So what I thought was reasonable torque on my seatpost tightening screws seems to have almost worn away the allen hex. Its tightened in place so I can ride for now but afraid to try to back it out.
The bolt is recessed into the frame so I can’t get anything like pliers around the screw.
Any suggestions on how to get it out? What will the LBS do to back it out? Anyone else have this problem? I sure didn’t think it was that much torque?
Make sure you have a brand new allen wrench and then back it out. If you can get a high end drill blank wrench even better. Maybe shoot some liquid wrench in there if you are really nervous to free it up a bit. They have this “grip tight” stuff you can put on the allen wrench and screw drivers as well to increase friction. If you can’t get it out wo stripping you’ll probably have to drill it which isn’t all that much of a headache, although I guess you’d then need an “easy out” screw extractor to get the rest of the threads out after the head popped off.
Tai’s advice on how to get it out is good. Then check that you have the correct allen wrench. I have stripped things (luckily not on the cervelo) on bikes because some of the stuff is sae and some is metric, and some of it is real close to one another. A silly example is the seatpost rack and the seat post on my commuter. One is metric, one is american but there is only enough difference to strip the seatpost bolt between them. Which of course I did. Note, kinda fits does not work. Luckily my lbs seems to have every bolt, nut and brake pad ever made. Amazing since they are a ski store all winter.
Hey thanks both of yas, I tried a new SAE allen and I felt it bite and got it out. I’ll make sure I get new allens every so often. I’m looking at my Pedro multi allen tool and its worn to the bone at the tip and never realized it.
Thanks!
A good set of t handle allens isn’t much and will save much grief.