chucky

I bought a bikesdirect bike and it came in the mail, eveything nice and new and the seat already installed onto the seatpost, but there's one really annoying problem:
I can't seem to loosen the "laprade" bolt that clamps down the seat rails...won't budge, even broke my multitool.

Any ideas? I tried leaving it out in the cold overnight and then heatshocking it with boiling water, but no beans. Unfortunately I don't have a longer M6 hex wrench, but I need to adjust the damn seat!

chucky

Ok, nevermind guys I was able to loosen it by using a T40 Torx bit on a long ratchet handle...not a perfect fit for the M6 bolt, but close enough to do the job.

And obviously the issue is that the bolt threads were ungreased and that the factory machine probably overtightened the bolt.

xenologer

just get a real set of wrenches
multitools are for roadside emergency use at best and are too short to get propor torque for bike assembly
using a torx bit where it shouldnt be runs the risk of stripping the bolt...you know how tight the seat was on initially? thats how tight you should put it before riding; get the right hex key for doing this ....

suspect seatpost is going to be the least of adjustments needed -there's a reason bikes at the LBS cost more than from a box; and it's worth it

Bianchigirll 

I agree! A nice set of quality Allen wrenches, I like the Bondus style with the ball, are more than worth the cost of aggrivation, stripped bolt heads and time lost not riding.

dsbrantjr

+1 on good quality tools, especially hex wrenches where the price difference between the cheap crap and the highest quality is quite small. Those Bondhus wrenches are a good functional compromise with the ball end for tight spots and the normal one for high-leverage situations where the ball end would be more likely to strip the socket head. The savings from cheap tools evaporates when you damage a component with one.

Hex wrenches especially should be considered throwaways, even good ones. When they start to lose their sharp corners replace them as worn ones are more likely to strip fasteners. EDIT: You can often prolong their lives by grinding the end down to fresh edges.

Multitools suck for the most part; I just carry the few sizes of L-wrenches my bikes require. They work better and I suspect that they are lighter than the rough-equivalent multitool. Trying to install a bottle cage, for instance, with a multitool is exquisite torture.

HillRider

+1 Multitools are for take-along, emergency repairs only. They should really be limited to this use and proper shop quality tools used where ever possible. Also agree that even good hex keys are limited lifetime tools, particularly the small ones like 4 mm and smaller. I'll extend their useful life by cutting off the worn tip with a Dremel and a cut off wheel but that just buys a bit more time.

dsbrantjr

Don't forget to replace the bolt that you loosened with the Torx tool; the recess is likely damaged and cannot be properly driven with the correct tool now. Don't forget to grease the new bolt; I prefer Tef-Gel for dissimilar metal interfaces, especially ones like your seat rail clamp which are infrequently serviced.

And get yourself a can of good penetrating oil, like Kroil, for the next stuck fastener.

chucky

First you say the bike WAS properly assembled from the box ("you know how tight the seat was on initially? thats how tight you should put it before riding") and then you say it needed adjustment because it's from a bad bad internet store, which is it?

In fact I checked everything else over and am mightily impressed with the quality of assembly:
-Truest wheels I've ever seen...I could not even see daylight between the rim and brake shoes, yet they did not rub.
-Front hub bearing just glides and glides, so it's perfectly adjusted.
-Headset I adjusted to perfection myself when I installed the handlebars.
-Installed pedals myself and regreased all bolts.
-Granted I have no way of checking the bottom-bracket and cranks without reinstalling them, but they're pretty hard to mess up so I'm sure they're fine (and certainly not worth paying the extra cost at the LBS just for that).
So the only thing I have left to check is the internally geared hub in the rear...which I guarantee any LBS I've ever set foot in in my entire life would screw up big time. I know because I often quiz the LBSes I visit on their hub gear knowledge and most don't even know how to properly use an internal gear hub, much less adjust one!

Besides, no LBS I know sells frames made of genuine Reynolds 520 double butted tubing like this one...so what do you expect me to do? Pay twice as much for a hi-tensile peace of junk "because the adjustments [which either aren't needed or they don't know how to do] is worth it"? When I hit my bike with my fingernail it sings like a churchbell...and you want me to buy the crap they sell at the LBS? Not if my life depended on it.

Yeah I'm thinking this will be my last multitool because every multitool I've ever owned has had not enough of the tools I need and too many of the tools I don't need...and I agree that it sucks even though it's probably heavier than just having the individual tools.


Hmph...and how am I supposed to make an emergency repair if I can't untorque the bolt after torquing it with a proper shop tool? Sorry, but I think it's foolish to assemble the bike with anything other than the same tools I'd use to fix it on the road. Which is another reason why I'm glad I didn't have this assembled at the LBS because they'd overtorque everything so that when I finally did have to do an emergency repair I'd be screwed.

HillRider

The multitool tool is there to tighten a bolt that came loose while you were riding, not to make major field adjustments. If I've just assembled a bike and have to refine it's adjustment, I take real tools along on the first ride.

chucky

Well I'll have you know that despite having assembled all my bikes with multitools (except obvious major operations like BB installation, pressing in headset cups to frame, etc), my bolts never come loose. The only emergencies I have are when parts actually break or cease functioning...like brake adjustment due to wear or wheel repositioning due to chain stretch or some other unpredictable failure (such as, for example, when I had to rearrange my chainring bolts, on the side of the road, in the snow, because the threads on some of the bolts eroded because I moved my chainring to the inside of the crank spider and didn't realized I should have also faced the bolts inwards so the chainring would bear on the smooth shoulders of the bolts instead of the threads). So if your emergencies are that bolts are just coming loose for no reason, then I submit there is something wrong with your assembly technique.

Other than that a single ride isn't enough time to fine tune a bike's fit...that takes many hundreds of miles and the adjustments need to be made immediately before the last perfect millimeter of adjustment is forgotten.

P.S. Or for another perfect example of an unpredictable emergency: One time I let an LBS change my flat tire and didn't discover that they totally discombobulated my gear adjustment until I was several miles away...so yeah I needed the multitool to fix the mistakes of those clueless LBS mechanics. This is the same LBS who lectured me for clicking through my gears in the store because "you'll break your shifter if you shift while not pedalling"...no, LBS man, YOU are the one that's going to break my bike because you haven't even the slightest idea what you're talking about!

HillRider

Well, I'll have you know I don't, and haven't, had bolts on my bike come loose at the side of the road either but I have used my multitool to fix those on other rider's bikes. I used my Park "Dogbone" (MT-1) to tighten the crank bolt on another rider's bike when the crank nearly came off on an organized ride and I've used the Ritchey CT-5 mini chain tool to repair the chain of another rider who damaged his when he caught a stick in it. Neither repair was shop-quality but they got them home without walking or a cell phone call.

The point of all of this is that multitools can be helpful but for routine use there are better tools.

Please be aware that your OP started out describing a problem with a Bikes Direct bike. Based on many, many postings here reporting dreadful misadjustment and poor assembly of Bikes Direct bikes, the first response was to think it was just another case of that. Your impassioned defense of the BD bike was a bit of a surprise.

xenologer

hmmh
you raise a decent point there; yeah, can't trust it either way that they had it right or wrong to begin with
Better get a torque wrench so you know for sure.