Seat post snapped mid-race at the weekend, and I had thought landing my undercarriage on the remnant would be the worst of it.......but I now find the bottom 1/3 or so of the post inside the frame is not budging. Have given it all a good soaking WD in case it was just 'a bit' stuck, but fear its a whole lot more set than that
Any thoughts / top tips on how to try to get it out?
Wd40 might get soaked up by the carbon causing it to swell and get really stuck. As it's carbon I'd get busy with a long hacksaw blade or drywall saw. It should be easy to cut up the carbon without going through the frame.
I've had this problem when i worked in the big shop, as johnny says the easiest removal, especially on an alloy frame is to use a long hacksaw blade and take your time, removal on a carbon frame is similar but takes an even longer time whilst clenching your buttocks and whistling through your teeth.
thanks, although I've got a whole lot more WD and evil looks I can bring to the party than precision & patience
try a hair drier on the frame to expand it.
To pull it you need some kind of barbed shaft to hook onto the bottom, maybe even knock a spare SFN in if you have one and it will fit and then use a bit of threaded rod like a slide hammer.
Other than that cut it carefully. Take your time.
Failing that send it to the seat post removal guy.
Have you got much protruding from the frame? If you have an inch or so you could clamp it in a vice and use the frame for leverage to twist it out? Put a bung inside the seatpost to prevent the seatpost being crushed by the vice.
You could try using a drywall bolt, the butterfly type that will spring out under the post, a long threaded rod and a slide hammer might get it.
However once in there if you don't get it out it will be a hacksaw blade, wrap tape around the bit you hold!!!
I would start by making a simple puller from a piece of steel or ally with a small lip bent on the end, insert that and try to hook it around the bottom of the seatpost. It might just work.
I would start by making a simple puller from a piece of steel or ally with a small lip bent on the end, insert that and try to hook it around the bottom of the seatpost. It might just work.
+1
Also, at the risk of stating the obvious, you still need to loosen the seatpost clamp.
undo the clamp.......now you tell me 😯
nothing above the frame (after me landing on it had flattened off whatever might have been sticking upwards)so initially tried hooking a spoke under the bottom of the post and pulling.....which is how I found it was stuck fast.
hacksaw blade to be deployed next.....
Noting that carbon + alloy = bonding. Though if the seatpost was adjusted fairly recently then that's unlikely. If it's been in there for ages then it might have.
bingo!
remnants removed through combination of skill, patience, precision and brute force.......one of which I was able to bring to the party.
have put an alloy post in for the moment, but beyond coating any long-term replacement with carbon paste is there anything else I should be doing to avoid having to go through all this again?
Take it out regularly and clean out the seat tube with the bike upside-down, using a rag on a wooden stick. Any seatpost will stick when the alloy frame tube oxidises inside because aluminium oxide occupies more space than aluminium. Grease or oil on the inside of the tube might stave off oxidation, as might something waxy like Waxoyle or Nikwax.
