Seatpost. Grease or not to grease?

[Homet]

I’ve just bought a Suntour suspension seat post and when I removed my ‘old’ seatpost from my 6 week old bike, it had a fair bit of grease on it. Do I need to apply grease to the new seatpost?
The bike / post is not Carbon, before anyone asks!
Any advice would be appreciated!
If anyone has one of these seatposts, any tips would also be welcome - I’ve never had a suspension post before!

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Never.

 

[linklemming]

Applying grease or anti-sieze to seatposts(metal to metal) is a well understood thing to do and has been as long as I can remember. Every bike maintenance book I have ever read from the 80s on suggests doing it.

Not sure why anyone would suggest otherwise.

Tons of info on this available on the web. Instead alot links I will start with a few. I welcome anyone who suggests otherwise to supply relavent links.

https://www.sheldonbrown.com/stuck-seatposts.html

(1:49 in video)

https://www.parktool.com/blog/repair-help/seized-seatposts-and-stems

https://surlybikes.com/info_hole/spew/spew_why_seatposts_slip

 

[Handlebars]

I’ve just bought a Suntour suspension seat post and when I removed my ‘old’ seatpost from my 6 week old bike, it had a fair bit of grease on it. Do I need to apply grease to the new seatpost?
The bike / post is not Carbon, before anyone asks!
Any advice would be appreciated!
If anyone has one of these seatposts, any tips would also be welcome - I’ve never had a suspension post before!

From my little bit of experimentation, and riding on one for a year, I can say that how you position the seat forward /back, uptilt/ down and where your weight sits or where you brace against on the seat makes a big difference to how the seat moves.

I think that maybe how much you feel forward and back smooth motion is when the seat is responding optimally which, to me, is of some benefit but not great protection from the bad potholes. From Germany where I bought mine, I ordered a spare different spring for 10 bucks or whatever it was, so I got soft and medium springs.

 

[McCorby]

I agree with linklemming. A very light film of grease is recommended. It prevents galling and eliminates creaks and squeaks between the seat post and the seat tube.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

How comes no seat-post was greased by factory in any e-bike I bought? The seat-post role is not to move at all. No creaks or squeaks in any of the seat-posts I use.

 

[Tars Tarkas]

How comes no seat-post was greased by factory in any e-bike I bought? The seat-post role is not to move at all. No creaks or squeaks in any of the seat-posts I use.

Yeah, I watched the video and I was pretty surprised by this. I think of grease as something used on parts that move against each other. Seat posts are meant to stay in place; no movement.

I guess I can see some anti-sieze stuff, which seems to be a form of grease, used to protect the surfaces. I'm not a convert yet to the idea of plain old grease on a seat post yet.

TT

 

[linklemming]

How comes no seat-post was greased by factory in any e-bike I bought? The seat-post role is not to move at all. No creaks or squeaks in any of the seat-posts I use.

Polish thing perhaps Perhaps only needed for those who use throttle.

Every seatpost on every bike I have ever bought since 1981 has had the seatpost greased.

When ridden in wet environments, I have had seatpost sieze when not maintained as such.

 

[linklemming]

Yeah, I watched the video and I was pretty surprised by this. I think of grease as something used on parts that move against each other. Seat posts are meant to stay in place; no movement.

I guess I can see some anti-sieze stuff, which seems to be a form of grease, used to protect the surfaces. I'm not a convert yet to the idea of plain old grease on a seat post yet.

TT

Its to prevent galvanic corrosion due to dissimilar metals. For this use case, anti-sieze is better but grease works fine.

Did you read the surly link (bike frame manufacturer)?

 

[J.R.]

I always grease my seat posts and it's part of my regular maintenance (2 to 3 times a year). Not all seatposts will creak or stick in every bike, when they do it can be a minor annoyance to a catastrophe. I've known people that have had to use a pipe wrench to break the corrosion that can build up. The posts are usually anodized, but the inside of the frame is either raw aluminum or steel.

"28 grams of prevention are worth 454 grams of cure. Stuck seatposts are always the result of improper installation. If you do it right, you will never have a seatpost get stuck after you install it."

