Seat post

smoggy

Retro Newbie
I'm thinking of restoring an old (late 80's) road bike but the seat post is too short. It's 27.2mm diameter and I'd need 200mm of extension to obtain a proper fit.

Did anyone make seat posts this long in those days?

I have found some new polished aluminium ones that would look ok (Ritchey for example make one) but would prefer to keep it of the same era.

Cheers

Leigh
 
I can't think of any from back in the day. They were always a lot shorter and it's only a recent thing to ride a smaller frame with more seatpost.

Have a look on eBay. Raleigh do a budget one in that diameter about 350mm long and it's plain aluminium with no branding.
 
I've been looking at this because I just spotted the "minimum insertion" mark on mine through its surface damage - oops!

Raleigh seem to do chromed steel if that's better for the bike, as well as alloy silver or black. 230mm and 300mm lengths in 25.4 and 27.2 are all about £7 retail so the longer one should be OK - I can let you know after I buy one, if you like, but I think SheldonBrown.com says it's usually 50mm minimum insertion. An integral-clamp alloy post is £23 retail in most sizes from 25.4 to 31.6mm and 400mm long.
 
Yeah I can find plenty of new posts that would look ok and are long enough and plenty of old ones that aren't long enough!

Some nice ones on Velo Orange.
 
After a (very) long search I concluded none were made BITD. I have variously settled for modern alloy and a Campag Centaur steel one. Vanity means I prefer the latter but TBH it is bottom of my list of things I aim to get right (and my long legs mean I never could in the 70/80s either so that feeling remains authentic).
 
Re:

200mm of extension is a lot. The campag seat post came in two lengths, the larger being 180mm. I think the Shimano 6400 was a bit longer but wouldn't have been more than about 200mm total.
 
Re:

Really? I wouldn't have expected Raleigh to start making longer steel posts recently. I thought foot long posts had been about ages but maybe not. Anyone got an old parts catalogue?
 
Re:

mjray":28c9uig9 said:
Really? I wouldn't have expected Raleigh to start making longer steel posts recently. I thought foot long posts had been about ages but maybe not. Anyone got an old parts catalogue?

They made steel seat posts for shoppers and non racing bikes of course - the Raleigh Twenty seatpost was 330 mm in total length but 28.6 mm diameter, for example...
 
Back
Top