[CR]oiler and grease port question

(Example: Production Builders:Cinelli)

From: Tom Hayes <hayesbikes@nls.net>
To: <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
Date: Mon, 6 Sep 2004 07:56:18 -0500
Subject: [CR]oiler and grease port question

Those with more experience than I could possibly answer this: with some fifties and sixties bikes, you often see either an oiler or grease port on the bottom bracket and occasionally on the rear side of the headtube. If a person were to use these, especially the headtube one, I don't quite understand its benefit. With the headtube port, wouldn't one have to fill the headtube with grease before it actually affected the bearings--which I assume, perhaps erroneously, is what it is designed to reach--especially the top bearings? And on the bottom bracket, wouldn't the grease also be forced up the stays, downtube and seattube, before it affected the bearings, or alternatively, wouldn't the oil simply leak out, unless one used oil with the thickness of mud?

Thank you.

Cheers.

Tom Hayes Chagrin Falls, Ohio, where the Prez visited on Saturday