14 Ways to Unstick a Seatpost

Is the seatpost stuck in place in your bicycle's frame? This article can help you!

www.sheldonbrown.com

 

[McCorby]

Polish thing perhaps Perhaps only needed for those who use throttle.

Every seatpost on every bike I have ever bought since 1981 has had the seatpost greased.

When ridden in wet environments, I have had seatpost sieze when not maintained as such.

All of mine including my Felt and my girlfriend's Trek Verve ebikes have had a thin film of gease from the factory/lbs. If you hear creaking and can't figure out where it's coming from, the seat post can be the culprit. This is from personal experience....doesn't matter how tight the post is. It is still a joint, so movement/fretting will occur.

 

[indianajo]

I oil my seatposts. Non-supension. Same 5W non-detergent oil I use on chains, controls, cables, blah blah. I oil the fasteners at the same time. Twice a month. I leave my bike out in the rain when I'm shopping or working volunteer job. At 3 years, mine is not rusty. Plenty of rusty hulks for sale at the charity resale shops, that weren't oiled or greased.

 

[linklemming]

I always grease my seat posts and it's part of my regular maintenance (2 to 3 times a year). Not all seatposts will creak or stick in every bike, when they do it can be a minor annoyance to a catastrophe. I've known people that have had to use a pipe wrench to break the corrosion that can build up. The posts are usually anodized, but the inside of the frame is either raw aluminum or steel.

"28 grams of prevention are worth 454 grams of cure. Stuck seatposts are always the result of improper installation. If you do it right, you will never have a seatpost get stuck after you install it."

14 Ways to Unstick a Seatpost

Is the seatpost stuck in place in your bicycle's frame? This article can help you!

www.sheldonbrown.com

Over the years I have had creaks show up on pretty much every metal to metal surface involved with the seat. Hard to say when/if they will show up but greasing mating surfaces (including bolts) has always solved them with the exception of a ritchey seatpost (probably designed for a light rider). My Juiced CCX with a seatpost shim(bad design IMHO) was especially problematic.

Other non-moving parts I grease/lube
Headset/Frame interface/contact points before pressing in headset
Threads for Screw in BB (critical as water getting in frame will collect here). Antisieze is probably better here, especially for a Ti frame
Pedal Threads into crankset
Crankset into BB.
Spoke nipple/rim contact points before truing wheel

Basically any bolt on my bike gets grease, antisieze or loctite

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Perhaps only needed for those who use throttle.

For those who sadly cannot afford decent e-bikes in the United States of America, perchance

antisieze

antiseize

 

[McCorby]

For those who sadly cannot afford decent e-bikes in the United States of America, perchance

antiseize

My bike doesn't have a throttle!

 

[Dallant]

I’ve rarely put any grease on a seat post as I very rarely move them once set properly.
That said, I did find very lightly greased seatpost from the factory on my new Trek Allant+7 when I replaced it.

 

[Homet]

Thanks guys. I just added a very light coating of grease, just to be safe and went for a 20 mile ride. No slippage, it all seems rock solid!

 

[Gbart]

My wife and I got our Giant Explore e+ Pro’s a few weeks back and both came with greased seat posts from factory.

 

[6zfshdb]

I've been using a light coating of grease on my bikes seatposts since childhood. When all three of my e-bikes arrived with no grease, I applied a light coat as usual. I found I had to overly tighten my QR clamp to avoid slippage. This defeated the purpose of the QR since it required a wrench to loosen. The solution was to use this carbon grease from Park Tool:

Amazon.com

It contains just enough grit to prevent slippage with the QR clamp and provides the coating necessary to prevent seizing.

Note that there are other brands out there which are considerably cheaper than the Park product.

 

[mogulskier]

I'm in the minority here. Surface 604 Shred came with the seat post that did not have grease on it, and I am glad they did, and I didn't apply any. The QR acts like it should, and I don't see any reason to apply any.

This is purely based on user preference and prefer manufacturers did not ship ebikes like this and left it to the buyer to decide.