These small cork plugs were in common usage by French road racing cyclis ts until quite recently.
The French name for the plugs was "Liege" or "Lieges" in the plural..."l iege" meaning cork in French. The plugs were not just to prevent rim adhesi ve from entering the spoke holes, but were intended more so to provide a fl atter smoother and more even surface on which to bed the tubular. A third i mportant function was to prevent nipping the tubular in the ferrule hole on rough surfaces, as it was believed that that this was a major source of pu nctures., particularly with lighter weight tubs using lighter gauge base ta pes.
Norris Lockley ...freom a very damp Settle UK
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