Thanks ,Chuck. I have learned the difference between barends and
barplugs and got valuable information for me. The bar ends of my
Bianchi 1940s had cork plugs and were not wrapped. It seemed
dangerous , so I made a thin cork plate out of wine cork and
glued it to the end. But it seems unstable and fragile. I should
immitate Coppi. I am happy to have known that it is not necessary
to look for barends or barplugs for Italian bikes till mid 1950s.
How were the British and French bikes then?
Moreover halved wine cork was put on the light-alloy brake
hood like the Mafac half rubber hood and wound up with bar tape.
Due to my small hands , I had to make the cork thinner but it is
very confortable. So I feel easy when I see the Universal or
Vittoria rubber hoods are deteriorating.
Takao Noda
Hachioji, Tokyo, Japan
> Subject:
> Re: [CR]Cork Bar Ends
> Date:
> Thu, 21 Jun 2001 20:09:36 -0700
> From:
> "Meyer Lenore" <lenoremeyer@hotmail.com>
> To:
> chuckschmidt@earthlink.net
>
>
> I'm talking about barends not barplugs!
>
> M
>
>
> >From: Chuck Schmidt <chuckschmidt@earthlink.net>
> >Reply-To: chuckschmidt@earthlink.net
> >To: Meyer Lenore <lenoremeyer@hotmail.com>
> >CC: Classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
> >Subject: Re: [CR]Cork Bar Ends
> >Date: Thu, 21 Jun 2001 19:35:54 -0800
> >
> >Meyer Lenore wrote:
> > >
> > > I'd like to know when the era of cork barends came to a
close. (1930's,
> > > 1940's?)Were they manufactured by a supplier or were they
home brewed by
> >the
> > > owners of bikes?
> >
> >I'd say mid-1950s would be the end of the did-it-myself cork
barplugs.
> >
> >I saw Fausto Coppi's World Championship winning bike two
different times
> >(won the Lugano, Switzerland Worlds Pro race in 1953) and they
were the
> >did-it-myself style plugs. The bike had its original
handlebar tape on
> >the bars. Corks pushed into the ends of the bar with three
strips of
> >cloth handlebar tape across the flat ends of the corks.
Handlebar tape
> >then wrapped over the three strips where they overlapped the
bar. Very
> >clean looking.
> >
> >Chuck Schmidt
> >South Pasadena, Southern California