got a new blackspire stinger yesterday so like a giddy child with a new toy i went about fitting it last night….while the chainset was off i decided i might as well replace the chainrings, but i didnt put any grease on the threads of the chain ring bolts….
am i asking for trouble in the long run or can i get away with it?

I wouldn’t put grease on chainring bolts, full stop. Loctite yes – grease no.

^^ this

good job i didnt put any grease on them then….the thought had crossed my mind…looks like i’ll be taking it all apart again to add the threadlock….missus wont be happy!! 😛

Why take it all apart? Just take the chainring bolts off…

I grease them & I haven’t died yet.

I grease the outside of the outerbit, but not the threads, I’ve not be othered with threadlock on the threads tbh, seems fine.

Why take it all apart? Just take the chainring bolts off…

so i can get at the granny ring…it’s a 2 ring and bash set up

I copper grease mine

Always grease threads on mine. Steel bolts innit.

As far as I recall Loctite is better in every bolt situation bar none you would be tempted to use grease with. Happy to be corrected though as I can’t find the article 😀

Always grease mine. Lube on a thread actually lets you tighten the bolt more. Never had a chain ring bolt come loose yet 😉

to grease or not to grease, that is the question.

i’m a greaser 🙂

mind you I also grease every bolt I can find on my bike 0 no real reason other than a probably bad habit.

Dab of copper grease on the threads of mine, without then can be a pain to remove as they just rotate.

Lube on a thread actually lets you tighten the bolt more.

True. If I was going to use a grease, I’d go copper-slip as you could argue it’s an anti-seize, so doing what you’d want the grease to do. Grease is great for parts that move against one another, but an anti-seize is better for parts that don’t.

I usually use grease on mine. I have used blue Loctite in the past, but it can be a PITA to clean off, especially from the female threads!

I just put a bash on a 2 week old set of XTR cranks. I’d say that Shimano uses a threadlock on them at the factory; it took quite a bit of force to break them free! So I used the thin, green loctite (low strength for screws) when I reassembled them. We’ll see how well it works.

I’ve seen more than one Shimano chainring bolt snap due to the stupid forces needed to break the threadlock that they use. I’ve never had a problem with using grease.

Shimano factory bolts are over torqued- the threadlock used is pretty irrelevant.

Medium strength Loctite is best in almost all applications. It acts as an anti-seize as well as holding the torque originally applied to the bolt better than other options

As Unklehomered suggests, it’s worth putting a film of grease/anti-seize on the outer section of the bolt. A failure to do this sometimes results in mysterious and hard-to-locate clicks.

..results in mysterious and hard-to-locate clicks.

Yep, that’s why I’m a greaser – I have a deep hatred of my bike making any creaks or clicks and grease seems to be the best way to avoid this.

Loctite 243 (blue) for me.
Have used grease before when I had no loctite to hand and it resulted in bolts coming loose. This was on a single ring set up with the thinner single-ring specific bolts. Never had a double/triple come undone with grease or Loctite, but having had the single ring bolts come loose, I won’t be using grease for any set-up.