top cap rubber bolt protector
05-24-15 | 12:04 PM
#1
Thread Starter
Full Member
Joined: Sep 2011
Posts: 265
Likes: 29
From: Pittsburgh, PA
Bikes: All-City Big Block, Giant Bowery, KHS Flite 100
top cap rubber bolt protector
So for the bolt that secures my headset and handlebars there is usually a small rubber piece that fits into the 5mm allen bolt to keep water from getting in and rusting it. The problem is if I let somebody else handle my bike it is easy to knock it out on accident which usually happens when I take it to the lbs or if I'm pushing my bike for some reason and not paying attention to my grasp. So I have lost quite a few never to be found again and my bolt is showing some rust when I look down. Now I'm all about aesthetics and it really irks me to see this missing. Is there a specific name for these so that I can find a bag of them on Amazon or something to protect all of my bikes?
05-24-15 | 02:45 PM
#2
Non omnino gravis
Joined: Feb 2015
Posts: 8,552
Likes: 1,739
From: SoCal, USA!
Bikes: Nekobasu, Pandicorn, Lakitu
I could send you a stainless top bolt, if you're interested. I have an entire box of M6 x 40 SS cap heads-- I need them, as I am addicted to making my own gap caps. Seriously, addicted. I can't stop. If you might want a neato top cap, I've started passing those around too, in a sort of pay-it-forward type of deal. Given away about half a dozen of them to date. Just a very few examples (as I've made ~40 so far)
05-25-15 | 07:02 AM
#5
Senior Member
Joined: Apr 2007
Posts: 4,129
Likes: 56
From: Munising, Michigan, USA
Bikes: Priority 600, Priority Continuum, Devinci Dexter
Stainless bolt is the way to go, for sure. Those rubber caps just fall out and get lost.
DrIsotope, those top caps are pretty fantastic-looking. I've thought about having some custom-printed to give out, but it's never occurred to me to make my own before.
DrIsotope, those top caps are pretty fantastic-looking. I've thought about having some custom-printed to give out, but it's never occurred to me to make my own before.
05-25-15 | 09:58 PM
#7
Non omnino gravis
Joined: Feb 2015
Posts: 8,552
Likes: 1,739
From: SoCal, USA!
Bikes: Nekobasu, Pandicorn, Lakitu
I bought a terribly expensive bowling ball about 4 years ago, a Hammer Jigsaw Corner. It was a great ball, up until I didn't use it for about a year and it just sat in the bag in the hall closet, and the coverstock split all the way around. So there goes that money, up in smoke. Grabbed some of my carbide holesaws and drilled plugs out of the coverstock, and that's what fills the center of that stem cap. I jokingly refer to it as my "$200 gap cap." I'm drilling out more plugs to try to lessen the blow of losing the bowling ball. At least it lives on. It's already made another, right there in the sorta-middle of the group:
