Hello all! I have been a lurker on Bike forums for quite some time now. I am posting because you all have made me believe that I am capable of working on my own bike project- which I have started and near completed!

I bought a 1973 Le Jeune from my local craigslist and began the process of converting in to single-speed! I have successfully done so- redishing the wheel after removing the cassette and all that. It was a great learning experience and now I am working on cosmetic parts of my cycle: I have sawed off the drop bars to create bull horns which I have re-wrapped in red tape. I moved the brake trigger to the ends so they look like the endcap style triggers... it's really sleek if I do say so myself.

My problem is this: the saddle. I have an old Avocet USA Touring saddle, the Touring II to be precise. when I loosened the nuts to take it off, the saddle came off the seat post with the mounting bracket stuck underneath. No amount of fiddling has enabled me to get it off.... and I am afraid if I use any more force I may break something. I have also been unable to find any good answers just googling around the net.

Is this some sort of old seat style where the mounting bracket is stuck to the rails of the saddle? Is it caked on from old age? Would I simply be better off buying a new seat post? I apologize for my amateur description of the problem- please see the picture for a better idea of what I am talking about. What is this? Can I take it off to put on my new saddle? Does anyone care to tell me how? I feel so silly having come this far and getting stumped on the seat!