Anti seize or grease

[davidphilips]

Apart from using carbon paste if theres any carbon, post or frame, my view same as with bike cleaning and maintenance little and often is best, remove and clean seat posts far better to safe than sorry know i have been surprised a few times just how much muck gets in around a seat post on a bike thats used in the wet.

 

[Blue Hills]

Well one could be static through shear boredom or lack of interest.... Im sure there are tales of seizures, hip, back, jaw bone

admittedly, there is some tale/theory about foxes associated with that night-time howling, but have never been sure if it's a myth.

 

[Blue Hills]

On the core topic I must admit that I've never had a quill stem or a seatpost stick, despite doing no maintenance in that area for years, often keeping bikes in damp conditions, and buying several old bikes with quill stems that have been left similarly uncared for before I came along and bought them.
How common is this seizing?
Tend to think that very minimal care is needed to avoid it.
All but one of these bikes of mine, frame steel, inserted bit ally.

edit - I pay more attention to these things these days, just in case.

 

[raleighnut]

Folk have static sex?
Do folks seize?

Reminds me of the old joke where a father and son are walking along a beach in the south of France and they come across a couple having sex, the son says "Papa what are those people doing"
The father relies "L'Amour son"
"But Papa the woman is not moving, is she dead"
"No she must be English son"

 

[Blue Hills]

How can you tell when a Jewish woman comes.


Her Jewellery rattles.

(not true in my experience)

 

[Drago]

Anything is better than nothing.

Carbon assembly paste on, er, carbon. Avoid petrochmical based greases etc on carbon as it can affect the plastic/aramid/whatever is used on that particular components matrix.

Proper moly anti seize on steel or alloy, especially where steel an alloy meet. Coppaslip is ok, but is itself reactive and sacrificial, so not so good over the long term, but if you're diligent and check periodically it shouldn't be an issue. Grease is ok, with some shortcomings, as is Vaseline.

A smear of clear silicone sealant around the seat post/frame join slows water ingress almost to a stop, and can easily be peeled away.

 

[Tripster]

I have a Copper Anti Seize and also a PTFE anti seize. It said the PTFE one could be used sparingly on back of disc pads to avoid brake squeal but never used this when building SS recently. would this be better to use than copper slip on seat post ?

 

[Juan Kog]

I use normal grease. Alloy posts stick in steel frames because of galvanic action. Copper grease can make this worse. If you must use anti-seize, use aluminium anti-seize. But grease is best.

I use Alumslip where steel and aluminium are assembled together. This was after I read about something called galvanic corrosion . In the past I always used a generous “dollop “of grease on the seat post and never had seizure problem , although I check and regrease seat post yearly.

 

[weareHKR]

I have a Copper Anti Seize and also a PTFE anti seize. It said the PTFE one could be used sparingly on back of disc pads to avoid brake squeal but never used this when building SS recently. would this be better to use than copper slip on seat post ?

Personally, I don't believe there is a great deal of difference between any of the products mentioned in this thread.
PTFE is a synthetic product, Teflon really & it will protect from Galvanic reaction & is waterproof, but as I said I don't believe its any better than what you're using already.
At the end of the day, you need to periodically remove your seat post or whatever & clean both surfaces & re-apply whatever you choose!
File it under - General Maintenance!

 

[TheDoctor]

Coppaslip looks nice.
Grease smells nice.
'Personal' lube is water-based, so not good for bike parts. Apparently.
Poundland sells chain lube.
I think that covers all my lubrication requirements.

 

[keithmac]

I'm always surprised that no one suggests any of the certain personal lubes that I believe are available, especially in view of some folks' relationships with their bikes.

I've actually used some of that for fitting fuel injector o-rings, works a treat..

 

[Ajax Bay]

If you're going to lift, clean and replace a seatpost frequently (ie at least once every 8 months), then it doesn't matter if it goes in dry or what you smear on it. If you're going to leave the seatpost in situ for longer then 'I agree with Chris'. The exception is carbon/carbon where some additional friction is required (so use a paste designed for the purpose) given the (Nm) restraint on tightening the seatpost collar as firmly as you would on a metal seat tube.

Here's a great post from Yellow Saddle (Someone who's not been seen around this parish for a long time) explaining much more succinctly than I can, why you should never use grease:

[QUOTE="Yellow Saddle, post: 4104429, member: 39857"
The two parts that are commonly affected by seizure (not cold welding) are old quill stems and seatposts. Both these parts seize by the same mechanism because they are very similar in some ways:
1) Both are tight-fitting cylinders in tubes.
2) Both have dynamic joints. In other words, the joints can move around. The clamping mechanism is only at one end of the cyclinder, the other is free to move. In the case of the seatpost, the seatpost collar clamps it at one end, but the inserted end deep inside can still move. On the stem, the internally-expanding clamp holds it at one end, but the top can still move inside the tube.
3) Both are made from aluminium.
4) Neither have water-tight seals.

This means that with cycling, the posts and quills move. Now, should you smear grease on the interfaces, the following happens:
1) The grease is agitated (massaged) in the presence of water and that forms an emulsion.
2) An emulsion is great at preventing evaporation.
3) Water thus remains in the interface for a long time.
4) Water corrodes aluminium into Aluminium oxides.
5) The oxide molecule is much bigger than the aluminium molecule and the post seizes into place by the mechanism of swelling.
6) There is no welding or adhesion. Once the pressure is relieved, the post is freed.

Water on its own is not as damaging as water mixed with grease. The grease does not chemically alter the process but stores the water in the right place for long periods of time. Grease is NOT a waterproofing agent.

Instead of grease, a compound that does not emulsify is required, such as copper compound.