My uncle said to never grease a sealed bottom bracket, and 6 months later I found out why

Lee Lane · 2026-10-09T19:50:02.76207+00:00

When I got my first real bike back in 2013, my uncle Dave who ran a repair stand out of his garage in Tacoma told me leather saddles and sealed bottom brackets both fail the same way, from people messing with them when they shouldn't. I ignored him and packed my threaded BB with marine grease anyway, thinking I knew better from some forum thread. Three months of wet commutes later it started clicking on every pedal stroke, so I tore it apart and the bearings had ground themselves into gray mush inside all that grease. New sealed unit cost me $32 and about 20 minutes to swap in, versus the weekend I wasted trying to repack the old one. Anyone else have a relative whose old school advice only made sense after you learned the hard way?

The Community Guide

Loading…

My uncle said to never grease a sealed bottom bracket, and 6 months later I found out why | DIY Bike Repair - The Community Guide