Just got a new bike delivered. Went to slide the seatpost in but the aluminium seat tube is far from smooth. Given that the bike was relatively cheap I don’t really want to send it back, it’s only going to be my winter road bike. Options are:
Man up and push the seatpost down, making a bit of a mess of it.
or
Get the file down the tube.
or
Any other ideas?

emery paper or a fine sand paper to take the sharp edges away

Don’t rub too much just enough to get rid of the burrs.

Wrap some wet and dry round a broom handle/dowel/handlebar and use it to lightly remove any burrs on the inside of the seat tube.
Just do it a bit at a time and go steady.

I use a brake cylinder hone in a drill for stuff like this. Usually available at any auto parts store for $10-15.

using a hone or a broom handle is going to **** your bike!

Just rub the edges of the tube and the slot, this is all you need to do.

“using a hone or a broom handle is going to **** your bike!”

be interested to know how that will happen.

Slogo – Member
using a hone or a broom handle is going to **** your bike!

Just rub the edges of the tube and the slot, this is all you need to do.

How so? I’ve done it to a couple of frames without issue. You’re not going at it with an angle grinder, just giving it a gentle rub with some wet & dry.

“using a hone or a broom handle is going to **** your bike!”

be interested to know how that will happen.Depends what has been starred out. Could be ‘nicely fix’ but that has too may letters. Maybe ‘tidy’

using a hone or a broom handle is going to **** your bike if you’re a complete cretin and go mental with it!

FTFY

fyi – pistons bores are more critical tollerance than a poxy seat post.

hones only damage those if your a monkey paws.

id have no issue taking a hone to a seat tube if i thought it was required.

Thanks for all the posts. Will get some wet and dry over the weekend.

Do you actually know what a hone is used for? They’re used to remove glazing and resurfacing the inside of a cylinder which helps lubricate the piston rings and the cylinder. This is done by scoring the sidewalls.

the correct tool for this would be is a Reamer, used to open up a hole to a greater tolerance and make sure its nice and smooth.

you won’t see a hone in a bike shop. Use the right tool for the Job!

Everyone seems to jump the gun. Giving advice to someone, that could ruin his bike. a bit of emery paper and wet and dry would be my first option. It’s more than likely it only needs a quick rub on the top edge and the slot.

Meanwhile your being over dramatic.

****- ruin his bike… Really. A monkey with a reamer will **** it much quicker.

Im not telling anyone to use a reamer. the frame has already been reamed. all that is needed is to remove burrs

trail_rat – Member
fyi – pistons bores are more critical tollerance than a poxy seat post.

hones only damage those if your a monkey paws.

id have no issue taking a hone to a seat tube if i thought it was required.

You have obviously never seen anyone hone or rebore a cylinder correctly.

Naw never done it , not even once. Cleaning sealing piston bores in down hole tools with flex ball hones are a regular occurance in my day to day work, removing scale and debris to return them to smooth round surface, not looking for engine bore crosshatching.

Not all hones are created equal.

So you should know a crap $10-15 brake hone off ebay is going to wreck a seat post tube and is not the correct tool for the job.

The OP is getting scratches on a seat post….

Flex Hone is what you want for this.

Flex hones are great, but they generally cost a lot more than a cheap brake cylinder hone. And the flex hones usually are designed to work in a relatively narrow range of tube diameters, where the brake cylinder hones usually adjust to cover a broad enough range to handle any round seat tube.

If I owned a bike shop, I’d probably get some flex hones. But as a home mechanic, a brake cylinder hone is good enough for me. I’ve ruined smoothed out rough or rusty seat tubes on several of my bikes so far and haven’t turned any of them into scrap metal in the process. 😆 Made them work real nice with a Hite Rite. 😀

If you use a brake cylinder hone, just be careful not to hit a water bottle bolt or anything similar that projects into the seat tube.