does the grease breakdown the strength?
why no lube on a carbon fiber seat post?
"Rex,
Check out http://www.velonews.com/tech/report/articles/8835.0.html
for advice from Easton, Campy, Deda, and Bontrager.
Check this out for some interesting comments, including a letter from Craig Calfee
http://www.velonews.com/tech/report/articles/9023.0.html
Regards, Ben"
Another urban myth.
No, but carbon seatposts are not very resistant to cracking. If you grease a carbon seatpost, it increases the tendency of the post to slide down, and heightens the temptation to tighten it excessively, leading to cracking.
- Christian
While I have no personal data or observation to support the notion that grease will in fact deteriorate carbon fiber, I do have first hand experience with a CF seatpost slipping due to it's being greased against my instruction.
The lube is placed on alloy posts to prevent seizing (sp?) of the metal post to the metal frame. This can be caused by rusting or other metallurgic reactions which I forgot the day I graduated from school. With a carbon post and an alloy frame or a carbon post and a carbon frame, seizing doesn't occur, so the lube isn't required.
after having paid quite a bit of money to have a record carbon seat post cut, crushed, mostly removed (there's still a bit knocking around in there) and then replaced, i can tell you from personal experience that the post CAN freeze up in there. It seems to me that slippage would be preferable.
"""It seems to me that slippage would be preferable.""
It seems to me that a good aluminum post like a Thomson would be even more preferable.
""Chainwheel"""
I had the same experience. A carbon fiber post fused to my steel frame. The best efforts of experienced mechanics could not remove it. The shaft had to be tediously whittled away from the top using hack saw blades, files and chisels. I now use a sawn-down aluminum post to accomodate the remaining carbon fiber deep in the seat tube. Grrrrrr.