Free (collect West London) - borked Surly 1x1 frame for track end salvage?

I have a Surly 1x1 frame which I have been battling with for a long time over a stuck seat post.

Latest attempt (blowtorch, brute force and lashings of ignorance) has ended up with a borked frame now.

: (

I can't bear the idea of throwing the frame away without first at least trying to see if it could be reused - would anyone be interested in this frame to salvage the dropouts? I assume a keen framebuilder could get them out and braze into a new frame build, which could be an interesting project.

I thought this forum might be the most likely place to find a punter in such a niche market.

2 Attachments

dibs

Damn, too slow.

2nd dibs if you end up not wanting it.

3rds

@PhilDAS

Yeah I’d use it. Next dibs

Cheers Amez

Bit late, but if you have this in future I found most success by, preserving as much of the seatpost as possible, then using a heat gun on the post itself. I think aluminium heats up faster/expands more than the steel and so starts to break some of the bonds as it cools, then add water and lubricant to speed that up (you can hold it upside down and put some in through the seat tube bottle bosses as well). Finally put the post in a bench vice and twist the frame. Usually does the trick.

Bung up the BB and fill the frame with caustic soda solution. (Wear gloves and goggles) It dissolves the aluminium over the course of about a week.

Edit; I missed the mangled seat tube. Might be one for a framebuilder

Yeah, thanks, good advice - heating the seatpost to break the bond was what I was going for here but very little post to grab hold of (result of previous rescue attempt of the 'cut and fold in on itself' method by bike shop) led to the mess I have created here! Cheers

Yeah, Caustic Soda solution was the next option I was going to try after blowtorch - if only I hadn't made such a mess of it.....

+1 for caustic soda. Watched my friend do it to his frame, seat post was no more in just a few hours.

Next time eh.

Love all this advice....AFTER its been "borked'!

Apologies and condolences to OP.

Nobody likes salt in their wounds but hopefully someone who was thinking of borking their own frame this week may come across this and learn from it.

Easiest of all, cut seat post off level with the top of the seat tube, then hacksaw the seatpost front top to bottom. It takes time and you need to be gentle but it works every time. Usually takes a couple or three cuts.

Picked this up today. Will be repaired and resurrected. Thanks!

in the end I didn't have time to repair and resurrect this.
altho I did investigate the repair with some framebuilders and it didn't seem too difficult.
original seller described condition fairly.

I did bring it to central london (camden) and get the matching fork.
£50 cash picked up one weekday eve and you can have frame and fork.

I'll give it a go please will PM.

2nd dibs on it