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October 11, 2011 7:30 AM   Subscribe

I put together my new bike, a Nirve single speed cruiser, this weekend and, like an idiot, did not grease the seatpost before installing it (it was already quasi-slimy and I thought that was enough). Guess what happened? It's completely stuck and I'd kind of like to get it out.

Any ideas on getting it out? I've read this & have tried some of the methods, but the post hasn't even moved.

Relevant info:
We've removed what we think is the seatpost bolt.
It's an alloy frame, but I am unsure about the material makeup of the post.
It's been recommended that we try to remove the seatpost by the saddle, but pulling on the saddle just makes it come off of the post.

I had already planned to take the bike to a bike shop this week just to have someone check it over. Should I even bother trying to get the seatpost out myself or just have the shop go at it? I'd prefer not to pay someone to struggle with it if it's something that I can do myself in an hour or so (in addition to the hour that my boy & I have already invested in removing it). But if they have special methods other than brute force and luck, I'll bring it in.

Thanks in advance for any advice!
posted by eunoia to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (9 answers total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
Get some WD-40. Spray it around the seatpost. Let it sit for an hour. Try to remove the seatpost.

Try this 2 or 3 times and if it doesn't work then let the shop do it.
posted by I am the Walrus at 7:42 AM on October 11, 2011 [1 favorite]


The usual fix. Remove the clamp -- don't just loosen the screw, remove it. Attach a *cheap* saddle. Twist and pull. The twisting is important.

Seatposts are designed to mount saddles, so it's the best thing to attach to them for leverage.

If that fails, you put something around the seat post to keep it from falling into the seat tube (hose clamp works), cut the post off just above that, then use a file to file a deep score into the seatpost, then grab with a set of pliers (needle nose vise grips work great) and twist to curl up and pull out the seat post.
posted by eriko at 7:42 AM on October 11, 2011


Get some WD-40. Spray it around the seatpost.

If it or the bike is CF, realize that this might attack the epoxy. IOW, don't do that.

If the frame and seat tube are Aluminum alloy, use ammonia.

If steel, WD-40.
posted by eriko at 7:43 AM on October 11, 2011


Hair-dryer to the seat tube on "high" for a few minutes, and then wiggle the seatpost until it slides free. If that's a no-go, remove the saddle and spray a can of air-duster down the seatpost while the tube is still hot. (You may want to think twice before trying the second part of that trick with a CF seatpost.)
posted by Slap*Happy at 7:56 AM on October 11, 2011 [1 favorite]


Been there several times at a bike coop. Heat gun to the seat tube, plus twisting and pulling will do the job. I can't link from here, but search for Sheldon Brown stuck seat post. He will tell you all you need to know.

I saw a girl working about 10 hours to get this done on a vintage bike. Other times the heat gun would do the trick on five minutes. Good luck.
posted by Ayn Rand and God at 8:09 AM on October 11, 2011


From the master himself. Sheldon Brown speaks.
posted by RolandOfEld at 8:56 AM on October 11, 2011


Crap, missed that you had already been there and done that on the sheldon page. Oh well... If you can't get it out with his advice/methods then things aren't looking good.
posted by RolandOfEld at 9:05 AM on October 11, 2011


Hair-dryer to the seat tube on "high" for a few minutes, and then wiggle the seatpost until it slides free. If that's a no-go, remove the saddle and spray a can of air-duster down the seatpost while the tube is still hot.

Slap*Happy nails it. This rarely takes more than 30 seconds or so to fix (and you certainly don't have to cut anything, as suggested above).
posted by coolguymichael at 9:24 AM on October 11, 2011


Do you have a bench vise available? In the past, I've had great luck gripping the seat post in the vise, and then using the entire bike as a lever to twist and pull. Sort of awkward, but it gets you the leverage.

The last time I had a hopelessly stuck seatpost on a salvaged bike, the LBS charged me $150 to remove it. YMMV.
posted by rocketman at 10:29 AM on October 11, 2011


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