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Klunker Seat post quick release?

2K views 12 replies 9 participants last post by  repackpioneer 
#1 ·
I`m in the process of building up a couple of Klunkers and I`m wondering what was originally used for the seat post quick releases?
I`m thinking they must have been Suntour...? Any help appreciated, Thanks.
 
#2 ·
The original purpose was to protect your fragile seatpost. Six-foot-plus, 200# guys riding one-size-fits-all frames extended these mild steel 7/8" tubes for a foot or more above the seat cluster, and all it took was one good bounce on a downhill to put a 30-degree bend in it.

Once we started lowering them for that purpose, the handling advantage of a lower saddle on downhills became obvious.

When Gary Fisher built his first 5-speed klunker, he used the rear hub from a disassembled tandem he had bought at a flea market. I don't know whether he found his seatpost QR in that collection, but I know he was the first in our crowd to use one, and the one he used was a Campagnolo tandem seatpost QR, easily distinguished from a wheel QR by the short skewer and the curved, rather than straight handle.

Tandem parts are harder to come by than a standard wheel QR, so when I needed a QR for my own seatpost, I took a Campy wheel QR to Joe Breeze, who cut off the skewer and rethreaded it.

AFAIK modified wheel QRs were the source of most seatpost QRs until they became standard equipment from MTB component manufacturers. I don't recall specifically whether we made our own for the first Ritcheys out of modified wheel QRs or ordered real seatpost QRs from Campy, but they are easy to tell apart if anyone has a bike old enough. A curved handle is a real one, a straight handle is a modified wheel QR.
 
#5 ·
Thanks so much. I didn`t realize that Campy made a seat post quick release in the 70`s. I thought there was a possibility of it being a cut-down wheel skewer...Never considered it being a tandem item. :thumbsup:
 
#6 ·
Fillet-brazed said:
will that Campy cam and lever interchange with say an old steel Specialized skewer? I have a Campy rear that's just a tad short for an mtb and need to check this.
Yes, the Spec lever and Campy levers are interchangeable. Which means the Suntour is probably also interchangeable.

IIRC, there were stories of Eddy Merckx experimenting with a seat QR on his bike. He rode in pain due to a bad crash and he had a fairly significant leg length discrepancy. He would often change his seat height during rides to alleviate the pain.
 
#8 ·
iamthewalrus said:
Yes, the Spec lever and Campy levers are interchangeable. Which means the Suntour is probably also interchangeable.

IIRC, there were stories of Eddy Merckx experimenting with a seat QR on his bike. He rode in pain due to a bad crash and he had a fairly significant leg length discrepancy. He would often change his seat height during rides to alleviate the pain.
Thanks for the info.

Eddy with a seat QR. I'd love to see a pic of him hammering with a Hite Rite. :) Joe Breeze was a little late.
 
#11 · (Edited)
That was Fairfax, some of the guys in Larkspur carried a large vise grip plier clamped on to the bolt location to hold the seatpost up (and whatever else needed tightening). Some of the bikes I built and sold to our friends managed to have a Campi seatpost QR with the large dia. shaft. At that time there was no other except a shortened skewer.
Grafting the AS bolt to a QR sounds like something a well equipped tinkerer would have done.
 
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