Ted Ernst will straighten us out on this I bet. A few issues: using shellac is different than rubber based rim cement, it runs more for one thing; early alloy rims had no eyelets; wood rims provided lots of surface and the corks make a metal rim more like wood in terms of tire adhesion and suitability for shellac. I nominate Ted for an answer because a) he was there, b) he knows all and c) a stayer (motor pacer) who didn't know how to keep a tire on a rim would not have lasted to this point.
Joe Bender-Zanoni Great Notch, NJ
Raymond Dobbins wrote:
> Small corks designed to plug up the spoke holes on tubular rims. First time I ever see these. They are both cute and cool ;)
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> http://ebay.com/
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> Item number: 160091243688
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> What exactly is the purpose of these? The description says to prevent glue from going into the spoke holes, but you don't really need the corks to prevent that. You just apply the glue between the holes. And if you were to get glue on the little corks...imagine what a pain it would be to remove them from your tire when you pull it off the rim! You'd probably end up with bits of cork all around your tire - Oh the horror, the horror!
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> Ray Dobbins
> Miami FL USA