Hawk Talk

[fredweb]

Originally Posted by Ariel Red Hunter

I thought I covered reducing friction pretty well, but I just remembered that when I visited Andy Kolbe's BSA/Honda shop in Woodland Hills, Calif., they were working on their Gold Star flat tracker. I think they were getting it ready for the Sacramento Mile. Sacto, we called it. Anyway they were testing various ways to grease the wheel bearings. They spent all afternoon and evening trying different bearing greases. They would grease it up, mount it on the bike, and have the same guy spin the wheel, and time it with a stopwatch until the wheel stopped. Vaseline was the winner. They replaced the modern spring type rubber seals with leather seals that they punched out on the spot. "I can't believe that made any difference" I said. "Oh yeah, the leather seals barely touch the axle, and the tire revolved about 2 minutes longer." That is what is known as taking pains.

Vaseline has a melting point of 99deg F. I wouldn't expect that to last long in a bearing. It will run out the bearing and probably catch fire after the bearing heats up. The grease being used isn't as important as how its used. If you want to reduce friction use lithium based grease and just barely coat the balls and race. I used to grease the bearings and then use compressed air to blow out the excess. This reduces friction and in turn reduces the heat generated. Vaseline is not a very good idea at all.