thingsweregood

I just bought a fun old 1980s Peugeot Carbolite 103 bike off craiglist but it's missing the saddle. I'll be buying a new one, but I am hoping to get one that I can adjust forward or backward to better fit my body (a previous road bike I had I used to get quite sore shoulders on longer rides, that I'm hoping to avoid by setting the saddle further back, amongst other adjustments).

Can all saddles be adjusted fore/aft, or is this an additional feature I should be looking for?

Thanks!

alcjphil

What sort of seat post do you have?

thingsweregood

Currently.... NONE! The previous owner had the seat & seat post stolen, so not only do I need to find a new saddle, but also a seat post to fit the frame (which I'm struggling with right now as it seems narrower than more modern bikes).

Any advice for what I should be looking for?

mprince

The first thing you will need to determine is what size seatpost your frame requires. A caliper will help determine this, sizes for older bikes will be somewhere in the range of 25.0mm to 27.2mm. It is important to get this correct, as being even 0.2mm off makes a big difference.

Once you get that, it really comes down to how much you want to spend. I would recommend getting a seatpost with some offset/setback as this design was most common on older bikes. Many newer posts have zero setback (the cradle for the rails is in-line with the seatpost shaft), which for many of us does not allow the saddle to be positioned far enough back.

Saddles are really a personal issue, as everyone's hind end is different. But the spacing and size of the rails is standardized for the most part (especially for metal rails).

Good luck getting your bike ride ready!

thingsweregood

Thank you, this is super helpful info!

CliffordK

I'm not sure I've seen a bicycle seat that doesn't have at least some fore and aft adjustment. Usually they have rails that slide forward or back, then are clamped into place. The length of rails may vary somewhat.

90+% of the seats on the market are interchangeable.
Perhaps a couple of percent will have some proprietary design. Narrow rails, double rails, I-beam rails, etc.

Yet, if you just go down to a local bike shop, or hunt on Craigslist for a seat, you'll probably be just fine.

Many vintage racing bikes had narrow seats with minimal padding. I still like the narrow seats, but a little flatter tops than the vintage seats.

AnthonyG

If you search for Peugeot Carbolite 10 right here on Bike Forums you will find a bit of information and it does sound like its using a non standard seat post size.

AnthonyG

I did a little looking. Definitely measure the inside of the seatpost tube for a size. From what I can see I doubt that you will find an integrated alloy seatpost to fit. All the picture I can see are using an older plain steel seatpost with an add on seatpost clamp.
Eyeballing the geometry it looks pretty relaxed especially compared to modern bikes so you shouldn't have too many problems setting a relaxed seat position.