Tombaatar

For the last 5 days my 2017 Specialized Sequoia has been at the bike shop where i bought, it upside down, with PB Blaster in the seat tube trying to free the seat post. Granted I have put over 10,000 miles on it but I have had bikes my whole life, several that are 20+ years old that I bought myself, and have never had this issue before. If it were abused or left outside i could see this happening. Thoughts? Seems like a manufacturing error to be so corroded after so few years but of course the warranty says corrosion not covered.

kuroba

I had a similar thing happen on a steel frame and then I learned that it is a very common thing to happen when using steel frame and aluminum seatpost (guess it applies to carbon too?). The first couple years I didn't took out my seatpost, not even when cleaning/washing my bike, so when I tried to take it off (to box the bike for a trip) it was stuck. It took us a few days but we got it out. Since then when I clean my bike I take out the seat post and apply some grease. No problems ever since.

Hope your LBS can get it out.

Wilfred Laurier

It was an assembly error. Had the LBS where the bike was purchased done the standard step of greasing or putting anti-seize or assembly paste on the seatpost (whichever is recommended for whatever materials are used) then this would likely not have happened.

Generally this is more of an issue when seapost and frame are of dissimilar materials (aluminum post in steel frame is likely what the Sequoia has), but the most stuck seatposts I have tried (unsuccessfully) to remove were steel posts stuck in steel frames.

REDMASTA

recently dealt with a stuck alu seat post in a 10 year old steel frame. like others have said it's not uncommon, check them seat posts regulary!

it's not going to break free with pb blaster alone no matter how long it sits. best shot you got is to clamp the seat post in a bench vise and use the frame as leverage to break it loose. luckily that worked for me, and afterwards i used 1" flex hone + extension to clean out inside of seat tube.

rydabent

Dont rush the process and damage something. Try turning the bike upside down. Remove the bottom bracket and pour a mixture of automatic transmission fluid and naptha down the seat tube and let it set over over night.

Jicafold

+1

PB Blaster is not going to work on dissimilar metals that have galvanic corrosion and that bike is steel with an aluminum seatpost. Your bike shop should know better, and like others said, they should have greased that seatpost when you bought it just 2 years ago. So that's 2 strikes against them. It's their fault. Have them give you a new bike if they can't get it out.

indyfabz

Grease doesn’t last forever, despite what you may read on BF.

MikeyMK

Smash the posh further in with a lump hammer, to break the bond it has with the surface. Not so far that it hits the bottle-cage mount.

Note - this may wreck it.

blakcloud

I had a stuck seatpost once and took it to the bike shop. After two days they gave up. I brought them ammonia and told them to try it. Within a day the post was out and they thanked me for the tip. This is a bike shop that had been in business for over 100 years. My point, ammonia can work, at least it did for me on my steel frame/aluminum post.

From that point forward, I pull my post and quill stem at least once a year and re-grease. I a glad I read this post because my wife just purchased a Specialized Ruby carbon frame/carbon post and I should pull it and make sure the shop put enough carbon paste in there.

Good luck to the op, it will eventually come it.

ljsense

When aluminum alloy seatposts oxidize, the results -- Al2O3 -- is this big abrasive crystal. It makes the seatpost larger and locks it into the frame with amazing security.

Strong bases will dissolve it (and aluminum alloy). That's why ammonia worked. Lubricants designed for steel/steel interfaces (like PB Blaster) don't.

If the bond is too strong for mechanical efforts to break it, you can use chemistry and patience. Cut the seat tube, remove the crank and pour a strong solution of NaOH (Lye) into the seat tube after you've plugged one end of it. I usually plug the bottom.

It will bubble and boil. Be careful, go slow, and wear eye protection and full skin coverage. Lye is extremely caustic and will burn skin, destroy any anodizing it touches, but will not hurt steel at all. You'll have to keep adding fresh Lye (I use a bottle of the little granules) and water. After several hours, it will eat through the entire seatpost.

cyccommute 

And what is that supposed to accomplish? The shop is already using a penetrating oil on the post which is questionable as well. The problem isn’t a lubrication problem...except that the post should have been lubricated before it was put in the frame.

As others have said, it’s an assembly issue. It could also be an environmental issue. Even a little bit of salt from sweat or from road splash facilitates the corrosion. Salt will also sit there and suck up water from the air which further exacerbates the problem. You might try to get Specialized to warranty the problem but realize that you could be at fault as well.

