Loosening Seatpost in Frame

[Steve Sr.]

Hello,

I need to lower the seatpost of my bike everytime I put it in my
vehicle so it will fit upright in the carrier.

Even with the seat clamp loose the post is pretty tight in the frame
and requires a lot of wiggling to get it either up or down. Is there
any way that I can enlarge the opening in the frame slightly so that
it is a looser fit? Is there a special tool made for doing this?

The frame is a Litespeed and is made out of titanium. It also looks
like there is some kind of insert sleeve between the frame and
seatpost. I can see what looks like the junction of 2 different metals
if I pull the clamp off


Thanks,

Steve

 

[Mark]

>Is there any way that I can enlarge the opening in the frame slightly so that
>it is a looser fit? Is there a special tool made for doing this?

Perhaps more sensible to make the seatpost a bit smaller in diameter
than to enlarge the seat tube?

We await the follow-up question: "How do I keep the seatpost from
slipping".

Mark

 

[Phil, Squid-in-Training]

Steve Sr. wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I need to lower the seatpost of my bike everytime I put it in my
> vehicle so it will fit upright in the carrier.
>
> Even with the seat clamp loose the post is pretty tight in the frame
> and requires a lot of wiggling to get it either up or down. Is there
> any way that I can enlarge the opening in the frame slightly so that
> it is a looser fit? Is there a special tool made for doing this?
>
> The frame is a Litespeed and is made out of titanium. It also looks
> like there is some kind of insert sleeve between the frame and
> seatpost. I can see what looks like the junction of 2 different metals
> if I pull the clamp off

If you can sand down the inside or the outside of the "insert sleeve" aka
shim, then you should have no problem loosening up the fit between the
seatpost and frame. It only takes a tiny bit of material removal to get it
to loosen up.

Don't mess with either the frame or the seatpost. Both are far more
expensive than the shim is, so if you bugger it up, a new shim will cost
little.

--
Phil

 

[john]

Steve Sr. wrote:

-snip-
>Is there
> any way that I can enlarge the opening in the frame slightly so that
> it is a looser fit?
-snip-

I would suggest you ask Litespeed. They seem to have an outstanding
customer service dept.

Maybe a different shim? No shim & larger seat post.

Regards, John

 

[[email protected]]

Do away with the seat and post altogether and just bike while
standing...it's how the big boys do it.

Randolf

 

[Werehatrack]

On Thu, 18 May 2006 21:25:48 -0400, Steve Sr. <[email protected]>
wrote:

>Hello,
>
>I need to lower the seatpost of my bike everytime I put it in my
>vehicle so it will fit upright in the carrier.
>
>Even with the seat clamp loose the post is pretty tight in the frame
>and requires a lot of wiggling to get it either up or down. Is there
>any way that I can enlarge the opening in the frame slightly so that
>it is a looser fit? Is there a special tool made for doing this?
>
>The frame is a Litespeed and is made out of titanium. It also looks
>like there is some kind of insert sleeve between the frame and
>seatpost. I can see what looks like the junction of 2 different metals
>if I pull the clamp off

Have you tried a bit of grease on the post?
--
Typoes are a feature, not a bug.
Some gardening required to reply via email.
Words processed in a facility that contains nuts.

 

[Steve Sr.]

On 18 May 2006 18:33:07 -0700, "Mark" <[email protected]> wrote:

>>Is there any way that I can enlarge the opening in the frame slightly so that
>>it is a looser fit? Is there a special tool made for doing this?
>
>Perhaps more sensible to make the seatpost a bit smaller in diameter
>than to enlarge the seat tube?
>
>We await the follow-up question: "How do I keep the seatpost from
>slipping".
>
>Mark

Simple. Just don't loosen the clamp all the way!


Steve