I almost ruined a customer's frame with a stuck seatpost last Tuesday

A guy brought in a vintage steel frame from the 80s, seatpost was seized solid. I told him it might take an hour. Three hours later I was still soaking it in penetrating oil and praying. Finally had to clamp the post in a vise and twist the frame, but the post snapped clean in half. Ended up drilling out the rest and using a tap to clean the threads. Customer was watching the whole time, sweating bullets. Anyone else ever had a seatpost snap on them during extraction?

2 comments

2 Comments

sage_morgan7511d ago

@claire64 gets it. Seatposts can be a pain but honestly, sometimes people act like it's brain surgery when it's just... stuck metal. If he was sweating over a vintage frame, you probably should've told him the risks upfront.

claire6411d ago

My uncle had a 1970s Schwinn LeTour in the garage for ten years, seatpost was froze solid. He just left it alone and rode it as is. Ended up selling it for a good price to a collector who didn't mind the stuck post. Sometimes you overthink these things and make a bad situation worse. Maybe you should have told that customer to take it to a specialist who works with vintage frames instead of risking a break.