Email exchange with Dynamic Bicycles re: greasing the gears

[jlibson]

I had an email exchange with Patrick regarding the creaking that I was
getting. One thing that he said was that under "high load" the grease
can get displaced fairly quickly.

At the top are some instructions for removing the front drive assembly
for cleaning.

======= (begin lengthy email chain)

Joseph,

Not for a while, but yes, eventually this is a good idea. Probably
after you
have greased it 15-20 times. Not that the old grease in there does any
harm,
but no need to carry it around with you. When you get to the point
where
you'd need to clean out excess grease, you will need a crank puller
and an
allen wrench.

To do this, remove the LEFT crank arm by removing the crank bolt and
then
using the crank puller to pull the crank arm off the spindle. Next,
remove
the 3 Allen bolts on the RIGHT cover of the front gearbox. You can now
slide
the whole crank gear assembly off the right side of the bike (you may
need
to tap on the left side of the spindle to ge this out). Once removed,
this
will expose the crank gear and the inside of the front gearbox. Remove
any
grease (especially on any of the machined surfaces where the right
cover
slides back into the housing of the gearbox). next, slide the right
cover
back in to place and retighten the 3 Allen bolts. Then re-attach the
left
crank arm.

I hope this helps. Please stay in touch.

Patrick
1-800-935-9553
www.dynamicbicycles.com
--------------------------------------------
Sign-up for Dynamic Bicycles special offers and promotions:
http://www.dynamicbicycles.com/contact/signup.php

----- Original Message -----
From: "Joseph Libson" <jli...@libsoninc.com>
To: "Info at Dynamic" <in...@dynamicbicycles.com>
Sent: Tuesday, May 06, 2008 4:13 PM
Subject: Re: Problems with front gear box


>
> The noise *definitely* goes away when I add the grease.
>
> I have had 2 days of riding with no grease so far (touch wood).
>
> Is there any point where I would have to open up the gear box and clean
> out the old grease?
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Info at Dynamic" <in...@dynamicbicycles.com>
> To: "Joseph Libson" <jli...@libsoninc.com>
> Sent: Tuesday, May 6, 2008 12:12:23 PM (GMT-0800) America/Los_Angeles
> Subject: Re: Problems with front gear box
>
> Joseph,
>
> Needing to put grease in as often as you have to is very rare. Greasing is
> typically needed about every 600-1000 miles. However, based on your
> description of your size, terrain and the tag-along you are pulling, I
> could
> see you having to re-grease it more often than this. Every couple days is
> way too often.
>
> When you add grease, does the noise go away or is it always there? If
> adding
> grease does not make the noise or any roughness go away, there may be some
> issue with alignment of your gears.
>
> The grease we use is Finidh Line Synthetic grease with teflon. This grease
> has a very high load rating and is the best grease we have tested for this
> application.
>
> Patrick
> 1-800-935-9553
> www.dynamicbicycles.com
> --------------------------------------------
> Sign-up for Dynamic Bicycles special offers and promotions:
> http://www.dynamicbicycles.com/contact/signup.php
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Joseph Libson" <jli...@libsoninc.com>
> To: "Info at Dynamic" <in...@dynamicbicycles.com>
> Sent: Monday, May 05, 2008 5:34 PM
> Subject: Re: Problems with front gear box
>
>
>>
>> So does this happen with other owners? Is it common?
>>
>> I will try to adjust my riding style, but I think that I was being fairly
>> even.
>>
>> Is there another brand name for this same type of grease? I will need to
>> get more soon.
>>
>> Also, won't the front gear box get filled with grease at some point? Do
>> I
>> need to open it and "clean it out" ever?
>>
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Info at Dynamic" <in...@dynamicbicycles.com>
>> To: "Joseph Libson" <jli...@libsoninc.com>
>> Sent: Monday, May 5, 2008 2:11:20 PM (GMT-0800) America/Los_Angeles
>> Subject: Re: Problems with front gear box
>>
>> Joe,
>>
>> The noise you are hearing is the gears pressing against each other in the
>> front gearbox under heavy loads. If you are a larger/stronger rider and
>> towing a trail-a-bike, you are putting a lot of load on the gears in the
>> front gearbox. The grease used in this gearbox is the strongest grease
>> available, but it does have it limits. If you exceed the limits of the
>> grease, it will get displaced and need to be replenished. If the grease
>> gets
>> displaced and the gears rub together (grinding noise you hear), they are
>> not
>> doing any damage, but it cretainly runs less efficiently.
>>
>> With that said, when you re-grease the shaft, how much grease are you
>> putting in? You should be adding about 8 squits to the front gearbox with
>> the bike upside down. Spin the pedals by hand a couple times as you add
>> the
>> last couple squirts to move the grease through the gears. Also, you will
>> prolong the life of the grease if you focus on keeping a consistent pedal
>> speed, especially on the hills. gear down as you need to in order to
>> maintain and consistent pedal speed. If you are only pushing hard on the
>> "power stroke" then you will be putting even more load on the
>> grease/gears.
>>
>> I hope this information helps.
>>
>> Patrick
>> 1-800-935-9553
>> www.dynamicbicycles.com
>> --------------------------------------------
>> Sign-up for Dynamic Bicycles special offers and promotions:
>> http://www.dynamicbicycles.com/contact/signup.php
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Joseph Libson" <jli...@libsoninc.com>
>> To: "Dynamic Bikes" <in...@dynamicbicycles.com>
>> Sent: Monday, May 05, 2008 3:01 PM
>> Subject: Problems with front gear box
>>
>>
>>>
>>> Hello,
>>>
>>> I have a Tempo that I got from you about 2 weeks ago. I have had to
>>> inject grease into the front gear box every couple of days. I put about
>>> 12 miles per day on my bike. If I don't inject the grease I get this
>>> loud
>>> grinding noise when I crank hard on the pedals. I weigh about 200lbs, I
>>> am fairly strong and I do one "hard" hill per day. 1/2 of my ride I am
>>> towing my son on his trail-a-bike.
>>>
>>> A few questions:
>>> 1. Is this normal? That I have to add so much grease so frequently?
>>> 2. Where can I get more grease if I run out? There are bike stores
>>> aplenty around here (in San Francisco)
>>> 3. I've aligned the dots on the back gear box many times. But still the
>>> gears slip a good bit. Any advice?
>>>
>>> Overall I am fairly happy with the bike, but if the front gear box
>>> requires grease every 2 days I am going to be an unhappy camper.
>>>
>>> Thanks,
>>>
>>> Joe
>>>

[ea]

Good to know.

I've taken the drive assembly off a couple of times. It really is
pretty easy.

I'm tempted to take it off this weekend and clean it all out and
regrease it, just to start from scratch.

On May 15, 6:39 pm, jlibson <jlib...@gmail.com> wrote:
> I had an email exchange with Patrick regarding the creaking that I was
> getting. One thing that he said was that under "high load" the grease
> can get displaced fairly quickly.
>
> At the top are some instructions for removing the front drive assembly
> for cleaning.
>
> ======= (begin lengthy email chain)

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