Thought I'd post this as advice in case anyone should ever have the same problem with a stuck carbon seatpost in a Litespeed frame. My carbon Campagnolo Seatpost was teriminally stuck into my Litespeed Vortex Titanium frame. I learned the hard way that seatposts should periodically be removed and cleaned.That was four years ago and I've been riding with the seatpost as it was since then.
Since I just added another Litespeed to the stable I decided it was time to deal with it. I read and tried almost very cure that is posted here, Heating/then freezing, saturating with almost every type of lubricant, anti-sieze, tapping, gentle pounding, twisting, all for naught. The problem with Litespeed ti frames is that they use an aluminum insert and it works like an insulator to heating, freezing and if you try to twist the seatpost the insert will twist inside the seat tube.
I'd given up and was going to send it on in to Litespeed until the local wrench at the Litespeed dealer said he'd give it a go. He liberally lubricated the post, turned the frame upside down and held it firm by clamping the metal top of the seatpost into a vice. And with two stout guys pushing the frame upward while twisting the frame back and forth they pulled the seatpost and sleeve completly out of the ti frame. It took thirty minutes and so much effort that the ti was hot around the seat collar during the repeated breaks to rest and relubricate the seatpost. Regardless they pulled the seatpost and sleeve out of the frame.
I'm totally impressed with the results. The ti surface inside the seatube doesn't show any stress or marks from the sleeve being pulled (Sleeve has ridges cut into it and I thought the small ridges might scoure the inside surface of the seat tube). The seatcollar and seatpost that were removed look like they were epoxied together, I wonder if the sleeve can even be removed from the seatpost even now it's so stuck onto it. I believe if i'd tried to cut the seatpost to chisel or cut the seapost out that I'd would have probably ruined the frame or spend hundreds of hours working on it.
Since I just added another Litespeed to the stable I decided it was time to deal with it. I read and tried almost very cure that is posted here, Heating/then freezing, saturating with almost every type of lubricant, anti-sieze, tapping, gentle pounding, twisting, all for naught. The problem with Litespeed ti frames is that they use an aluminum insert and it works like an insulator to heating, freezing and if you try to twist the seatpost the insert will twist inside the seat tube.
I'd given up and was going to send it on in to Litespeed until the local wrench at the Litespeed dealer said he'd give it a go. He liberally lubricated the post, turned the frame upside down and held it firm by clamping the metal top of the seatpost into a vice. And with two stout guys pushing the frame upward while twisting the frame back and forth they pulled the seatpost and sleeve completly out of the ti frame. It took thirty minutes and so much effort that the ti was hot around the seat collar during the repeated breaks to rest and relubricate the seatpost. Regardless they pulled the seatpost and sleeve out of the frame.
I'm totally impressed with the results. The ti surface inside the seatube doesn't show any stress or marks from the sleeve being pulled (Sleeve has ridges cut into it and I thought the small ridges might scoure the inside surface of the seat tube). The seatcollar and seatpost that were removed look like they were epoxied together, I wonder if the sleeve can even be removed from the seatpost even now it's so stuck onto it. I believe if i'd tried to cut the seatpost to chisel or cut the seapost out that I'd would have probably ruined the frame or spend hundreds of hours working on it.
