We going to be alright - artwork by LisaCongdon

 

LCSG bikehandling workshop 12June2022

The best way to learn is to try it urself.  Today, with the guidance of LCSG angels like George Lim, Francis Chu, Desmond Chia, Uncle KC and more. Many newer riders got to experience how to handle the bike safely. Slow speed handing that is especially useful in pavement and crowded PCN conditions. 

Nice photo credits Uncle KC and Momo 

https://www.facebook.com/events/541825524224953/?ref=newsfeed

Chemical class to solve seized aluminium seat post

Safety notice << Pls wear safety googles and gloves. Its pretty hazardous.  Do it at ur own peril. 

The good of mucking around with old discarded stuff is that u can experiment and learn. After 2 weeks of penetrating oil and light tapping and hard wrenching.. the thing is really stuck. I even tried to use saw blade to split the tube... its hopeless. So the "nuclear" option remained. 

u can find in lazada or hardware store. Be careful with it.

its not cappuccino 

Triple sealed and wrapped... and it still dribbles abit. 

I told u.. it will be messy. So cover ur space well 

This is all that remains after 2 days of soaking. I think it could be shorter. I literally soaked it to death

I found that caustic soda, lye can dissolve stuff. And that means aluminium. The thing is it is controlled item and the work around is to find pipe declogger like the above. Look at the chemical/ safety information. Look for Sodium Hydroxide/ lye/ Caustic Soda. Or "do not use in alumimun fittings as it can damage" << Get that.

Steps 

#1. Strip ur bike out as much as u can

#2. Seal the BB part with tube/ tape or what ever. U are going to make a vessel out of the bike tube. 

#3.  Saw off the seat post, find a small funnel. The idea is to slowly pour the Sodium hydroxide solution to let it do its thing.

#4.  Suitup/ Googles and gloves. Line the floor with news paper and work outside ur home. There will be some fumes. 

#4.1 Get a small cup fill with 1/2 water. Then add in 2 spoon granules of the declogger. Give it a slight swish and u would probably see some bubbling reaction. And then the solution gets hotter... 

#5  Pour it in and observe. The frame will feel abit hot and if it doesn't spill over. Do up another batch and pour in. Do it slowly and observe. It helps if u have a clamp or bike holder. 

#6. As the solution reaches the top of the seat post, u will see foaming and bubbling. Like u are doing some cappuncino. That's meaning the chemical is working.  

#7. It can take min 3-4 hours before the solution eats up the seat post and delodges it.  I use a scrap tube and put into the solution as a gauge to see the reaction time. 

#8 - The seat post is freed!!

Observation.

Its really interesting to see all the bubbling. But becareful, wear PPE. 

The solutions does eat away the paint - at least the bike I experimented. But the Steel material is not affected. SO DONT DO THIS ON UR ALU bike 

So have you tried this and if there is another way to solve it? Do share in below comments? Happy DIY! 

IT does affect the paint 

How it looks after the Caustic soda solution soak 

Maybe a "RAW"Color scheme? 

Seat post cleared and one frame saved

Keeping this as a souvenir of this chemical experiment 

   

Seized seat post - Dumped KHS bike

Things were all rusted and missing 

Standing and riding the trame was straight and true. 

Catching up with my blogging(yes there is such thing still) . This happened Oct 2021. I found this KHS dumped and took it back. It was very crummy and clearly had a very tough life. I wondered if I can salvage it to make it functioning again.. oh no. 

This is how it looked when I picked it up. After 3 hours of cleaning up with zip/ dishwasher soap, it looked better. Going around the items.. most are shot and missing parts.  I identified a possible issue - seized seat post. So sprayed penetrating oil and try to lever it out. It didn't work, so I spray more oil and left it to sit for 2 weeks.

Then googled for ideas to solve it. Hey its good to learn and I like this kind of stuff. Some were elaborate mechanical leveraging and some chemical (last resort) 

Reading online, it seems like a common issue on old bikes which was neglected. If u are into this things, Sheldon Brown is a good place to start. No fancy animation but just good experience to get things done.   The thing is Steel bike with Alumium seat post will have galvanic reaction. Meaning they can fused together making a very strong bond.  Lesson here is to take out ur seat post once awhile, grease the insides and make sure nothing is stuck. 

Morning Spin with Carryme

Pacific cycle Carryme is the smallest bike in my collection. I relate to it as the walking alternative. The gearing is designed to be brisk walking pace and its one interesting package. The micro size makes it smaller then a baby stroller (folded) and allows u to do a spot of cycling in pockets of time.  Due to the Covid lockdown,  I am not able to travel out to the usual business area like Shanghai... but I hope it would be soon. 

But while that sorts itself out. I still do my daily morning walks or cycling in Punggol Waterway PCN. Its really a good way to sweat abit, reflect on the day ahead and get my mind ready. Yesterday I took my red Carryme to my morning ride. It was nice and check out some of the nice views around my neighbourhood. Keep on cycling!