Carbon post? No grease!
July 6th, 2007 by Brad QuartuccioCarbon parts keep on coming down in price, and with them comes confusion.

One point of head scratching is grease on a carbon seattpost. No need for it, and in some cases it can cause complicated problems. Assuming the seattube is honed and deburred the post should just slide right in, relatively free even without grease. Since the carbon doesn’t corrode, the non-metallic post won’t seize to the seattube like a dry steel, aluminum or ti post may. And keeping it grease-free should help prevent the post from slipping, allowing you to use less pressure on that binder bolt and prevent crushing the delicate carbon.
Beyond that, you don’t want that post swelling up with grease and really getting lodged in there. Thats right, certain posts will absorb certain lubricants, making them bloated enough to get seriously stuck in a seattube. Grease can actually make a carbon post get stuck, rather than the other way around. Nine times out of ten this doesn’t seem to happen… But you don’t want to be number 10. Personally, I’ve avoided pulling the lucky number… You?





What is RSS?
Get our articles in your inbox:






Then there is that new goop that they are touting with the microscopic spheres that causes more friction on carbon posts so that they won’t slip down in a seat tube. FSA makes the stuff, I believe.
Yeah, I’m familiar with that goop. I have yet to use some yet, but have experienced the need with ultra-light 31.8mm bars slipping in the clamp, even under proper torque.
There is quite a bit of controversy about greasing carbon, AND the corrosion possibility. Here is an interesting exchange between Craig Calfee of carbon/bamboo bike frame fame and Lennard Zinn, legendary mechanic/author and tech writer for VeloNews:
http://www.velonews.com/tech/report/articles/9023.0.html
In short, it states that carbon is not damaged by grease, and corrosion between seatpost and frame IS possible!!!
I did not know that
Really good work about this website was done. Keep trying more - thanks!