While searching for a Bike of the Day (more on that later), I stumbled across this photo:

Attaching a Champagne cork to your saddle might seem like a ridiculous affectation, but there’s an interesting history behind it.
From VeloCult:
“Corks in cycling vernacular date back to the 6-day Bike Races of the 1920s. Trackside at the 6-Day race was one of the places where the social set went to be seen, sipping Champagne from their infield tables.
Soon the jargon evolved. When a cork was popped, power was released, bubbles escaped, the elixir went flat, no more oomph or energy. So, dropping your cork or having no more cork meant you were out of it, flat, dead, pooped, no more stuff. Ergo, the racers would hang a cork on their bikes so they’d never be ‘out’ of cork.
Also, bar plugs were not yet in standard commercial production. In spills, riders could easily get gouged by the edges of the handlebar and stem tubes. So instead of just taping over the openings, corks were inserted into the openings of the handlebars, or simply used to plug the bottom of the fork crown to keep the dirt and moisture out.”
So now you know!
