Cutting and trimming of bicycle and bike seat posts is normal and is possible but you have to take care of many things related to the seat post tube, it is not possible to cut your seat post more than 1.5 to 2mm, smaller length of seat tubes are also bad and dangerous for bikers, seat posts would also play a major role in durability and firmness of bike frames, longer seat posts do not affect bike frames, but smaller length seat posts are not able to support riders weight, and almost 60 to 70% of weight would directly hit on bike frame and joints or corners of frames where tubes are attached together, shorter length seat tubes are not cut but longer length tubes are easily cut depending on their heights.
Why Seatposts Are Cut/ Is It Necessary?
Seat posts are usually cut to save weight, decreasing bike weight in this way is usually not a better phenomenon, because seat posts play a major role in gripping and handling the bike, longer mileage rides are totally dependent on the comfortability of the seat posts, cutting of seat post becomes necessary when the rider is not comfortable with the height and length of the seat post, there are many types and cheap or expensive brands of seat posts which are available online or in bicycle stores when you want to buy your favorite brand but it is greater in its length, and you find many ways of reducing its length, in such cases cutting and trimming of seat post becomes important. mostly road bike and mountain bike seat posts have much greater length and sometimes your bike looks weird due to the height and length of the seat posts, in these conditions cutting and trimming of posts become necessary.
Tools For Cutting Of Seat Posts:
There are three major tools that are needed to cut and reduce the length of seat posts as given below:
- Hacksaw
- Dremel
- Pipe Cutter
These are the common tools that are needed to minimize the height of the seat posts and tubes but, using these tools is not an easier step, if you have trained skills in cutting, trimming, and the proper way of using these tools, then it would be better but if you don’t know the process, then never do that by your own, it would be better to ask someone better-skilled mechanic to do this job for you, many times it happens, when you start cutting seat post, you will notice the edges of the rounded top or bottom end of seat post are not smooth and they need further work, in these cases always avoid the wrong usage of these tools otherwise your seat post become useless. if the edges of the eat posts would damage after cutting, then it will also affect and reduce the durability and warranty of your bike frame, when you start inserting the same seat post within the bike frame tube.
Bike Rear Shocks And Seat Posts:
Longer length seat posts would also affect the rear shocks of bikes by riding through harsh and aggressive trails, due to which most riders cut their longer length seat posts, normal or small length tubes are better for rear shocks of mountain and road bikes.
Disadvantages Of Cutting And Trimming Of Seat Posts:
When you decrease the height of your seat post by cutting and trimming, then at selling time, when you want to sell your bike or if you want to replace or interchange your current seat post with a new expensive, or different brand, then you will go for a loss, cutting seat posts would decrease their prices and are not going to sell at their actual buying prices, it is the main comeback which you have to face if you have decided to cut your seat post.
Smaller seat posts would badly affect the clamping area of the bike frame, it has been proved from experiments that the clamping edge of the bike frame where seat posts are usually tight, is the exact place where smaller seat posts push negative pressure due to which there are chances of breaking or cracking of seat posts or bike frames. the reason is that all the forces which are coming in the downward direction are directly on the same clamping area of the seat posts, but if the seat post height is greater or normal then all the forces are spread and dispersed within the seat posts without reaching in the downward direction.
There is also another comeback, in future when you want to replace your bike with a new bike, then at that time when you are inserting your cut or trimmed seat post with the new bike, there are more chances that a smaller length seat tube would cause problems and issues and it won’t fit comfortably, but if the height and length of the seat post are normal or greater then it is an extra bonus and you can easily insert your seat post on any bike in future.
Size Of your Bike And Height Of Seat Post:
The size of your bike frame is too much important for the seat post, before cutting or trimming the seat post, notice and measure the size of the frame, and if you have bought the frame from any of your friend or group riders or from the mechanic shop, then go for t and ask from him about the height and length of the legs of the previous rider, sometimes it happens by misunderstanding and you never know about the exact size of your bike frame, larger frames mostly cause such problems and you feel uncomfortable about the height of the seat post, sometimes your legs are small and you start thinking about the seat post, it’s not the issue of seat post but it is happening due to the larger size of your bike frame.
Alternatives Of Seat Post Cutting:
You can easily replace or interchange seat posts with dropper posts which are much better in height and length. because when you are riding on single trails, road trails uphill, or downhill trails, you can easily adjust the height of the dropper post without having an issue, but it is not possible to adjust the height of the seat post in running conditions and also if you have an expensive handlebar with back and rise sweeps then you easily adjust the height of the handlebar without cutting or trimming of seat posts, there is also another option, you can easily replace or interchange the stem body of your bicycle or bike for comfortability.