Don't use this to lube your VPI Classic bearing

"Since you only need a little bit of it about once a year, $26 for the lube from VPI"... is trivial compared with the risk of ruining the bearing.

It appears that your cheap gene overruled your common sense gene. Did you make any effort to ascertain whether this white grease was functionally equivalent to the OEM lubricant?

Every mechanical system is designed to be run with a lubricant having specific properties. Read your car's owner's manual. There's one spec for motor oil, another for brake fluid, a third for axle grease. Would you use axle grease as brake fluid or lube the ball joints with motor oil? (Hint: if you don't know, pay the mechanic.)

Some TT manufacturers (Teres, for example) make it easy for owners to relube the bearing by providing complete instructions and a spec for the appropriate lubricant. Others (VPI for example) do not. If you don't have the necessary information, stick to the OEM product. If you don't know enough to even ask the right questions, pay someone who does.

/harrumph! ;-)

Directly from the Classic Manual.

• After at least one year of use, the platter bearing and motor will need to be lubricated. For the platter bearing use 1/4 teaspoon of white lithium grease placed on the ball. For the motor, use 1 drop of 40-weight motor oil below the brass piece.

Chuck

The term lithium grease can be slightly misleading as the lithium content is actually the thickener used to thicken the oil content to make it grease as opposed to an oil.

Go to any high end bike shop that sells road racing bikes and ask for lithium grease used for packing the bike bearing. These high performance lithium bike greases use synthetic oil as the base as oppose to mineral oil.

The oil and lithium will separate over time when left in a tube. You should “knead” the contents before using. It sound like the lithium grease was not fully mixed before application, therefore, the oil content simply wept down the bearing shaft and succumbed to gravity.

Ditto Brf. For years I've been using Campagnolo bottom bracket grease in various TT and CDP jewel and ball bearings. It doesn't dry up and turn brown like most other greases. You could also try automotive moly grease.

There was an episode of Law & Order/Criminal intent in which forensics pinned a murder on a bicyclist by tracing the formula of the exotic grease in his bottom bracket. Take care.

Great for the Classic bearing. How about a TNT1 or an Aries1? Same lubricant on a different design? (I don't have a manual for either.)