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I was always told that you shouldn't use Lithium based grease on Santa Cruz suspension bearings as it degrades the seals.
I now have an Intense and wondered if that still applied?
It appears that the Santa Cruz bearing seals are rubber or plastic but apparently Intense Recluse bearing seals are steel which would negate the issue I guess, am I right?
Right, there is no issue because the metallic shields are non-removable :).
The Intense Recluse and SC VPP bikes (like my own Tallboy) share the same linkage design, which has a lump of alloy with four bearings in the lower linkage. These bearings, which take most of the stick, should have open metal seals on the outside side and nothing on the inside, as they are lubricated through grease ports on the linkage block. It's important that this type of bearing is used, as a normal, sealed bearing would obviously stop the grease from getting in!
I routinely use Mobil 222 and can't see how it could possibly damage anything in these bearings as there is simply no plastic parts to damage!
The upper bearings on SC bikes are regular Enduro Max sealed bearings and I normally flip off the seals from the new bearings and re-pack them with grease before fitting. Again, I've used the Mobil 222 without issue here. I suspect that the Intense ones are very similar.
No issue with using lithium grease with bearings.
Still non the wiser on the lithium grease thing. Some places do say no to it, but also talk about White Lithium Grease (different thing?).
SC lube used to be aluminium based, rather than lithium, and that was for use with the grease gun on the lower link.
Asked on MTBR who are pretty technically wise, but nothing definitive other than lithium is probably not waterproof enough. On that, whatever is in it, I always use Marine Grease now.
Note with the lower link, yes the bearings have one-side metal seals, but there's then a rubber seal you attach and then a top-hat cap.
most greases are a lithium soap base anyway. itll be fine.