I always thought you could see or feel the tubing seam inside the frame with a finger. Try through the bottom bracket, if possible. If not, pull the handlebars and look for spiral reinforcing ridges in the steerer tube. Those are a sign of high end Columbus tubing. Also check to see if the Columbus sticker has the magic words "Tubi Rinforzate Garantiti", which indicates seamless double butted top drawer tubing. Of course then you have to ascertain whether the sticker is original or the frame ever repainted ---
A 26.8 seatpost is a bit troubling. If it's a large frame, the Moser could have been constructed with SP tubing that usually takes a 27.0 post. So perhaps the post is a smidge large for it's marking, or the tubing a hair tight. Does the post fit snugly or does it rattle in the seat tube? You're close enough in size to have a top drawer bike, maybe.
I had two friends that had Mosers, and they liked em fine. Don't know who built them for Francesco. Good luck.
Tom Adams, goose pimpled in Kansas City
> On the subject of seat tube diameters...I've been offerred a decent price
(I
> think), on what appears to be an early 80's Moser with the chromed rear
> chainstay, chromed front fork with "M" etched in the crown.The bike is
black
> with white and black decals. It has the old Columbus tube logo that
doesn't
> identify a "make" ie SL/SLX etc. It's been suggested to me that if the
> seatpost diameter is 26.8 then the tubing is likely to be seamed as
opposed
> to a 27.2 diameter that would suggest a true SL tubing.
>
> Any comments about this theory, or the frame and it's value would be
> appreciated.
>
> Warren Young.
>
> someone wrote...
>
>
> Consider that Campy made the NR seatpost in something like ten sizes,
> ranging from 25.0 mm up to 27.4mm. I recall that most Italian and French
> frames (in the early & mid-70s) used seatposts (seat tube inner diameters)
> of around 26.2 mm up to 26.8 mm, while British frames and the Schwinn
> Paramount used a 27.2 mm post (with a correspondingly larger outer ST
> diameter).