seypat

Booyah!

TriBiker19 

I've bought three Centurions since August. I think it depends who is selling them. Supply and demand is a big factor. My first was an eBay bike, the second pair was a decent price, plus I cashed in a favor and got a really nice deal on them.

That reminds me....any movement on that seatpost RobbieTunes ?

TXsailor

I'm messing with my second seat post in the last few months. Like the first one I haven't got so much as a wiggle yet. I finally cut the first one out. I am making a impact socket to try on this one like RJ the bike guy did. I already have a replacement post it I have to sacrifice this one to the steel frame gods. They will come out even if its one piece at a time.

Always grease your post!

RobbieTunes

It's nice to share being accused of hyping the Ironman.
Of course, we know it's not hype.

RobbieTunes

I moved it from the dining room.

TriBiker19 

That is movement.

Previously, it went from Plymouth, Ma to NH to Indiana...

seypat

A long time ago when I was in the medical implants field, they used sound waves to loosen/break up the cement used with artificial joints. I wonder if that would work on stuck posts?

TXsailor

Maybe ...how could we get a unit to try it with? From what I understand when the aluminum corrodes it forms aluminium oxide like sand paper is made from which expands locking the post in place. The aluminum is less noble (is that the right term) than the steel so it also transfers to the steel. Or something like that. I do know that penetrating oil doesn't penetrate much from either end. Maybe once the post moves a little it would creep in better but getting it to move at all is pretty tough. I would like to have a reamer a little smaller than the seat tube with a pilot that was the id of the hole in the post. Then maybe I could just ream it real thin and peel it out. I would want to prefect it on a junk frame. I'm going to try the impact socket thing with this one but I fully expect to have to cut it out. I think his time I will use a coarse blade to maybe cut a little faster and minimize the chance of damaging the steel.

madpogue 

X-Prize goes to the first person who can hook up a Harbor Freight ultrasonic cleaner to a stuck seat post and.....

canklecat

That's not a bad idea. Try a vibrating massager taped to the seat post and seat tube. Might help shake the penetrating oil where it's needed. Sure works for rock and brass polishing tumblers. If you have an old vibrating massager around it's probably less effective now than when new. Most of them seem to age poorly and end up transmitting more vibration to the hands than to the neck, back or whatever needs massaging. So the entire unit taped firmly to the tubes might work.

TXsailor

Thanks to seypat I have a original saddle for my Miami Vice! 56 more days until I retire and I can spend all the time I want on my projects. Yes I am counting them!

Miami Vice

TriBiker19 

My husband suggested that was going to be his next method on the post. Something that vibrates like a RO sander, clamped on to the seat post and let it run for a while. The Harbor Freight ones work for a while until they die horrible fiery deaths, in my experience.

TriBiker19 

Just look through the eBay listings of bikes that are stripped except for the seat post?

I laugh now because it's almost like an amusement park. "You need to be this tall to ride."

madpogue 

Dang, I like the RO/DA idea. Keep him; he thinks good.... Any ideas on how/where to attach the sander?
Any good carnage video of an HF ultrasonic @$$-ploding?

Or..."You must be at least this crazy (or determined) to buy this frame."

riva

You probably want a rigid metal jig going from flat sander pad to round clamp. Then if you do $10 sanders, you can toss them after they do the firey thing and fit a new one. Modifying the sander itself seems like a waste of time if there is a good chance they will break. I'd want to leave it unattended for hours if it were me.. the assumed duty cycle for those things means they are probably not built for that kind of heat build up. Also the load against movement of being rigidly attached to a heavy object.. they probably are not designed to do that either.

RobbieTunes

I am soooo tempted......to go there.

canklecat

Oh, Phil Gaimon went there. He had to add weight to his bike to be legal for a competition. Jump to the 2:54 mark.

RobbieTunes

My litmus test on stuck seatposts: if you clamp the post to a bench, and turning the frame moves the bench instead...

My friend Mike and I moved a 16' bench. He was a bodybuilder. We tossed it.

I'll likely cut out the MV post, then cylinder hone the tube. It will be painted, anyway.

madpogue 

^^^^^ There's a thread from... oh.... a year ago? featuring a Trek frame (early fastback, maybe?) where the OP twisted the seat tube trying something like that ^^^^^. I'm about 140 lb soaking wet, with about zero upper body strength, but with a long enough lever, working on the stuck Laprade in that Tempo frame I got a few months ago, it feels like it's getting close to that point. I don't think it takes much, esp. with double-butted tubing. So the "gentle persuasion" techniques and/or just plain crazy new ideas are of interest. I watched RJ's video about using an impact, which sacrifices the post. Been trying to brainstorm on how to fasten the top of an intact post (with all the removable bits removed, of course) to something driven by an impact, so as to preserve the post. Maybe just the right size 12-point socket that would fit around the rectangular shape on the top, Idunno.

TriBiker19 

Considering it's him, he'd most likely go with some metal c-clamps and thick zip ties. I believe he was going to attach using the bolt hole at the top of the post, since that was the thickest and sturdiest part. (Also why he was opposed to sawing that off.) We only got as far as soaking it with PB blaster and hitting it with a small sledgehammer.

The sander dying involved a lot of loud swearing and me throwing it into the middle of the driveway while hoping it didn't actually explode. I killed two in one summer--the first one just stopped, the second didn't go as peacefully. Maybe this is why the neighbors left us alone, with the whole setting stuff on fire...

I'd say I was young and stupid then, but I'd do the same thing now.

seypat

How about cut the top and ream/drill with a hammer drill? That's a thought.

texaspandj

+1

madpogue 

I wish we had neighbors like you; it'd make the block a lot more fun.

With age and experience come wisdom and judgement, but wisdom and judgement only count if actually applied. Which, in my case, is a BIG "if".

RobbieTunes

I think someone has a power tool fetish.

madpogue 

Research for her next book. Yeah, that's it....