copper grease anti seize agent

2 must-have chemicals for any mechanic: thread lock and copper grease

Copper grease and thread lock compound. Now, you can dismiss 🙂 Or, if you want to know why you need them, stick with me a little longer. If you have a look at the image, you’ll see an ordinary socket hexagon bolt. If you look closely, you’ll notice a tiny hole in it, indicating that it’s not a standard item. When I received my first disc brake set with mounting hardware, I was surprised to discover a very fine wire in the box and wondered what it was. Strangely, even on brand-new bikes, I never saw that wire. It’s a preventative measure against bolts slackening and falling off and causing catastrophic damage to your bike and you: that wire is threaded through two bolt holes and tied together: if they slacken a bit, the wire will not let any further… Continue Reading 2 must-have chemicals for any mechanic: thread lock and copper grease

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mobil aviation grease e1664053783850

Lubes, oils, greases and fluids for your bike

Let’s start with a very, very hard to differenciate terms: what is a lube, or lubricant, and what makes it different from an oil ? That’s quite hard to distinguish, so follow me: Lubricant is a general term, which also covers oils. Oil is a misnomer, which was already available before synthetic oils, which is a misnomer, too(!). There is no such thing as “synthetic oil”, for a start: it’s a synthetic lubricant, as “carrier base” is not oil. Oil is …very, very petroleum-related thing. So, forget about “oils”; they are total misnomers, but here is some handy stuff to know: if some lubricant has “oil” in its name, that means it is used internally! Like, engine oil: it’s in the engine crankcase, you don’t wash your engine with engine oil. You pour it into engine. (right?). Like gear oil.… Continue Reading Lubes, oils, greases and fluids for your bike

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