The problem is that corrosion products of the dissimilar metals have a greater volume than the metals. The fit is very close and even a small amount of corrosion can fill the gap and jam the post in place. Pouring in something that will dissolve the corrosion products would be a better course of action. Unfortunately the corrosion products...mostly aluminum oxides...aren’t soluble in much of anything including strong acids and strong bases. Also unfortunately, the chemicals that might dissolve the aluminum...like ammonia or sodium hydroxide (lye)...will probably damage the steel as well.

This is the reason that people can seldom get a fully frozen post out of a frame. Chemical means don’t work. You might try physical means like cutting off the post and using a blade to cut slots into the inside of the post and breaking the post out. That’s usually far too much work and you do risk cutting into the frame.

If, on the other hand, your post is at the right height, just ride it.

Tombaatar

They got the post out. The tube was a totally mangled mess. They gave me a "take off" seat post from a new bike that upgraded, charged me 45 for labor and 40 for a new quick release clamp.
This shop has been pretty good to me over the years so I didn't mention anything to them about the potential of poor initial assembly. I am sure that the effort required to free the post was worth the cost.
Thanks for all of the advise. I thought I was going to have to take it home and try myself. Happy to be on my bike again but I did enjoy the opportunity to commute on a couple of my old rides for a week.
Cheers!

starchase

You might have mentioned the issue to them just so that they don't make the same mistake on someone elses bike and still not know what is happening. Just a thought.

TiHabanero

I have worked in bike shops since the beginning of time and the going motto is "Grease before insertion" Pretty funny for a kid to hear, but one never forgets it. With that having been said, we have seen aluminum posts freeze up after only a few years due to environmental elements. Grease works, but there are extenuating circumstances that can render it useless.

Sy Reene

Did you at least ask if they greased the new post?

Clem von Jones

But use a silicone-based lube in carbon frames with carbons seatposts because petroleum-based grease will weaken the epoxy resin of carbon composite. But yeah in metal frames using metal seatposts make sure the inserted part is completely covered with grease. Glad to hear they finally got the post out.

Tombaatar

Yes, new post was greased.

puma1552

So, what type of grease should one be using for an aluminum seatpost in a carbon frame?

Newspaper_Nick

This is the second bad thing i have read about Specialized Sequoia. Another user complains about the lack of quality of the components, especially the rims. Such a pity really, it is a very good looking bike.

Tombaatar

Rims on the 2017 are garbage. One wheel cracked all the way around. Was replace under warranty. Then after 5,000 miles the wheel bearings had to be replaced so I scraped them and replaced them with Stan's Grail.

Trakhak

When I worked in a shop, when all else failed in attempts to remove a stuck seatpost, we'd take the bike over to the car repair shop next door, where a mechanic would use an air hammer on the bottom of the seat clamping assembly. Five seconds.

indyfabz

I learned this the hard way but with my aluminum CK headset and the steel steerer of my CF fork. I sweat a lot, poor water over my head rode the bike in rainy conditions and was bad at preventative maintenance. The headset spacers became helplessly fused to the streerer tube. The shop eventually had to cut them with a Dremel tool and pry them off via the cuts.

Crapwonk

I use Permatex 77124 Nickel Anti-Seize Lubricant on anything I want to be able to disassemble in the future. It is very water resistant and good up to 2400 F, so it is good on auto parts that reach high temperatures.

Wilfred Laurier

The quality of the wheels is my main hesitation when looking at a Specialized bike - both in my time working in shops and through people I personally knew I am aware of many failed hubs and freehub bodies on Spec branded wheels, at least one year so many failed that the company ran out of parts to send out as warranty replacements.
Considering that the far superior Shimano Deore hubs are probably ~$5 or 10 more per wheel on a $2000+ bike, it makes Specialized look like complete cheapskates.
I love the look of the Sequoia, but would certainly have to budget for the cost of a decent pair of wheels if I was considering purchasing one.

Newspaper_Nick

Specialized is a globally sold brand. It even maybe the second most sold brand globally (after Giant). So 5-10USD of saving per bike sums up to a huge number at the end of the day. That is the corporate way of thinking. Can't blame them. I know for a fact that Giant and Canondale also use cheap components on their cheap bikes, like Formula branded entry level wheels and hubs. Of course not all cheap components end up being bad. Sometimes you get unlucky. However, the Sequoia is marketed as an adventure/gravel bike, so they should have been a little more careful regarding the wheelset they have chosen i guess.