>The hardwood plugs are placed in the steerer tube at the fork crown
>in case the steerer breaks; cheap insurance. I currently have two
>PY10CP and two PRO10 and a Competition, and all five of them have the
>hardwood plugs (2", rounded ends, with a hole for the brake bolt) in
>the steerer tubes. The plug is not a water tight fit so water is
>not trapped.
>
>Chuck Schmidt
>South Pasadena, CA USA
>www.velo-retro.com (reprints, t-shirts & timelines)
Chuck, That's very interesting, and since I never owned one of these (Peugeots) except to resell it I assumed it was a "weather plug". The one I briefly had was not so nicely finished as what you describe, perhaps it had already broken since it wasn't 2" long and had no cross-drilled hole. But how exactly does this provide "cheap insurance" from a broken steerer, is it supposed to keep the pieces stitched together by way of the brake bolt passing through that hole? If this is/was good practice why not something more substantial than wood (metal) and why only Peugeot? BTW, though it may not have been intended to trap water (and promote rust), the example I saw had done so, luckily it wasn't "fatal".
Alan Goldsworthy
SF, CA, USA