oddjob2

Blue Miyata tourers are cheap today in Michigan, nice score @Cheese Head.

2015: O for Two
Still have two frames, bought in 2014/2015, where I have not liberated the seat posts as they have broken below the top of the seat tube. One is a Santana Tandem, the other a Peugeot PKN-10.

2016: 1 for 1
On New Year's weekend, I picked up the Miyata 1000 below from Long Island. Discovered the stuck seat post before handing the flipper the cash and saved myself $50. Couldn't make the seat post budge in NJ, but I didn't have my full tool compliment. Now it's home in SE Michigan. Proud to say success, after more penetrant and patience. I marked the post height with a Sharpie, rapped it with a hammer a few times to see it slide in further, and voilà! EZ peasy.

More photos at link here.

3speedslow

I celebrate your victory, Huzzah!

CuttersRidge

The worse stuck post I had trying all kinds of things, I finally took to an autogarage and they quickly got it out, perhaps some industrial vice with some scrapings to the seat post but not bad. This was a few years ago so now, perhaps I could do it myself though I tried many of the suggested methods.

D1andonlyDman

Of course 2016 will Trump 2015 if you buy bikes that were not born in the U.S.A.

seedsbelize 

Just use that broken post as a shim and put a smaller post in it. Problem solved.

jetboy 

nice one. with the tandem is that 0 for 3 perhaps? if they break off below you can hacksaw to cut and then I used a butterfly bolt on a threaded rod to slide through and then pull up from below.

jeirvine 

Yup. I did something like that on my Trek 930 frame. Made a slide hammer and pounded it out.

CO_Hoya 

Out of curiousity, what do you consider the discount for a frozen seatpost? I looked at a bike today with a frozen Thompson expert post. Seller was asking $200 (I think the frameset was worth that much), so I took a pass.

I've un-stuck posts before, but never bought a bike when I knew the post was frozen.

oddjob2

$50-$75 off for a frozen post.

TimmyT 

You might as well show us the pictures of the tempering of your victory.

exmechanic89

I paid a shop last summer to remove a stuck seatpost and stem from a frame I picked up very cheap. I was loathe to pay for something like that, but after trying everything I just couldnt get them out myself. I asked the mechanics how hard it was when I picked up the frame and they said it was a mo-fo, with lot's of cursing, lol. Made me feel less bad about paying for it.

SJX426 

Had to use lye to remove my most challenging post.
This is near the end:
[IMG]P1030290, on Flickr[/IMG]

Left over post that fell out:
[IMG]WP_20160107_001, on Flickr[/IMG]

dailycommute

As long as one does not drink a sixer of yellowbellies while trying every trick in the book to unstick, then one is fine. Alcohol will of course bring out semi stupid solutions, like the cold chisel. Seriously I no longer bother on stuck seat post and stems, buy with discount and re-sell w/same/disclosure. If a keeper I would pass on stuck stems/seatposts.

ppg677

Last winter I did battle with a stuck seatpost for many many hours. I really did not want to resort to lye. Tried PB Blaster. I even broke my vise off the workbench.

Here is what worked: I walked around until I found a concrete gap just the right size to fit the seatpost. I still cranked and cranked and didn't have the strength to make it budge. I tried Freeze Off. It worked!!

But I ended up bending the frame since I was putting so much torque on it! (But I bent it back with 2x4s...ended up selling the bike for a pretty good haul).

wrk101

As far as discount, stuck stem or post = I value the parts only: wheels, crankset, dérailleurs. And I usually don't put much value on the wheels either, as often with bikes like this the hubs are toast.

I give the seller the chance to get it unstuck, they always think it will be easy,

My payoff for the work unsticking stuff is the frame. Realize getting stuff unstuck can be a lot of work. Last one I took on was a Raleigh touring bike. The plus side is it had Suntour bar end shifters, nice Dia-compe cantilever brakes, nice half step with a granny crank. So good value despite a stuck stem AND seatpost. Stem came out easy, seatpost was a bear.

About half the time I end up with the bike. I have enough projects regardless so I don't mind missing out on the other half.

If you acquire enough bikes with stuck stem or post, sooner or later all the "secret tricks" will fail and you will have to cut them out.

CO_Hoya 

This was my thought process on the bike I mentioned above. The components were in poor repair (wear, damage), so the money was in the frame.

Sounds like I made the safe move.

svensson

Frozen seatpost, literally

I did the b-icicle thing: left the bike outside for three hours (at 10.4 F/-12 C). Had the seatpost out in two minutes, with only moderate force. Didn't even break a sweat, he he.
Thermal contraction: aluminum is more sensitive to changes in termperature than steel, it contracts more than the surrounding steel frame when cooled down.

4funbikes

Going along with the above, The product "freeze off" helps in areas where those temperatures don't exist.

Best tool for seatposts: Patience.
Much like a 10mm wrench, I can never find mine when I need it.

Lascauxcaveman 

That's good to know. If it was more stuck, you probably could have enhanced the effect by bringing the frosty frame into the shop and giving the seat tube a quick shot with a heatgun, since the (outer) seat tube would warm up and expand faster than the (inner) post.

I've always been able to free up balky stems and posts with a long PB soak and then banging them down with just the right amount of hammer. Once they've budged that first 1/4" seems they just slide right out. I've been lucky so far.

wrk101

Freeze off, industrial strength ammonia, PB Blaster, Kroil, hammered down, heavy workbench with large vise, yes, I have tried a lot of methods. Sometimes they work, sometimes not. Cutting them out, carefully, always works but is a PITA.

And I have also bent a frame with the vise trick. You can and I have put too much twist on a frame, and the frame bent prior to the post coming out.