Originally Posted by
caotropheus
Greasing the seatpost is like many of the discussions in cycling, either you love it or you hate it. The point of grease on the seatpost is to avoid it seizes inside the frame. There is a simple alternative for grease that is once in a while to move the seatpost a bit up, down and sideways to avoid it seizes. This operation needs to be more frequent is the bicycle is exposed for long periods to the weather. I suppose this is not a problem in a folding bicycle because every now and then we fold the bicycles and we have to collapse the seatpost inside the seat tube, right?
The seat post on a folder is up and down like the proverbial wh*res drawers, so it isn't ever going to stick. Also - I take account of Jur's point about alloy posts not sticking in alloy frames. I used to have a Marin mountain bike that stood outside for a long time when one of my idle sons had the use of it. I recovered it when he went to college and decided to refurbish it - the seat post could not be moved - alloy post, steel frame - four years outside - no way. I tried everything to move that, except sawing it off and putting a hacksaw blade down the tube and sawing through it down its length. It was totally welded to the frame. In the end I gave it away to an old man who couldn't push the gear on his single speed anymore. He's still riding it in its granny gears at 86.