>>>>I would find some plastic shim stock at the local industrial tool supplier. It comes in a book of long sheets of 20 or so different thickness for about 12 bucks. Find the theoretical thickness and just cut off what you need. Comes in handy for lots of stuff. Also it won't mar your post or be hard to deal with like coke can or the like. Dave Bohm<<<<
Both sheet and strip stock in plastic, aluminum and brass, in various thickness, is also available at your local hobby shop. It's designed for modeling, so it's available in small sizes and quantities and quite inexpensive. A small sheet of brass or plastic suitable for shim stock will cost you about 50/75 cents and you'll have plenty left over. Also great for fabricating band-clamps, number plates (for those cool frames with number-tab braze ons), little brackets and lot's of other things. I have a little box of leftover's from various shim, strap and bracket fabrication that I keep going back to. I never seem to use up the whole sheet or strip.
Hobby shops are great resources for all kinds of bicycle-related needs, and most things come in nice, small quantities. Touch-up paint is another obvious item. It's been my touch-up paint of choice for, uh.. too many years. Can you always get an exact match?. No, but I've managed to come REALLY close by mixing my own. And at the minimal cost, you can afford to experiment. Besides, where else can you get lime green metallic for 95 cents.
Need a protective strip or custom chain-stay protector? There's clear or colored adhesive-backed vinyl and mylar. And, of course, the Xacto knife and a big supply of No.11 blades!
Come to think of it, what are bikes but life-sized model kits anyway?
Ciao -
Wayne "Revell" Bingham
Falls Church, VA