Mark and all,
I think that your local hardware store or Home Despot (I used to work in smaller, family-owned hardware stores and that is what I call the HD) would be the preferred source, rather than disabling one's indoor plumbing or scouring the nearest sheepfold. Since we are now in a one-bathroom apartment, the consequences of sourcing from the toilet here would be highly inconvenient at best... :-)
The advantage of the plumbing washers over pipe wrap or handlebar grips is that no cutting is necessary: safer and faster, IMHO. Plus, the washer material is is a bit less scratchy to the touch. Perhaps most important, the plumbing washers have a more attractive (smaller) profile and color than the bulky, uglier, and sometimes-gray pipe wrap, IMHO.
Jon Spangler in a 1970s apartment with still-functioning indoor plumbing and the windows open in sunny Alameda, CA USA
Message: 3 Date: Sat, 6 Mar 2010 19:05:20 -0000 From: Mark Stevens <gillottspear@googlemail.com> Subject: [CR] alternatives to parting out the toilet To: <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org> Message-ID: <67093F3A82254D3C9A19844D556A156C@mark2e3b6d0b55> Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1"; reply-type=original
You can find suitable rubber washers, often orange in colour in most Scottish sheep pastures. I think they might be called Ball Stop Washers...
Mark Stevens Evanton Scotland where men are men and the sheep run scared.
Jon Spangler
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