For years I have admired those little rubber thingies that some hip bike shop use to keep a fork in place in a frame when a headset is not present. For years I just assumed they were some arcane part of the lore of the bike business that us lesser mortals were, perhaps because of some lack in our make ups , to be denied access to. Imagine my excitement when today I learned that these magnificent little rubber thingies have a proper name. They are properly called a 1" ball cock shank washer! I rushed to E-Mail some friends with this precious little nugget of information. Bob Hovey told me they have them at Home Depot and there's one in my toilet. I rushed to the Amazon site where I learned they could be had for $.96, alas, the shipping was $6.95, however! My suggestion to my wife of four plus decades that we could part out the two toilets for the good of my bike collection was met with such a steely stare that I realized that a fifth decade might be in jeopardy if my madness drove me that far.
Drat! I can foresee another sleepless night while I burn to get away to Home Depot first thing in the morning.
Imagine the nerve of the woman, suggesting that with Spring in the near future I was getting compulsive about bikes all over again!
Tom Sanders
Lansing, MI USA