charles nighbor wrote:
>
> I just obtained an early 80's Davidson Discovery (touring frame) 57cm
> frame and components all in excellent condition. Upon removing handlebar
> with stem I looked into steerer tube and it was closed at the bottom
> with a wine cork. Frame was sold out of the excellent Cupertino Bike
> Shop, CA. No rust was evident inside steerer tube. Some moisture in
> grease however was evident. So my question is this a good idea to do. I
> would be worried about cork absorbing moisture and rusting steerer tube
> to point of failure. Specialty in a area like Seattle.
The consensus back in the day was that it was a bad idea. People used to seal the bottom of the steerer with a cork to keep the road grit and grime from being thrown up into the lower opening of the steerer tube. But rain water enters the steerer at the stem and steerer joint (even with the parts greased) and proceeds to fill the steerer tube with water because it is sealed at the bottom and it then rusts in a ring at the top of the cork.
The Dr. Seuss solution would be of course to make a hole through the center of the cork to let the water out and then plug that with and even smaller cork with a hole through the center to let the water out and then...
Chuck Schmidt South Pasadena, CA
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