Classic & Vintage - Oh wise folk of the C&V forum, help me with old French seatpost woes!

Update: I have a 25.4 mm seatpost, but need to open up the top of the seat tube.

So someone paid me to take this frame (basically, I bought a bike from them and they threw in the frame. I sold the bike for more). Anyway, I wouldn't have paid for this frame.

http://img405.imageshack.us/img405/2744/dscn0406.jpg

It's rusty, it's dusty, the bottom bracket was basically mud, it's missing the fricken seatpost top clamp, and on top of that, the nut to clamp the seatpost into the frame is round.

Well I don't mind the rust and dirt that much. I repacked the bottom bracket (getting those cranks off sucked. Heat is my friend.) and got down to business with some more free fixed gear parts.

http://img39.imageshack.us/img39/1671/img1381qr.jpg
http://img96.imageshack.us/img96/6715/img1383s.jpg

Now, enough of the story. I don't dig that I don't have a seat.

I despise this style seatpost, even if it had the top clamp I would replace it because the bolts stick out the sides and rip your clothes if you run a thin (in width) saddle. (not my pic)

http://i195.photobucket.com/albums/z77/Kommisar89/001-7.jpg

I measured the inner diameter approximately: 24.5mm. Might be 25. Does this sound right? Can I use a 25.6mm seatpost here?

Any help would be appreciated. Ebay posts this size are ridiculously priced. I'm probably heading down a bicycle boneyard with the derailleurs off the frame to trade for a seatpost.

You need a 25.4 mm post. Not smaller. Not larger.

Google 25.4 Laprade and you'll find cheap new ones. You can find nice vintage posts on eBay.

Exactly what I needed, thanks! I appreciate it.

Bought a seatpost online yesterday, got it today in the mail on my lunch break. Gotta love that. The shop was only 100 miles away :)
My heart dropped when it didn't fit though. I did notice that the clamping area diameter was smaller than the rest of the seat tube however. Someone must have cranked it down on a smaller seatpost. I need to find a way to essentially pry open the opening. Any ideas?

You might try putting a flat-bladed screwdriver into the slot and gently prying outward.

It is really weird that an otherwise all-metric Peugeot would take a 1" diameter seat post. ...

Frame is bent at the headtube.

-Kurt

Hie thee forthwith to the nearest lbs and pick up a 1" Pyramid seatpost for $8.

Frame is bent at the headtube.

-Kurt

Kurt,
I did notice, but I was paid to take it! Steel won't fail catastrophically like carbon does without warning. I will see the final days a long way off, and I'm already making plans to look for another free frame.

Hie thee forthwith to the nearest lbs and pick up a 1" Pyramid seatpost for $8.

Ahead of ya! Got my new 25.4 seatpost today in the mail, but it doesn't fit through the opening! Someone tightened it too much. I'm thinking I might put a flathead between the two separated parts on the back of the top of the seatpost tube.

You might also try putting the current seatpost in upside down and using the smaller diameter part to bend the tube back. Using a screwdriver in the slot is almost guaranteed to chip the paint but in this case I guess that's not a problem.

I went to town on the seatpost opening and it would not open up enough. I ended up using the old seatpost and stealing a top clamp from another bike for the time being. I accepted defeat there. The bike is finished and I was spinning out and skidding all over the place. Good to be a kid again.

Next problem is that the non drive side crank arm is done for. Loosens up in a few miles. I might try shimming it a bit but I'd like to find a replacement.