himespau 

Was riding my bike on the trainer last night and the seatpost suddenly slipped at the end of the workout. I reset the post to the correct height and tightened down the bolt. Was tired and not thinking clearly and overtightened the bolt to the point that the threaded half sheared off in the female half (didn't think I could generate that much force with little 5 mm fold out allen wrenches, but now I know.

Went on eBay to look for replacements and got a bit of sticker shock when I searched for actual campagnolo branded ones to replace what I had on there. I swear it was like 1/3 of current prices when I bought the bolt I had on there 5-6 years ago. That got me to looking at cheaper no-name bolts (my bike is no longer original so I'm becoming more comfortable spending $5 on a no brand part instead of what's now $50 for a part where the only difference is the "patent Campagnolo" engraving).

Unfortunately, my bike doesn't have a slot in the lugs for a keyed binder bolt, and all I'm seeing are binder bolts that are keyed.

Does anyone have a source I should be looking for non-keyed seatpost binder bolts? Or should I just get a keyed one and get out my dremel? Is there a way to get a keyed bolt to fit in my frames holes without modification?

SJX426 

I think my Colnago came with a keyed binder bolt but the ears were designed for a Campagnolo configuration. I replaced it with the Campy and bought one extra. A couple of years later, I bought another. Still have only one extra, which I will cherish! I think Universal Cycle use to sell them.

I am 85% sure there is an alternative but can't say who sells it. Google might be your friend.

The Campy bolt is known to fail. Don't know if the new ones are better or not. When tightening, I always check and tighten until the post doesn't move. So far, so good. Part of the problem may be the orientation of the ears. If the the bolt is stressed from bending, it will fail. The ear surfaces need to be as close to parallel as possible. Putting in a pillar that is too small for the ST is a recipe for failure of the Campy bolt.

Best of luck!

\BTW: always use two Allen wrenches, otherwise the fixed side will rotate.

geeteeiii

You could file the key off the bolt.

himespau 

Yeah, I did use 2 binder Allen wrenches. I think my seatpost (nominally 27.2, velo orange gran cru setback seatpost) might be slightly undersized as I had to add some carbon seatpost paste to keep it from slipping when I first installed it (Columbus SLX seatube that is supposed to require 27.2 seatpost) though the ears look parallel.

So far no luck googling. I'll look at universal cycles. This is the sort of thing I used to spend all morning on Niagara Cycle looking for before they folded.

I did find a no name one without a key in another frame (1988 Schwinn Voyageur) that I hadn't built up yet, but that was going to be my project this winter, so I need to replace that.

SJX426 

There is that! LOL! I would make sure it is really flat or use a washer under it since it does not have serrations (don't think they work anyway).

himespau 

Yeah the serrations don't do anything. I might buy one of the keyed ones and go at it (carefully) with the dremel. A washer might help a bit.

unworthy1

That's what I ended up doing, both a file and a Dremel. Then if you didn't get the flat washer when you bought the "keyed" bolt you have another search to find that perfect size! I found a couple from helpful sellers here with "other" Italian branding: GPM (Gipiemme) is the most common that's not Campy but pretty nearly identical. Of the (much cheaper) Asian ones Sugino used to be common as dirt but don't hardly see them anymore, and were fine quality, now they are either no-name from Taiwan or PRC and require the Dremel treatment.

Steel Charlie

I have a couple of the Sugino ones as spares and they had the key on them as well until they met Mr. File. I mean we're not talking about a Swiss movement watch here even tho those were made with files at one time too.

billytwosheds 

himespau There may be something useful through Renaissance Cycle.

https://www.renaissance-cycle.com/search?q=binder

They have some odd bits that are tricky to find. No Campy binder bolts, but Sugino, Pinarello-branded, etc.

tiger1964 

+1 on grinding off the keying.

I see lots of the Allen-key bolts, both seat post binder and stem binder, on some sites but pre-Allen ones seem to be difficult/impossible to find unless eBay ($50 asking price for a bolt with rust on it???) Possibly a ready market for this and other small parts but manufacturers might not be able to charge enough to recoup costs (and I just received last night another one of those $$$$$ Mafac rebuild kits from Compass!) The small bolts with a boss under the 8mm head, used for downtube clamps for shift levers and cable guides, come to mind.

rogerm3d

They are expensive but I've started using the Richard Sachs bolts. After having enough problems with cheap bolts and availability of Campagnolo binder bolts I figured something new and higher quality was worth the cost.
https://www.richardsachs.com/product...-nut-assembly/

himespau 

I might just have to go with those. If I was going to pay the same or more for just the Campy name on a 30 year old bolt, why not pay it for an arguably more prestigious name on a modern bolt (that he claims is less likely to break). On the other hand, cheap and 20 minutes with the dremel and file is appealing too because cheap.

If I go that route, I might have to get a torque wrench so I don't over/under do it with the fancy bolts.

rccardr 

Except the cheap bolts (e.g. from Amazon, Dremel off the key, make sure you buy the correct length) don’t break.
At least, I’ve never had one break on me.

himespau 

Yeah, I just ordered 2 of those for $10 to at least play with this weekend. Probably one to practice with and one to use. If they're both usable, great.

Classtime 

If I remember correctly, Richard took great pride in his stash of Campy bolts so the new ones must be pretty good.