Ride, Wrench, Swap, Race
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: Northern California
Posts: 9,194
Bikes: Cheltenham-Pedersen racer, Boulder F/S Paris-Roubaix, Varsity racer, '52 Christophe, '62 Continental, '92 Merckx, '75 Limongi, '76 Presto, '72 Gitane SC, '71 Schwinn SS, etc.
Mentioned: 132 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 1565 Post(s)
I usually start by inspecting the clamp ears for symmetry and parallelism, followed by correcting that if needed.
I correct bent-in ears by fitting the post to 1" depth, then leaning rearward on it.
Then, if still tight, I use a half-round file to "probe" the inside of the seat tube looking for any bumps or burrs that the file may catch on. Correcting them usually requires only a few strokes of the file.