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Lye. It's a drain cleaner. In the UK it's sold as caustic soda.

Ok, challenge accepted. Ream 7" of an aluminium seat post out of a steel frame and tell me your method is easier. Thank you for assuming I hadn't thought of that.

@@waltor5849 I don't know if it's easier. And I never said it was. I just wouldn't use YOUR method. Having to wear head to foot protective suit to use a chemical. I live in an apartment complex with a bunch of brats. That would get me kicked faster than anything. The very best solution is to quit using aluminum on steel. When I was a kid back in the 60s when we had all steel bikes, we never had this problem.

Where did you find a Bruce Gordon Rock n Road 50 bucks? I'll give you 100 for it right now.

This is far safer and cheaper

Yeah there's an original idea.

Ok, so a drill bit long enough at that size would cost about 20 bucks. Using a hand power drill would be risky (rember thiss a $2k frame ) so that's a drill press, floor model, maybe you can get one for 200. Then you have to stand there for about 45 minutes spraying a cooling/cutting compound. Suddenly my 8 dollar solution doesn't seem so silly.

@@waltor5849 Your method is way cooler, I don’t think its silly lol 😄👍 Science!

it's spelled "spelled" (jerk)

@@waltor5849 :)

@@waltor5849 It's true; the American English past tense form is spelled. In other varieties of English, both spelled and spelt are common. ... The past tense of the verb “spell” can be spelt in two ways. Forgot you were in the colonies.

@@mgriffiths09 ah, you have no idea how difficult it was for me not to pronounce it al-u-min-ee-um

Good god, the joke truly is on me, "Aluminum" is the American variant of the spelling.

Certainly cut down on the bathroom stops.

to our surprise there were no weld vents in the BB shell so we didn't have to. I bought a rubber stopper i was going to plug the vent with but I didn't need it. If you want to try this, lye wont react with rubber or plastic so you can plug it.

oh shut up. your comment ads no value. another way is to use boiled water.

you could drill it out too.

you can use the gallium aluminium trick too. or you could just melt it out.

oh. I see. they etched it out. wtf. good.

@@snorttroll4379 Gallium is expensive.

thread the seatpost. attach big nut. knock out with slide hammer

I suggest you read some of the other comments about this issue. The flip flops are neoprene and impervious to lye, I am not wearing socks! the PVC coated hazmat suit has feet. A complete discussion of this issue in answer to Jim McDowell two years ago.

OK, My number one piece of advice is: Don't take mine or anyone else's word for it when an expensive frame is on the line. You can perform experiments to make decisions for you. I would get a carbon fiber spacer for a headset which you can get online and slide the spacer over a piece of aluminum tubing snugger fit the better. Drop that into some lye and see if the carbon fiber is damaged. My guess is this is not the way you want to do this. I believe the carbon fiber would be damaged by the heat. Steel is more resilient but when we did our think there was enough heat to blister. I do know that carbon fiber alone will not react, but the heat of the reaction with the aluminum is I THINK beyond the tolerance of the Carbon fiber. Take your frame to a high end bike shop, I bet they have seen this before. We only did what we did after consulting with 3 different bike mechanics who all told us it was sad but we were going to have to throw a Bruce Gordon frame away.

+unknown you caustic soda 2 water to 1 soda thats what you need and i used 2 bottles

+christopher benson Yes, it was Sodium Hydroxide commonly called "lye" it dissolves aluminum with violent reaction. It isn't melting so much as it dissolves the chemical bonds that give aluminum the physical quality of metal. You're left with a slurry of aluminum salts.

The aluminum chemically welds to the bare steel. It's counterintuitive, but you can just put some light grease on the post to prevent that bond from forming between the post and the tube. Also Park and other companies sell anti-seize compounds specifically to keep this from happening, but it's way too late once it's stuck...

+The_ Pentaquark. Yes someone made the same observation over a year ago. I gotta laugh because the joke is on you! if you had even bothered to read other posts you would see that neoprene sandals are non-reactive to lye, not sure why people want to think Im an idiot but I guess we are now living in a world where facts no longer matter. Why didnt I wear boots or something? read this cut and paste from last year...I await your apology -You are an observant fellow. Since I hope this video is instructional I will give a detailed response to this.The sandals were a deliberate choice! OK, the suit itself is a tyvek coated with PVC impervious to alkaline (Lye) but not heat. The suit is also closed on the bottom (it has feet) so my feet were protected. The sandals are neoprene, again impervious to lye. The sandals just protected the bottom of the suit, and my feet, from the ground. ;Had I worn work boots the lye, if spilt, would have reacted with the leather of the boot creating enough heat to give me second degree burns, enough heat to melt the pvc and compromise the suit. The result is my feet are turned into soap! (thats bad) Even neoprene work boots (which I dont currently own but did when I worked in hazmat) have organic linings resulting in the same catastrophe. So yeah a $5 pair of sandals was the best footwear choice.

my apologies, I thought everyone had a pair of wellington boots lying around somewhere - 100% PVC or Natural Rubber are pretty cheap and easy to come by; Here in the UK it's quite often wet/raining, so not so unusual to have a pair knocking around somewhere. P.S. Your logic is sound - thanx for taking the time to explain - it just looked a little odd, that's all :)

I agreed, my wife and I had chuckle about the very same thing, at least how it looked, on the day of the work.

Max Lindner This is a Bruce Gordon Rock and Road frame. Short of Rivendell but one of the better touring frames made. The worth is debatable, the retail is about $2300 (american? yup!)...and i'll take every BG frame you got for $10 each.

Walter Richardson Ooops. This frame looked like every other old school steel bike frame to me...

Max Lindner No worries, it didn't look like much when we got it. Pulled all the old components, got that pesky seat post out, had it powder coated and rebuilt up with new components and it's a show piece. It is also a very nice riding bike according to my wife who now tours on it.

Walter Richardson Nice job man! I come from the mountainbiking corner with fat aluminum frames etc. which is why I thought this frame was a dinosaur in the first moment :D

+Max Lindner You haven't lived until youve riden a good steel frame brother. Even a good steel mountainbike.

2002crewbus I recall the first time I dropped a piece of the seat post into the lye solution. The reaction was so energetic and I knew this was how we could save this beautiful frame. Glad it worked out for you.

I need help saving a bike I bought off Fb marketplace. Lol

@@fortyforfree next to Rivendell, Bruce Gordon made the best touring frames ever. He is now retired and my wife rides a work of art. You are just showing how much you want for bicycle knowledge.

air hamer? you hammer it deeper into the seat tube? what exactly do you do?