Published: Fri 10 October 2025
By Mike
In Tomahawk .
The progress on the Raleigh Tomahawk continues. After removing the seat post, I noticed that the seat tube on the frame was looking kind of D-shaped.
I grabbed the seat from the Cliffhanger and tried to check if it would fit. The diameter is way off. This is where I learned that bicycle seats come in different sizes.
Still, the Cliffhanger's steel seat post came in handy anyway. I flipped it over and used it as a mandrel to hammer the D-shape out of the frame on the Tomahawk. This did not endear me to the seat post, but it needed paint and grease anyway.
Everything looked nice and round after that. I didn't even take a picture.
Here's what I think happened. The previous owners bought a new seat for the Tomahawk, but the post was way too small for the frame, so it rattled around and wouldn't stay up. Rather than go and get the right sized seat, they cranked down the adjuster bolt until it crushed the aluminum seat post and the steel frame together. After that, galvanic corrosion made things much less pleasant for me. This was definitely an unsafe configuration, so I'm glad that I took the time to pull the seat post off and take a look inside.
Once the seat was removed, I got to dump a bunch of Fluid Film and Formula 3000 inside the frame, and shake it around to get the good stuff (I hope) evenly distributed inside.
The Cliffhanger seat, which is too big for the Tomahawk's frame, says "28.6" on it. Assuming this is millimeters, I'm guessing I need something closer to a 27.2mm seat post, but I will be pulling the caliper out before I head to Bike Root for a replacement part.