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Old 05-11-11, 11:57 AM
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Metaluna
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Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: New Hampshire
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Bikes: Niner RLT 9 RDO, Gunnar Sport, Soma Saga, Workswell WCBR-146

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Generally, people advise against greasing carbon fiber, though you will find disagreement on this. The fear is that the carbon composite will absorb the grease and swell, causing a stuck seatpost and damage. This is especially true on carbon frames, where the inside of the seat tube is bare carbon with no protective clear coat. In your case the frame is not carbon, so that's not an issue, and the seatpost itself probably does have clearcoat. But unless the seatpost manufacturer specifically says it's okay to use grease, I'd err on the safe side and use an assembly compound specifically designed to be safe for carbon. These include Finish Line Fiber Grip, Tacx Dynamic, and a few others. These are usually made of some kind of gel with a gritty substance added to prevent slippage. Hopefully, they're also effective at preventing oxidation at carbon/steel or carbon/Aluminum interfaces as well.

Also, grease can make carbon seatposts really slippery (from what I've read anyway...I've alway used Al seatposts). With carbon you have to be really careful not to over-tighten the seat clamp, so the combination of super-slippery post and limited clamping torque means in some cases it can be nearly impossible to keep a greased post from slipping.

Last edited by Metaluna; 05-11-11 at 12:05 PM.
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