Help removing seat post

winnall said:

Bought what seemed to be a great 18inch frame racer for my girlfriend off ebay, came with a Reynolds 653 frame and reasonable quality parts. However I have now found one cannot adjust the alloy seat pillar- it seems stuck in the frame. using penetrating oil and a huge amount of brute force I got the post to rotate slightly- it may even have moved slightly upwards a 1/4inch judging by the marks on the seat tube. However it seems pretty frozen. Can anyone advise on how to get it out without wrecking the frame? THANKS

Sheldon Brown at www.harriscyclery.com has all the approved methods. You are lucky that it moves. I wrastled one like that out by securing the frame and then pulled and twisted. The post almost won,but it came out with no damage to the frame.

winnall said:

Bought what seemed to be a great 18inch frame racer for my girlfriend off ebay, came with a Reynolds 653 frame and reasonable quality parts. However I have now found one cannot adjust the alloy seat pillar- it seems stuck in the frame. using penetrating oil and a huge amount of brute force I got the post to rotate slightly- it may even have moved slightly upwards a 1/4inch judging by the marks on the seat tube. However it seems pretty frozen. Can anyone advise on how to get it out without wrecking the frame? THANKS

if you´ve tried every thing else try some science : aluminium and steel have different coefficients of expansion AND contraction . Just twisting away at the seat pin gets everything hot , right ? well whats happening is that the ali is expanding more than the steel and making it even harder to remove so....
Try the opposite aproach : COLD
all you need is a big bag of ice , wrap this around the seattube and wait for everything to get really cold - this should cause the aluminium to contract ( ie get smaller ) more than the steel and make it easier to remove .
adding salt , a lot of it , to the ice will also cause a notable drop in temperature ( latent heat of whatever ) but don´t spill it on the frame for what´sitssake or your frame will rot before your eyes . 😎

winnall said:

Bought what seemed to be a great 18inch frame racer for my girlfriend off ebay, came with a Reynolds 653 frame and reasonable quality parts. However I have now found one cannot adjust the alloy seat pillar- it seems stuck in the frame. using penetrating oil and a huge amount of brute force I got the post to rotate slightly- it may even have moved slightly upwards a 1/4inch judging by the marks on the seat tube. However it seems pretty frozen. Can anyone advise on how to get it out without wrecking the frame? THANKS

I think this method is probably described on the Sheldon Brown page that boudreaux recommended. Spray the interface liberally with penetrating oil, clamp the seatpost in a vise, then pull and twist on the frame. You get a lot more leverage that way. Usually works.

meehs said:

I think this method is probably described on the Sheldon Brown page that boudreaux recommended. Spray the interface liberally with penetrating oil, clamp the seatpost in a vise, then pull and twist on the frame. You get a lot more leverage that way. Usually works.

Worked for me, and about a teaspoon full of rust came out when the post did!

Make sure you spend 5 bucks for bicycle grease when you put the new stem in. Good luck...

tfstrum said:

Make sure you spend 5 bucks for bicycle grease when you put the new stem in. Good luck...

and take it out AT least every year to re-grease it .