On Aug 10, 2007, at 2:16 PM, Tom Hayes wrote:
> 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.
Internally sleeved and then pinned joint.
Chuck Schmidt
South Pasadena, CA USA
http://www.velo-retro.com (reprints, t-shirts & timelines)