You got what stuck in where?

don't let this happen...

Some of you may remember my saga of last winter involving my seatpost getting stuck inside of the seattube of my cherished Redline D460. Not just any seatpost but my Cane Creek Thudbuster. It seems that maybe in my lust for my newfound love, my Transition TransAm 29er, I  was neglecting simple maintenance on the Redline ( I guess I should come up with pet names for my bikes, that would make typing easier, but I'd have to think too hard about that... Ok how about Tranny and RL...?)  Maybe I'll insert a link to that story but I'm sure you could find it to the right abit*.
Anyways, it must be that time of year again. The Thudbuster that I bought for the Tranny was stuck when I went to check it. Now, you understand, I do check my seatposts for this problem every 3-4 weeks. Yep, seatposts.. All of them. My prized Ted Wojcik ( ok, Teddy), my Gary Fisher HKll, Panasonic Mountain Cat from 1988, the wife's Miyata of the same vintage, and the Schwinn 3speed Speedster from my paperboy days. And various other bikes that may be lying around. I even encourage Stephen to check his Stolen Cherry ( yep thats the brand name ) BMX 'whip'....
NONE of them has EVER had an issue with a stuck seatpost.
So, imagine my horror when this happened again to the Tranny. Last year, I pulled and pulled and twisted and it finally broke free. This time, it wouldn't budge. Initially, that is. So I wrapped a cloth towel around the seattube just below the collar and gave the 'post some penetrating oil, and let it sit for a few hours.
Tried pulling, twisting, banging with a mallet, swearing at it. Nothing.

So I laid my Tranny down ( perverts! My bike! ) first with the drive side up, on the rubber mat surface that I have in my cave. Pedal and handlebar firmly planted, I stood up half-naked on the seattube and downtube in my bare feet, swearing abit, and twisted. Flipped my Tranny over and tried the drive side down, taking care not to have the derailleur touching the ground. Same position, twisting, hoping not to damage the seatpost or the rails, FINALLY!! Abit of a twist! Other side again, again, until I could twist it all around in there. Then I stood my Tranny up and got behind and PULLED and PULLED and PULLED and TWISTED  again, with enough back and forth motion, until finally it popped out.
After a quick cigarette and some quiet reflection, I began to wonder-- WHY, WHY, WHY?? ( just kidding--cigs are nasty, kids )
Examining the shaft and wiping off some brown stuff (rust, kids) I rubbed it until it was clean and dry. I flipped the Tranny upside down to make sure there wasnt any water in there....I then inserted a towel into the seattube and twisted it all the way in and about until it was dry.
Then, after lusting again over the beautiful Transition Bikes paint job, and really looking at WHY the seatpost got stuck a second time, I began to look at the lines of the seattube. It occurred to me that, unlike my older bikes, the tube wasn't exactly straight, but  designed to be slightly bent, in order to make the tire fit and stuff. I checked with a straightedge, Viola! It makes that turn just at the bottom of the weld with the top tube......Very slight, but bent just enough....there's even abit of corrosion-like scaling on the 'post where the seattube, not being snug with the 'post, allowed air and moisture to start doing its thing with the unpainted interior of the 'tube
So, the first thing that comes to mind is to simply hack off the last 3 inches of post that I will NEVER use. I say hack, but I will carefully slice with my steertube jig, and then file/sand the rough edges until buttery. Then lube it up nicely and slide it in.
Ask me in about 3 weeks how easy my 'post comes out. Or didn't.


( *note: since I wrote this I looked for an article I may have written about the Redline post removal. I guess I never actually wrote that story but referred to it in Stuck Again? )