> Jan Heine
> tells me that expander seatposts are an "Alex Singer" exclusive
> feature. Is this really true ?? Did any other maker ever sell
> expander seatposts ?? By this I mean a seatpost that operates upon
> the same principles as a quill stem.
Donald, you misquoted/misunderstood me. I said and wrote that the internal expander seatposts are an Alex Singer trademark, meaning that many A. Singer bikes featured this, like their fillet-brazed stem, one-piece head tube and wire front derailleur. All those features were found on other bikes, too, some long before A. Singer used them. (See the Narcisse tandem in VBQ Vol. 2, No. 3).
There were many other bikes with expander seatposts, including some recent (1980s) Italian brand - I think it was F. Moser.
The Singers have a sleeve brazed into the seat tube to reinforce it for the forces of the expander. Whether this would hold up to "brute strength" tightening that is popular among some cyclists, I don't know. On a well-designed and well-crafted bike, the bolts generally don't need to be much more than finger-tight. Exceptions are the crank bolts (and the bolts on Campy 2-bolt seatposts).
I once met a woman with a flat tire who did not manage to open the
quick release of the wheel (it was a CR-timeline bike). I tried to
help, but couldn't, either. Finally, I wedged a wrench between frame
and lever, and managed to open it. Her boyfriend had explained that
you needed "sufficient" clamping force and tightened it for her!
--
Jan Heine, Seattle
Editor/Publisher
Vintage Bicycle Quarterly
http://www.mindspring.com/