Re: [CR]Re: hardwood plugs in Pugs

(Example: Production Builders:Cinelli)

Date: Tue, 26 Jun 2007 19:02:59 -0700 (PDT)
From: "Fred Rednor" <fred_rednor@yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: [CR]Re: hardwood plugs in Pugs
To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
In-Reply-To: <6287766.1182907782083.JavaMail.root@elwamui-wigeon.atl.sa.earthlink.net>


> >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

Alan,
     I think that, for some reason, Peugeot were inordinately worried about steering tube breakage. At some point they did begin using metal reinforcements inside the steering tube/fork crown joint. To me, it was one of the more puzzling aspects of the (slightly off-topic) PSV-10 and PGN-10 frames on which I worked. These had relatively light frames from Vitus and Reynolds 501 tubing, respectively. I remember weighing frames (which were reasonably light), yet the forks were suprisingly heavy.
     I was puzzled because the fork blades were from material that matched the frame tubes. On close inspection, there were these reinforcements brazed inside the bottom-most section of the steering tube. It was strange; as though they expected someone to buy the bicycle and enter Paris-Roubaix the next week.
      Regards,
      Fred Rednor - Arlington, Virginia (USA)