oneeyedhobbit

Hey guys,

I was hit buy a car the other day. The accident was pretty minor, but it left me sans a front wheel and borrowing a buddy's bike until I can figure out what I wanna do wheel wise (I'm not super knowledgeable there).

My friend has an old Bridgestone Kabuki--model looks to be SSD. Its a heavy all hi-ten affair, but beggars can't be choosers, and its kind of fun to ride all the same. What's less fun is his (hopefully not) nonadjustable seatpost.



I'm not sure if that shows anything useful, but as you can see, no binderbolt! There is not a slit in the back of the seat tube as I'm used to seeing at all. I'm at a bit of a loss as to how or if Kabuki intended anyone to ever adjust the seatpost. It won't be the en dof the world if I can't (beggars can't be choosers, again), but I'd definitely go up an inch or two and be a MUCH happier camper for the next week or two of daily commuting.

Let me know what, if any options I have. If it were a matter of buying a $5 collar and bolt at a bikeshop, I'll buy it as a thank you for my friend who will probably store this bike for the next 11 months and figure whatevs =). If its a frozen seat tube and radical alteration, guess I'll suck it up.

blamp28

Look for an adjustment from the top of the post under the seat.

dabac

+1

One like this, or a close cousin. AKA quill seat posts.

TurbineBlade

+2. I had the same confusion on an old bridgestone/kabuki. Those quill seat posts are not my favorite, but are interesting.

It was a 13 mm box wrench if I remember...

oneeyedhobbit

Thanks guys. What a pita. Had to take the whole seat off (an exercise in itself) to get to the bolt. However, quickly realized that the seat tube is seized. I put a bunch of wd 40 in, and am able to move it side to side by striking it with my palm. Whats the best way to pull it out without breaking it/the frame (assuming diy is a semi-reasonable strategy, I'm told this is kind of spendy at a bike shop--if my friend was going to ride this I'd pay for it for him, but I suspect when I return it it will go back to the closet for an extended period =( )?

FastJake

Loosen the bolt and tap it with a hammer. That will usually free things up on a quill stem (same idea.)

Quill seat posts... What a bizarre and stupid idea. Added weight and reduced functionality. Was the standard bolted seat cluster really that ugly to these people?

commo_soulja

Wow, as much as I hate quill stems, thats pretty interesting. I never knew these existed. Thanks for droppin' some knowledge.

TurbineBlade

Oh, if you can wiggle it AT ALL you're golden. Just use a rubber mallet or an actual hammer like the above ^^ mentioned.

Man, with seat posts I always know I'm good if I can produce ANY movement . Now just lubricate the heck out of the post and seat tube before you reinstall and tighten the wedge/bolt. Poor mechanics and poor factory specs never grease things to my satisfaction.

I tend to follow these guys on this, even though I'm not in the wet NW of the states:

https://www.rideyourbike.com/bikeassembly.shtml

oneeyedhobbit

Nah, I was wrong--I can't actually move the post. The seat and its attachment are what we were wiggling. The post, despite a few light taps with a hammer (hesitant to do anything severe and ruin it), is still firmly planted. Bummer.

FastJake

Did you tap the top of the bolt? This will almost always loosen the wedge, even if the rest of it is stuck. It would have to be really stuck for the wedge not to come loose.

If you did not free the wedge you have no chance of going any further.

TurbineBlade

I would spray wd-40 all around the area where the post enters the seat tube, wait a while, then attempt to loosen the bolt with the proper wrench.

Then I'd smack the crap out of it directly on the top of the post bolt and hope for movement. A good, hard whack should do the trick.

Use Sheldon's technique if that fails. You'll probably have to destroy the post, but clamping it onto a vise and using the entire bike as leverage should loosen it.

oneeyedhobbit

That is exactly what I tried, and no dice! As its not my bike, I'm hesitant to try anything more extreme and destroy anything. Its not the end of the world, its a loaner bike. Its still fun on neighborhood jaunts (I normally ride fixed/spds, so coasting/wearing whatever I happen to be wearing is kind of nice), but the 7.2 mi to campus (and the return in the evening) is kind of a drag.

Sixty Fiver

Shoot some PB Blaster in there and have patience as things like this might take some time... forcing things can have bad consequences.

Bridgestone used this system on a lot of their aluminium lugged models and am thankful my Kabuki (track bike) has a conventional binder bolt.