2WheelWilly

Hi Folks,

I ride a 1970s Motobecane Grand Record that I inherited from a parent. I use the bike mainly for touring (I have another for my regular bike commute). I want to keep the bike mostly intact, but I have made a couple of changes for convenience's sake. The main thing I've done is had the brakes replaced.

What I would like to do now is replace the seat tube, which is currently a straight seat tube that involves a fairly clunky, separate apparatus for attaching the saddle. I'd like a tube that doesn't have separate parts (i.e. the saddle connects directly with the tube) and on which it's relatively easy to adjust the saddle position, and to take the saddle on and off.

Does anyone have a particular brand and model of tube that they'd suggest? I don't race, so I'm not looking to spend an extra $100 to save a couple of grams of weight, but I also don't mind spending a bit of money for something that's nice, attractive, and high quality -- roughly commensurate with the quality of the rest of the bike. (I have no idea if seatposts even vary in quality, but...) I'd be very grateful for any suggestions. According to Sheldon Brown (https://sheldonbrown.com/seatpost-sizes-m-z.html#m) the bike takes a seatpost of size 26.4, which, since it's an old French bike, I assume is a fairly unorthodox size.

I very much appreciate any suggestions.

Rob

unworthy1

Rob, suggestion one: call it a seat POST.
replacing a seat TUBE is like the equivalent of major surgery, a seat post is more like changing shoes.
I also have a Grand Record (1974) and if I was unhappy with the straight alloy post, I'd probably use a Campagnolo Nuovo Record, since it would go with the component group and be period-correct. They DID make these in 26.4 but it will probably be hard to find one and expensive when you do...unless you are lucky.
check that thread on 26.4 seat posts and you'll see there are lots of bikes besides French that use this size, so your choices are actually not so limited as you think.
The easy fall-back is a Kalloy or SR LaPrade style post, they come in a wide range of sizes (26.4 included), don't look really great but work fine and are pretty cheap.
I mean inexpensive.

eschlwc

first, note that a seatpost* fits inside the frame's seat tube.

i know what you mean about funky, clunky saddle-clamp assemblies. my favorite is the sr laprade with its built-in clamp. the clamp uses only one allen bolt for nearly any saddle adjustment. these are ubiquitous seatposts, found on many japanese bikes from the '80s. i have one on my grand jubilé, and painted the flutes black for some bling.

but on my g.record, i had to go campy record to match its group. it sometimes looks weird to have a seatpost with flutes on a bike like this. also, campy is costly ($60-$90 on ebay), and you have to be patient in finding one. its clamp is a two-bolt design that is a lot more difficult to adjust than the sr laprade (especially with a saddle's skirts in the way).

the great thing about seatposts is their ease in polishing. if you can find a really ugly campy one, just buy some 3m auto sandpaper in 600 grade, and under a dripping faucet, go to work. within 20 minutes, it will look like new.

* is it one or two words? sheldon uses both on his site.

2WheelWilly

Thank you both! I think what I'll do is keep my eye out for something campy and (relatively) affordable (the idea is something like this, only less expensive?) but, in the meantime, buy something more utilitarian for the trip I have coming up. Is there anything in particular I should look for in a LaPrade seatpost, or is any one about the same as any other? Is there a good brand? A good website to purchase one?

I really appreciate your advice! Best,

Rob

2WheelWilly

Ah, I see -- Kalloy is itself a brand?

oddjob2

https://store.velo-orange.com/index.p...bolt-post.html

Chombi

French C&V bikes like the one you have, always look best with the French Simplex brand seatposts that come with either chromed steel or aluminum shafts.
Also consider/check out the seatposts made by JPR (J. P. Routens), another French maker also present when your bike was made. The JPR has one of the best designed micro adjust saddle rail clamp of that time..... The Laprade seatposts were also very common at that time....

unworthy1

yep, that's the Campy NR and wow, it's even more expensive than I thought!
As far as LaPrade, back in the '80s this was a style made and sold by SR (Sakae Ringyo) from Japan, these days the similar style is made by Kalloy (Taiwan) and has the advantage of being easy to find brand new and also a longer length (350mm) than the older SR.
Pretty much all the big mailorder places sell the Kalloy (SP-243 is the part number) for around $15-$20, but any local bike shop that orders from QBP can get you one in a matter of days, probably about the same price when you factor in shipping.

Just for trivia fans: the LaPrade was originally a French seatpost that SR copied, sold a ton of them, then Kalloy copied SR...anybody guess who made the original?

gaucho777 

Oh, great...competition.

eschlwc

willy, do you have any outdoor photos of the drive side (full right side) of your g.record? you should post a couple here.

mparker326

The demand out there isn't that great for a 26.4 Campy seat post. I sold one in good condition on the bay a few months back with a starting price of $50 and got one.

Why don't you start with a Kalloy and keep on the lookout for a Campy one at a decent price? Having used both, the Kalloy one functions better.

Chicago Al 

My '74 GR came to me with a black 80s replacement, and the catalog for that year doesn't even specify what was original (so doubt it was Campy). OEM gear included Nitto bars and stem so I thought an SR Laprade was appropriate, perhaps even 'correct.' They are easy to find, inexpensive, and I think look just fine.

gaucho777 

Another inexpensive option would be to get a new alloy pillar (the post part the clamp sits on). If you have a chrome one now, they can start to show their age from years of adjustments. A new alloy pillar will be lighter and can be polished to a bright shine. 26.4mm pillars are available for $12-15 on eBay. I'm considering getting one until I find a Campy one in my price range. too bad I didn't see mparker's seat post when it was available.

unworthy1

pretty sure that my '74 GR has all the original components (I checked it against the catalog, too) and yes it's a mixed-bag from many nations (Ben Lawee at work) and the seat post is a plain straight alloy post with separate steel clamp for the stock Brooks Pro saddle (not an Ideale for this year). I imagine that there were few "one-piece" posts back then that worked with Brooks and Ideale rails. A Campy NR would have been logical given the other Campy components (FD and RD) but would have upped the price quite a bit. Ben was really crafty when it came to spec-ing out his bikes.
An earlier ('70-'71) GR might have come with an Ideale saddle and many of those like the model 90 were sold with the steel clamp, so a plain straight post made sense (and cents).