"Simon Brooke" wrote in message
...
I've just acquired myself a Klein Mantra frame - to be precise, this one
URL:http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3667944572
to experiment with. I've got a few wee problems I need to sort before I
can get it going.

The most serious is that the seat post clamp has an allen bolt rather
than a quick release, and at some point someone has used the wrong size
allen key and rounded off the flats. The bolt is also jammed and I
can't turn it. I'm tempted to take an angle grinder and slice through
the bolt, but I can't tell whether the seat tube clamp is integral with
the frame or not. If it is I would look bloody stupid because I would
then have a seized thread in there I would have no way of getting out.
Does anyone know for a fact whether the seat tube clamp on a Mantra is
integral?

I'd be tempted to cover the whole thing in a liberal quantity of WD40, plus
gas or similar, then take a hacksaw to it and cut a slot in the end of the
allen bolt, then unscrew it with a big screwdriver. If you're feeling flush
you could do it with dremel cut off disks, but they don't last long on
anything very heavy. Did a similar thing on a much smaller scale with a
rounded aluminium screw on some shifters t'tother day and it works fine.