the people on the framebuilders list suggest two things when everything else has failed:

1. ammonia
2. lye (red devil has been removed from the market because of meth hysteria,

but drano works - anything with sodium hydroxide as the primary ingredient)

these work for aluminum-seatpost-with-steel-frame only, AFAIK. the latter will actually eat away at the seatpost itself (and produce probably-nasty fumes). the former stinks really bad.

i have never tried either of these, but they seem reasonable from a chemical standpoint.

On Sat, Aug 30, 2008 at 9:08 PM, Ethan elabowitz@gmail.com wrote:

For a seatpost (or any aluminum part that fits into a steel tube), I would think one would prefer to cool down the offending aluminum seatpost rather than heat the (painted steel) seat tube.

Cool seatpost = smaller seatpost, ya?

I hear this can be done with a CO2 cartridge, but I've never had to try it.

Ethan Richmond, VA -- http://bikebuilding.blogspot.com

On Sat, Aug 30, 2008 at 11:42 PM, joshua muir muirjoshua@gmail.comwrote:

...

I didn't see anything abut heat in there- I have had a fair bit of success heatng stuck joints, and pulling stuck aluminum stems and seat posts.

just don't overheat (or use the auluminum parts again).

josh

On Sat, Aug 30, 2008 at 6:30 PM, dragonfly@mac.hush.com wrote:

...

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1

Kyle McKinley, I love that I can open an e-mail and read that anyone is someone's "favorite living bicycle thinker".

Thank you for having a catagory of "bicycle thinkers" in your head, for having favorites, and for having so many favorites that they must be subcatagorized into "living" and, presumably, "dead" 'bicycle thinkers'.

Reading your post cheered me up and made me feel that the world is a good place.

I think I'll go read Mr. Brandt on wheels right now. It just became the most important thing on my to-do list.

Kudos to all Americans for your historic Presidential slate-- Obama-Biden, McKinney-Clemente, Nader-Gonzalez, even McCain-Palin, despite the shudder that one gives me--has everyone seen the photos of Barak Obama riding his bike around Chicago like a regular commuter cyclist?

                              Sasha

On Sat, 30 Aug 2008 16:48:30 -0400 kyle mckinley bicirider@gmail.com wrote:

...

Mr. Brandt is my favorite living bicycle thinker. His posting on wheels (fully catalogued on the web) make for incredibly interesting and entertaining reading. Unlike most everyone else out there, Brandt is a engineer, with no links to the industry. He's exactly the kind of grumpy old codger that we need in this scene, and I've never known him to be wrong. Thanks for these reposts... His gruff responses make me laugh out loud. -kyle

On 8/6/08, Mark Rehder mark@re-cycles.ca wrote:

...

Speaking of Jobst, he has an FAQ on Sheldon's site:

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/brandt/index.html

Lots of good reading (and opinions) there.

Mark Rehder http://re-cycles.ca _______________________________________________ Thethinktank mailing list Thethinktank@bikecollectives.org

http://lists.bikecollectives.org/listinfo.cgi/thethinktank-

bikecollectives.org

...

-- If an Easyrider rides easy, then a bicirider rides bicis

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Joshua Muir joshua@santacruzhub.org

Frances Cycles -- francescycles.com Handbuilt cycling framesets Touring, Track, Road,Cross, and Cycletrucks for hauling any distance

The Bicycle Church Collective Community Self-Service Cycle Repair 3pm to 7pm everyday except Sunday 703 Pacific Ave (enter on Spruce St) Santa Cruz, CA 95060 (831) 425-2453

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aluminum changes more than steel when it is heated or cooled.   therefore freezing a stuck aluminum seat post in steel bike increases one chances   conversely heating an aluminum bike with a steel seat post is  going to advance your Chase.      heating the frame and cooling the seat post would be recommended for bikes and seat posts of the same type.

--- On Sat, 8/30/08, Arlen Cooke shalidin@gmail.com wrote:

From: Arlen Cooke shalidin@gmail.com Subject: Re: [TheThinkTank] Frozen seatpost - stem removal tips by Jobst Brandt To: "The Think Tank" thethinktank@bikecollectives.org Date: Saturday, August 30, 2008, 11:43 PM

Hey, I have found that if you heat the steam with a torch and the Wack it with a hammer it should come loose. Or a monkey wrench works wounders.

