Re: [CR] help needed..seat posts for regal girardi saddles.

(Example: Racing:Beryl Burton)

From: "R.S. Broderick" <rsb000@hotmail.com>
To: <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
Date: Wed, 30 Sep 2009 15:16:04 -0700
In-Reply-To: <cf9.638b07f2.37f51b73@aol.com>
thread-index: AcpCDbkLbTdqtiLSR7my5aiKl3uJeAABwb8g
Cc: Rnitro1969@aol.com
Subject: Re: [CR] help needed..seat posts for regal girardi saddles.


Robbie,

Only the original edition Regal Girardi saddles dating from roughly 1984 feature that cast alloy sub-frame where the rails are not round, but rather somewhat flattened with bulging sides. As you have apparently already determined on your own, this version will NOT work with all types of seat post clamps (...at lease not without some modification). This would be decidedly different than later editions of the venerable Regal Girardi which came to incorporate a more conventional tube style rail construction.

One can just barely see an example of the earliest version of Regal Girardi undercarriage here (...please pull down past the prose):

http://www.velo-pages.com/main.php?g2_itemId=22053&g2_imageViewsIndex=1

...and compare that with a later edition having tubular rails seen here:

http://www.velo-pages.com/main.php?g2_itemId=22162&g2_imageViewsIndex=1

In the past, I have chosen to modify my seat post clamping hardware rather than the saddle rails themselves when adapting an early Regal Girardi to a post which is not otherwise suitable for use by default. In the case of those having a Laprade style headstock (...which is generally the type which are de facto incompatible with those early cast type alloy rails), I have used a hand held angle grinder to remove a portion of the aluminum top plate and thereby effectively widen its channels to accommodate a early Regal Girardi. The advantage to this methodology from my perspective is that there is more metal to work with on the seat post as opposed to the saddle rails, and consequently, you are less apt to structurally compromise the component being modified. That said, you would still be well advised to carefully inspect any such modified seat post thereafter on a periodic basis. On one particular occasion, I found that the top plate on one of my modified posts had started to crack, and as a result, I saw fit to throw the compromised piece part into the trash and cut up yet another top plate to use.

Robert "he who keeps his nose to the grindstone soon loses face" Broderick ...the "Chronically Cloudy Clime" of Oregon Portland, USA

-----Original Message----- From: classicrendezvous-bounces@bikelist.org [mailto:classicrendezvous-bounces@bikelist.org] On Behalf Of Rnitro1969@aol.com Sent: Wednesday, September 30, 2009 1:37 PM To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org Subject: [CR] help needed..seat posts for regal girardi saddles.

greetings

trying to mount a regal saddle to a galli seat post but the rails are way to wide.are there certain posts made for these saddles or do i just file down the saddle rails to fit the smaller openings of the galli clamp. i really hate to alter them.

thanks
robbie fellows
lakewood,ca. usa