[CR]Fiamme rim question

(Example: Books:Ron Kitching)

Date: Fri, 10 Aug 2007 16:16:48 -0500
From: Tom Hayes <hayesbikes@gmail.com>
To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
Subject: [CR]Fiamme rim question

I was polishing a couple of old Fiamme rims; I believe they are the oval, red-label type, but the labels are gone. One of them, about a half-inch from the joining seam and about an inch from the Fiamme engraving, has a metal peg or solid rivet going through it. On the other side of the peg or pin there is some evidence of either soldering or some kind of metal work, perhaps grinding.

I would like to know what the purpose of the peg or pin is as I have not seen it on other rims, though that only means that I have not seen it on other rims and is not meant as some gauge (when I write that self-consciously or self-reflectively, I know I have been reading too many literary theory articles and books). Would this have been inserted in the factory and for what purpose, or was this someone else's handiwork to keep the rim together? It doesn't, however, have a flattened top to secure it to the surface, though there appears to be a flattened side on the inside of the rim.

Thank you.

Cheers.

Tom Hayes
Chagrin Falls, Ohio USA