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Carbon post? No grease!

July 6th, 2007 by Brad Quartuccio

Carbon 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?


5 Responses to “Carbon post? No grease!”

  1. 1 Guitar Ted 

    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.

  2. 2 Brad 

    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.

  3. 3 Ghost Rider 

    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!!!

  4. 4 gwadzilla 

    I did not know that

  5. 5 Yahoouj 

    Really good work about this website was done. Keep trying more - thanks!

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