The implausibly stuck seatpost on your two year old’s balance bike finally turns a few degrees with a satisfying metallic shriek..

After a couple of aborted attempts during the last month I had admitted defeat and was resigned to getting the little fella a new bike, but then I suddenly had a eureka moment this lunchtime..
I whipped the rear mudguard off his weeride to expose two holes in the frame near the bottom of the seat tube.. Half a can of WD40 and a bit of brute force later and the post is re-greased, adjusted to fit and his mighty steed will be good to go til at the very least his next birthday 🙂

Happiness abounds in our household this arvo..
Now if I can just perform the same trick on the seatpost on my town bike, so that my other half can get involved with trailer duties, I’ll be laughing

Any other beautiful moments or mechanical breakthroughs this week?

I’ve successfully freed off stuck seatposts by bolting a stem round the post and then clamping an old fork in the stem. Shims will berequired depending on hte seatpost diameter but when everything is done u[p tight you’ve got loads of leverage.

Absence of infuriating creak after finally getting the pressfit bottom bracket cups to shut the hell up in the carbon 29er.

I love chemical metal!

Absence of infuriating creak after finally getting the pressfit bottom bracket cups to shut the hell up in the carbon 29er.

I love chemical metal!
😯
The bearings can be removed from the cups, right?

SRAM GXP bottom bracket removed and Hope BB inserted. No creaks and groans at all (apart from rider now having 20lbs of sticky chalky mud attached to bike).

😀

Photo of your kid having fun on his correctly fitted balance bike or it didn’t happen.

EDIT: Hmmm, insisting on photos of your children may be wrong. As you were.

EDIT: Hmmm, insisting on photos of your children may be wrong may make me feel nervous, due to the insidious and negative nature of our press, and culture of fear over such things in the UK. As you were.Pics or it didn’t happen

FTFY

I’ll get a pic or two sorted over the weekend.. The little tinker os flaked out on my bed atm, with a temp of about 904f and not even his bike is rousing his interest 🙁

Turn bike upside down, resting on saddle and handlebars.
Insert broom handle through saddle rails (fitting an old saddle prior to this operation is a good move).
Stand on broom handle, one foot either side of the bike.
Use bike frame as a lever and twist from side to side.
Something will give, usually it’s the seatpost in the frame 🙂

904f ??!! at least you’ll not need the heating on in the house for a few days. (Get well soon Little Tinker!)

You finally get Schwalbe One tubeless tyres mounted onto Pancenti SL23 rims using only your hands.

As a loosening agent WD40 is OK, Plus Gas works far better and you need to use a lot less of it. Or the traditional favourite, Coca-Cola. Preferably the cheap and nasty Happy Shopper variety.

Just unstuck a Reverb. Took some 3-in-1 penetrating spray stuff. Works better than WD40.

Little while bike had a hideous one with a steel post in carbon frame, just about bonded solid. Took several days along with soaking in this and that, and a hell of a lot of effort and swearing. The one that finally got it I think was the base cleaner stuff for snowboard/skis. Basically a citric solution. Was almost going to be cutting the thing out.

Or the traditional favourite, Coca-Cola. Preferably the cheap and nasty Happy Shopper variety.

It’s not “Coca Cola ” if it’s the “cheap and nasty Happy Shopper variety” 😉

Never actually seen it do any good for removing stuck stuff I must say! I’m still a fan of the ‘stick seatpost in vice and twist frame’, not great with Reverbs and what not though!

Designed a small but intricate part intended to fix the HVAC unit on my wife’s Panda. it had to fit into a double cam socket on one side and be pushed (via an ultrasonic horn) into the thermo-plastic on the other side. All Measured up, CAD done, 3D printed in titanium, took it off the build plate and it fitted like it was always intended to be there [/smug mode]

£983 saved! SCREW YOU, FIAT! …SCREW YOU!

Nice story Daffy.. Not quite as technical freeing up a stuck seatpost though is it