Schrödinger's Seatpost

It is just as I feared.

I have owned a vernier caliper for less than 48 hours, and already, it is making me insufferable.

Okay, more insufferable.

Case in point: My Raleigh go-sorta-fast bike is spec'ed for a 27.2mm seatpost. The seatpost it came with is clearly engraved 27.2mm. Yet in both the Raleigh's seat tube and in other seat tubes that are supposedly a 27.2mm spec, the seatpost requires excessive tightening of the seatpost binder bolt and still creeps down into the frame under my (ahem) substantial mass.

Thus, the paradox I'm calling Schrödinger's Seatpost: A post which (like its namesake both-dead-and-alive cat) is simultaneously 27.2 millimeters in diameter and NOT 27.2 millimeters in diameter.

Whoa. I just blew your mind a little, didn't I? You can admit it.

But with a vernier caliper, I can open the box and see how the cat's doing. And I'm here to tell you that my seatpost is -- without question -- NOT 27.2 millimeters in diameter. Heck, it's barely 27.0, which explains the need for a carefully crafted aluminum can shim to keep me at the proper altitude.

I would say that the caliper has just paid for itself, but in reality, it probably made itself more expensive, since now that I know my seatpost is undersized, I want to replace it -- even though the aluminum can shim is perfectly functional and practically invisible. I think I may have opened Pandora's box here, not Schrödinger's.

It was fun using all those umlauts, though.