thought attaching the word 'Red' to a product name was somewhat akin to having an amplifier that goes to 11? :beerchug:
The full DT 240 tool/service kit used to come with two tubs of grease - one for the ratchets and one for the bearings. I suppose they labeled the ratchet grease as the "red grease" since it was red and to differentiate it from the other one. Not too many use DT's bearing grease so knowledge and recollection of that has seemingly gone by the wayside.

Priit
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by Priit

Calnago wrote:
Sun Mar 11, 2018 8:24 pm
I have some of that “special” DT red grease for their star ratchets that came with their hub service toolkit. I always wondered what was so “special” about it.
Well, it's red, man! Red lube means it's really special, like Ferrary.

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ms6073
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by ms6073

Priit wrote:
Tue Apr 17, 2018 8:41 pm
Well, it's red, man! Red lube means it's really special, like Ferrary.
I think you meant to type Ferrari. :mrgreen:
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ChiZ01
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by ChiZ01

how long should the red grease last? mine when away after about 2000km on my 240s, is that normal?

andreas
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by andreas

Manual says 12 months in normal use, 3 months in rainy weather.

SilentDrone
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by SilentDrone

I use dumonde tech freehub grease on Bontrager hub (DT Swiss internals) and on my i9 torch hub. Works great.


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TonyM
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by TonyM

I use the DT Swiss grease for the DT Swiss ratchet....That’s the recommended grease from DT Swiss and it is not expensive.

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Calnago
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by Calnago

I have the red DT Swiss stuff as well, as it comes with their hub toolkit, but I’m not sure what’s so special about it. I have some of Dumonde Tech’s freehub oil but it’s certainly more the consistency of oil, not a grease. Didn’t know they made an actual freehub grease. Anyway, I have enough of the DT Swiss Red goop to last a long time. I don’t even own any DT Swiss hubs anymore so it’s just reserved for servicing others hubs, mostly Lightweights.
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NickJHP
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by NickJHP

I find that Weldtite TF2 teflon grease works well on star ratchet freehubs. I have a couple pairs of wheels with Hugi hubs that pre-date their purchase by DT, and also a couple of pairs of wheels with DT Swiss 240s hubs. They all get lubricated with the Weldtite grease, and the Hugi hubs have been running at least 20 years with that in use on the star ratchets.

http://index.weldtite.co.uk/products/de ... tube-150ml

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Calnago
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by Calnago

Does anyone actually know what properties DT Swiss is requiring from a grease for their star ratchets. They want you to use their “red grease” but I’d like to know why. Does it resist being squished out of the teeth during the force of engagement better than other greases? I don’t know. But I always like to know the actual reason I’m using something, I mean the real reason other than just “cuz they said to”. And that doesn’t really satisfy my need to know the “why” behind it.
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TonyM
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by TonyM

Calnago wrote:Does anyone actually know what properties DT Swiss is requiring from a grease for their star ratchets. They want you to use their “red grease” but I’d like to know why. Does it resist being squished out of the teeth during the force of engagement better than other greases? I don’t know. But I always like to know the actual reason I’m using something, I mean the real reason other than just “cuz they said to”. And that doesn’t really satisfy my need to know the “why” behind it.
That‘s actually what they told me a few years ago as I asked if I could use a different grease! They said that this grease has the specific greasing properties for the ratchet mechanism combined to the specific consistency so that it is not easily gone when it rains etc...

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by Nefarious86

Wonder how aquaproof past would go...

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Calnago
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by Calnago

That thought crossed my mind as well @Nefarious86, but I thought it might be kind of too “sticky” to really allow instant and complete disengagement when you stop pedaling and freewheeling starts. Plus, I generally like to keep the Aquaproof Paste away from any bearings as much as possible. I was mostly curious as to what DT Swiss’s rationale for using their red grease is. I’m sure there are other products which work just as well and I wouldn’t lose a second’s sleep over using an alternative in that application, providing it still allowed for easy disengagement while freewheeling. But since I have some of their “red stuff”, I use it just because well... it’s red. And red is unquestionably the fastest color in the universe.
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TobinHatesYou
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by TobinHatesYou

TonyM wrote:
Sun Aug 18, 2019 4:44 am

That‘s actually what they told me a few years ago as I asked if I could use a different grease! They said that this grease has the specific greasing properties for the ratchet mechanism combined to the specific consistency so that it is not easily gone when it rains etc...

Mostly what it means is they chose a less viscous grease. I’ve mixed Krytox GPL-226 with VPF-1506 before to make it thinner for use in pulleys and such. It’s possible these “designer” greases are NLGI 2 greases with a bit of oil added and maybe some other additives PTFE. PTFE in applications like these is mostly marketing...it has an effect on efficiency, but on the order of a fraction of a fraction of 1%.

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