Sent from my iPod

On Aug 31, 2008, at 12:08 AM, Ethan elabowitz@gmail.com wrote:

For a seatpost (or any aluminum part that fits into a steel tube), I would think one would prefer to cool down the offending aluminum seatpost rather than heat the (painted steel) seat tube.

Cool seatpost = smaller seatpost, ya?

I hear this can be done with a CO2 cartridge, but I've never had to try it.

Ethan Richmond, VA -- http://bikebuilding.blogspot.com

On Sat, Aug 30, 2008 at 11:42 PM, joshua muir muirjoshua@gmail.com wrote:

I didn't see anything abut heat in there- I have had a fair bit of success heatng stuck joints, and pulling stuck aluminum stems and seat posts.

just don't overheat (or use the auluminum parts again).

josh

On Sat, Aug 30, 2008 at 6:30 PM, dragonfly@mac.hush.com wrote:

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1

Kyle McKinley, I love that I can open an e-mail and read that anyone is someone's "favorite living bicycle thinker".

Thank you for having a catagory of "bicycle thinkers" in your head, for having favorites, and for having so many favorites that they must be subcatagorized into "living" and, presumably, "dead" 'bicycle thinkers'.

Reading your post cheered me up and made me feel that the world is a good place.

I think I'll go read Mr. Brandt on wheels right now. It just became the most important thing on my to-do list.

Kudos to all Americans for your historic Presidential slate-- Obama-Biden, McKinney-Clemente, Nader-Gonzalez, even McCain-Palin, despite the shudder that one gives me--has everyone seen the photos of Barak Obama riding his bike around Chicago like a regular commuter cyclist?

Sasha

On Sat, 30 Aug 2008 16:48:30 -0400 kyle mckinley bicirider@gmail.com wrote:

Mr. Brandt is my favorite living bicycle thinker. His posting on wheels (fully catalogued on the web) make for incredibly interesting and entertaining reading. Unlike most everyone else out there, Brandt is a engineer, with no links to the industry. He's exactly the kind of grumpy old codger that we need in this scene, and I've never known him to be wrong. Thanks for these reposts... His gruff responses make me laugh out loud. -kyle

On 8/6/08, Mark Rehder mark@re-cycles.ca wrote:

...

Speaking of Jobst, he has an FAQ on Sheldon's site:

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/brandt/index.html

Lots of good reading (and opinions) there.

Mark Rehder http://re-cycles.ca _______________________________________________ Thethinktank mailing list Thethinktank@bikecollectives.org

http://lists.bikecollectives.org/listinfo.cgi/thethinktank-

bikecollectives.org

...

-- If an Easyrider rides easy, then a bicirider rides bicis

Thethinktank mailing list Thethinktank@bikecollectives.org http://lists.bikecollectives.org/listinfo.cgi/thethinktank-bikecollectives.o...

While I have no doubt Kyle thinks often of Sheldon Brown when he reflects upon, as he often does, his favorite bicycle thinkers, I happen to know Kyle and suspect his pantheon of bicycle thinkers is large enough to have included categories for living and dead, and many sub- and sub-sub- categories among them, long before he had the unfortunate task of mentally scooting Sheldon from the "living" to the "not living" card catalog in his head.

One thing I have always liked about Kyle is that look he gives you when he suddenly realizes you have never even heard of the obscure contributor to the bicycling canon from 1971 who he has just been discussing at length. After which he proceeds to enlighten you, and tell you about the amazing conversation he once had with that person about bike-seat technology and potential, if highly theoretical, improvements on ball-bearing manufacture.

Anyway, we obviously need a wiki for bike thinkers.

Erik

tom emm wrote:

"favorite living bicycle thinker" is probably a (thinly veiled reference) to the late great Sheldon Brown,www.sheldonbrown.com, he is easy to read, easy to understand, he talked right to us, like he was right there in the room with you, gentle , kind he spoke the truth some where on his website he says "I never take myself too seriously".I love that quote. Thank you Kyle, for invoking Brown, ...lest we forget.

On Sat, Aug 30, 2008 at 9:30 PM, dragonfly@mac.hush.com wrote:

...

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1

Kyle McKinley, I love that I can open an e-mail and read that anyone is someone's "favorite living bicycle thinker".

Thank you for having a catagory of "bicycle thinkers" in your head, for having favorites, and for having so many favorites that they must be subcatagorized into "living" and, presumably, "dead" 'bicycle thinkers'.