Oil or grease?

Mart UK said:

Will attract flies.

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But only the most discerning of flies

The nipple (or zerk for our cousins across the pond) has a spring loaded ball in it to stop grease coming back out. This does a great job of stopping grease getting in as the pathetic plunger type grease gun is hopeless and very often wont get to a pressure great enough to overcome the spring loaded ball. Throw in any slight damage to the top of the nipple and it definitely won't work. Take the nipple out and either rig up a more suitable nipple, ideally the hydraulic type that the usual grease gun will fit. Or apply the grease gun fitting to the hole and pump away, Grease will be expelled around the hole but some will get in there. Refit the original nipple to act as a plug coz that is all its good for! Be aware that if you fit a hydraulic type fitting you can easily pump too much in.

Whales are so big I only kill half a whale at a time.

My favourite grease for anywhere that you do not want the grease to sling out, and also want it to stay runny:

L.A.B. said:

however, I use gear oil now, (left-over EP140 used for the sealed swinging arm spindle assembly) not grease as I found grease tends to be squeezed out from the gears and then sticks uselessly to the inside of the housing (until I guess the housing becomes hot enough to melt the grease!).

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This is what I ended up using, left over gear oil. The only problem I had was when I removed the grease nipple the threads came out with the nipple. Ugh! Went to the hardware store and bought a M6 grease fitting with a fiber washer and got lucky fitting it. All is well.

Larry S said:

This is what I ended up using, left over gear oil. The only problem I had was when I removed the grease nipple the threads came out with the nipple.

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Ok, although in your first post you said you were fitting a new drive gearbox so in that instance it is easier to lubricate (and soak the felt ring etc.) beforehand in my opinion.

Personally, I prefer to remove speedo drives periodically and flush with solvent to remove the crud that often accumulates around (and behind) the drive ring (after removing the felt retaining ring, felt and backing ring) then relubricate instead of using the oil nipple.
(RH drive gearbox, not Mk3)

More worrying for me is the nipple on the end of the rear brake camshaft ....There should be a health waring sticker applied for the uninitiated to what potentially could go wrong!!

Mart UK said:

I wouldn't recommend lubing your chain with IPA. Will attract flies.

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Bar Flies?