Thanks, everybody. I picked up my new-used piccolo two days ago -- still can't believe I found one, and so fairly priced, and from such nice people... Somebody up there must be smiling on this whole endeavor...
But I'm not out of the woods yet! It turns out the piccolo DOES come with these extendable metal "straps," FormerFF, which extend from either side of the moose rack's front end. (To reiterate, the moose rack is what connects this particular type of trailercycle to the lead bike, unlike most trailercycles which attach exclusively to the lead bike's seatpost. The moose rack sits over the rear wheel with solid vertical braces that screw into the eyelets of the rear dropout. But apparently it requires some secondary attachment to the seatpost, and therein lies the rub...) Each of these "straps" is made up of two or three long, flat loops, kind of like the back side of a hair barette. They can be shortened or lengthened by sliding them up and down like a trombone and then tightening them with the attached screws. (Sorry for my lack of basic terminology; I'm not a handy gal...).
The problem is that when fully extended, these straps do not reach any part of my Fusion's frame, because of the elongated "crank forward" geometry. However, they DO reach that hex-screw-bolt thing that runs through the top of my seat post, where the seat connects.
My question: could I remove that hex-screw-bolt thing, get a longer one of the same gauge and material, and use it to attach the moose rack straps to either side of the seat post? Of course, this would make it impossible to raise or lower the seat without adjusting the length of those moose rack straps as well -- easy enough to do, but not without a few minutues and a pair of pliers. Are there any other problems you can foresee with this approach?
I'm grateful to anyone who managed to plow through my clumsy description of the problem... to anyone who can help me solve it, I'm indebted for life!
-- Genevieve