Talking to a new hire about friction paste made me feel old

Had a kid in the shop ask me why we still keep a tube of Phil Wood grease around. I told him we used it on everything from headsets to bottom brackets back in the day. He just shrugged and said his school's program only taught using specific assembly paste for each part now. It hit different because I realized how much the 'right tool for the job' idea has changed, even for simple grease. Anyone else still mixing their own cocktail for press-fit stuff, or is that just us old guys?

3 comments

3 Comments

corah754d ago

You ever just mix a little anti-seize with some heavy grease for a creaky press fit BB? That's my go-to fix. I keep a little tub of that mix labeled "BB voodoo" on my bench. The new kids look at it like I'm doing black magic, but it works every time. Sometimes the old ways are still the right ways.

daniel_cooper344d ago

My old shop teacher swore by a fifty-fifty mix of marine grease and anti-seize for anything that might see water. He called it "boat lube" and kept it in an old coffee can. I still make a batch every spring for my own bike, and it does shut up a noisy bottom bracket. The fancy paste in the tubes never seems to last as long.

stella_scott964d ago

Honestly, the real black magic is getting a press fit BB to stay quiet for more than a month. My last one started singing like a dying robot after three rides... I should have just used the voodoo. Now I'm scared to even look at it wrong.