Need obscure seat post!
 

I posted several months about a free spirit 10 speed that I plan to get into rideable condition.

There's just one more snag... the seat post. It doesn't have one.

I took the bike to a local shop and it seems they don't have one that fits, nor can they order one for me.

It's 3/4", (Or 20 mm should do it) and they don't have anything close to that. Their smallest was like 25.5 mm.

Any suggestions? I guess if nothing else, I can just get a piece of galvanized steel from a hardware store or something. (It's what they suggested)

I want to spend as little as possible on it.

Note: the bike was made sometime in the seventies, I think.

try a bmx shop

I ordered a seat post from rbikes. The attached link should help, and there are some inexpensive ones.

http://rbikes.com/page.cfm?PageID=27...62&affiliate=2

I would recommend finding another shop to help you measure. Free Spirit is low end bike, and the bike shop that you went to wasn't really interested in helping you out. You should find a bike shop that's more service oriented - they're giving you some passive attitude, so I would not go back to them for repairs or anything else. If you measure accross the tube - RBikes may be able to help you over the phone - but shipping may be as much as a cheap post, finding a local used bike place is better.

On the contrary, I thought they were very helpful. They spent like 15 minutes searching for a part they could order for me. I was impressed. They said I could come back with the steel tube, and they could help me fit a clamp to it.

That website didn't have any that small either.

I'll call a few other shops.

You might be better off looking for another Free Spirit with a post. Maybe at a scrap yard. Even if the "new bike is unrideable all you need is the post. Probably cheaper than ordering one assuming you can find a shop that can.

Good luck.

:beer:

Upon second thought.

http://sheldonbrown.com/harris/opc.html

22mm and 21.15mm both designed for lowerline American "department store" bikes. My guess is the 21.15 is the one you need.

:beer:

Thanks, I'll try that if my next plan fails.

I called a bike shop that is fairly nearby, and they said they have some of the older sizes that would probably fit. I'll try to check that out ASAP.

I have a 22.2 BMX post you can have for the price of shipping, if it'll work......

21.15 was typically Schwinn and a few oddball others, likely FS as well. 22mm is a staple of Westfield/Columbia machines.

-Kurt

Sounds like bigbossman has you covered, but in case this comes up in the future, Niagara Cycle Works through Amazon has 22.2 seat posts.
http://www.amazon.com/Seat-Pyramid-S...9032134&sr=1-9

I think 21.15 is pretty close to the Schwinn 13/16ths and they typically neck down to 7/8ths at the top to accept a seat. Old-School BMX posts will work but are getting rarer. You should be able to get a post out of any electro-forged Schwinn to work (Varsity, Continental, Suburban, Collegate, etc.)

Edit: Yow! Bikemore, that is one CHEAP stem! Too bad it's not in aluminum! I've had poor luck in finding a super-light one for my Varsity!

I still haven't gotten over to the other bike shop that think they have what I need. I'll try out one more local place, and then I have plenty of options if that fails. :)

Thanks, everybody.

Erm . . . that would be "neck up to 7/8ths." Or do they neck down to something else?

Oops, my bad. Necks down to... what... 5/8?

Guy came in the shop a few days ago with his kid's bike. Had a section of 7/8" copper pipe as a seatpost. Wasn't bent, and it fit in the frame just fine.