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Do people lube their seatposts in any way?
Not lubing seems like a recipie for it seizing, but lubing something held in place by friction seems wrong
grease appropriately before insertion....
That's what I did, but seems to gently slip down now
Is your seatpost the right size?
Definitely the right size, very slow slip, about 5mm over 30 minutes of riding. Perhaps I just need to tighten the clamp a little
What about anti seize rather than grease.
I don't grease/lube the posts on my mountain bikes but they come out or go up and down a fair bit so don't get the chance to seize. The alloy road post gets coppaslip and the carbon road post gets pace assembly paste.
Mine get a smidge of grease. I find slipping is usually down to the clamp, or a problem like an oversized frame / undersize post.
I lightly grease my aluminium posts, then give it a good wipe down with a rag. Means the post moves freely and smoothly in the frame when you want it to, but shouldn't slip. If it does slip, wipe it down more. If it doesn't move freely, wipe a little less.
For my carbon posts, carbon paste does the job.
I find slipping is usually down to the clamp, or a problem like an oversized frame / undersize post.
I forgot to wipe one time (oo-er), and it slipped all through my next ride. So it can be due to grease.
never greased any of mine and never had a post seize.
greasing a clamped post will not make it slip. quite the opposite. whether it slips is down to the size of the post compared to the reamed size of the tube and clamping force; ask an engineer.
Same as RealMan, grease then wipe off.
I've only had post slip on one frame and a new clamp sorted that.
Never lube my post - attracts dirt and not necessary. Just clean is after a ride and remove seatpost to allow to dry.
smiffy - Member
greasing a clamped post will not make it slip. quite the opposite. whether it slips is down to the size of the post compared to the reamed size of the tube and clamping force; [u]ask an engineer.[/u][b]
Im an Engineer - Lube it up Brother. You can never have too much Lube
as a bike mechanic, I will always use high quality waterproof grease on an aluminium seatpost inserted on an aluminium or steel frame when servicing bikes in our workshop
Grease it and grease the clamp.
I understood grease was for mobile applications like BBs and hubs etc. It retains its properties through being frequently moved. If you put grease in a static application it dries out and loses it's properties - hence you see dry white powder residue in places like BB shells.
For static applications you should use ant-seize compound like CopperEase. THis isn't "grease" but it's designed to be applied where you have two surfaces mated together that aren't gonna move against each other such as BB cups/BB shell, seatpost/seat tube or bolts/holes.
Of course, as pointed out, if you regularily remove/clean your seatpost you won't have a problem.
The last thing you want anywhere aluminium in a tight fitting situation is grit or sand and what is more certain than grease to pick up sand and grit? What you need is a tin of PTFE spray (ROCOL do it but there must be cheaper suppliers) ensure all surfaces are clean and free from dirt and grease and lightly spray the seat post allow to dry for a couple of seconds (a white dust will appear) and assemble parts as normal, any excess can just be wiepd off with a rag.