Was I the only one laying out tube saddles wrong for years?

I had this moment about 6 months ago on a job in Portland. I always just eyeballed the saddle cuts on round tube and marked them freehand with a soapstone, figuring close enough is good enough. Then an old journeyman watched me for maybe 2 minutes and pointed out I was leaving no room for expansion on the bottom half of the saddle. He showed me his method using a wrap-around and a center punch to transfer the pipe OD exactly. After I tried it once, the fit was way tighter and I felt like an idiot for not asking sooner. Has anyone else had a basic layout skill they thought they had down but were actually messing up the whole time?

2 comments

2 Comments

jasons635d ago

Nah, the wrap-around method is the ONLY way for tight fits.

perry.jessica3d ago

Bro that's so true for everything though. Like how you fold a fitted sheet or load a dishwasher - there's always one right way and everyone else is just guessing lol.