FYI, here's the final result on this. I did need to remove the circular decorative circle. Turned out that once I did this and tightened the cups to the proper specifications the pipe did reach all of the way across, ...just barely enough to seal. I tested this by adding some greese to the O ring, installing, then uninstalling and looking for grease on the other side. Though it does reach, it doesn't sink deep enough to be very confidence building with sealing out, say water, since it is so close to the edge of the cup. But I'm not worried now that I understand the bracket better. Sealing this off here is probably not adding much longevity to the bike, especially if I occasionally uninstall and regrease things. ...which I hope to do. Thanks to everyone her for the help.