Bob Hanson wrote:
(snip)
> I can't venture "exactly" when the round railed saddles came
> about, but the
> "Nitor 1963" micro-adjusting seatpost intended for those saddles
> came out
> in... well,... 1963. It was heralded as "a seatpin perfect in
> every way" or
> some such in the 1963 Ron Kitching catalogue. and they were indeed
> very nice and
> easier to adjust than the two-bolt Campy post since they used cap-
> head (hex
> wrench) bolts mounted at the sides - which offered more the
> accessibility of
> a classic seat clip, but with faster saddle attachment via a few
> quick spins
> of an L-shaped wrench. [compare that with wrestling with your
> Campy two-bolt
> post]... Actually, here is a page with photos of my own post -
> NOS, with
> original box - for anyone curious about this long forgotten and
> short lived
> marvel.
> http://community-2.webtv.net/
Good info Bob. Sounds like about the right time span; Unica Nitor introduces their plastic saddle with their proprietary saddle frame and seat post design in 1959 and four years later gives up and redesigned their saddle to work with everyone else's seat post.
You can bet if their "Nitor 1963" seat post was "perfect in every way" it would have given the universally copied Campagnolo two-bolt design a run for their money, rather than a "footnote" in history. If I had to guess, saddle slippage caused by the plastic disks in the saddle clamp was the problem for the lack of acceptance for their seat post.
Chuck Schmidt
South Pasadena, CA USA
http://www.velo-retro.com (reprints, t-shirts & timelines)