My understanding of the purpose for the oil ports on Campy hubs was to permit filling totally clean and dry hubs with oil for special record attempts. The theory is that oil would have less drag than grease, and allow higher speeds. The problem of course is that the oil leaks away through the dust caps, and the hubs will soon run dry. How long would an oil filled hub last? One hour? 100 miles? Anyone know?
But in the normal course of business, adding oil will only degrade the existing grease, and won't clean the existing dirt and grit. So for most of us, the black oil caps are strictly for decoration.
Tom Adams, Kansas City
-----Original Message----- From: RALEIGH531@aol.com <RALEIGH531@aol.com> To: Classicrendezvous@bikelist.org <Classicrendezvous@bikelist.org> Date: Thursday, March 29, 2001 12:29 PM Subject: Re: [CR]Grease injecting Record hubs
In a message dated 3/29/01 12:50:22 PM EST, monkey37@bluemarble.net writes:
> Just pull them apart, clean with solvent, and repack with new
> grease and bearings. The problem is little specks of dust, metal, and
> dirt that contaminate the bearings and cause wear on the running
> surfaces. If you just add grease you're not removing any of this, thus
> not solving the problem.
Just last night I did a Tipo rear hub, popped the dust caps off to do a thorogh cleaning and even then there's a space behind the races that was full of old dirty grease. Though these have no lube port, I can't imagine just pumping in grease would have helped. White lithium grease and new balls and it's spinning smoothly again.
Pete Geurds
Douglassville, PA