Random_bike_guy

Hello All - I bought this bike, and disassembled it down to the bare frame, even took apart the rear derailer and shifters. Figured it would be a good learning experience. RJ The Bike Guy on YouTube was a huge help. Anyways, I committed the cardinal sin of disassembly and did not take pictures. When I put it back together, I was left with a few extra parts. 2 square like nut looking things that have 2 “ears” and a slight curve , then these 4 metal tabs with a bend. Any idea what those might be, where the hey go & how, and if they are necessary? New to the forum, and guess I am not allowed to upload pictures yet. If anyone knows a work around, that would be great. My descriptions are not the best, I know. Thank you in advance.

cxwrench

You're gonna have to figure out a way to post photos. My magic 8 ball is down for maintenance.

Pratt

You seem to be carrying on your sinful, no picture ways. Repent!

70sSanO

My blind guess of the 2 squares with ears might be downtube shifter stops.

John

Iride01 

You can upload pics to the Gallery here on BF and just tell us they are there. Or upload them to https://imgur.com/ or some other hosting site and figure out how to obfuscate the URL from the SPAM filter and just type it in the plain text of your posts. It's sort of a test to see if we are getting good quality noobs! <grin>

Some pic hosting sites don't work as well with BF as others do.

alcjphil

I am sorry. You will have to stay the course until you are allowed to add pictures. Don't despair it only takes couple of days and another 9 posts until you can fill us in. I know that this may seem frustrating to a new member but if you could have seen the shambles that this forum was in before this policy was implemented you would understand. The moderators of the forum do a great job keeping us all in line and I greatly appreciate their work. It seems that in the last couple of years we have seen more and more new members who come in expecting more than the forum is able to offer given the rules. There are a lot of very helpful people here and if you stick with it, help is on its way
Hint: if you took the bike apart and put it back together with parts left over they were probably needed. Have you ridden the bike yet? One thing to do when you take something like a bicycle apart is to keep parts of various assemblies together. Brake parts stay with brake parts. Shifter parts stay with shifter parts. Derailleur parts(front or rear)stay with derailleur parts. This was how we did things before digital photography made taking pictures cheap. At least that way you would know where the extra parts came from and have an idea what to look for if something wasn't working properly

Lbxpdx

brake parts?

thumpism 

Nesting pads for the brakes. Front wheel retainers.

nomadmax 

The best way to find out what the missing parts are is to find the biggest hill you can find, start at the top and........

Random_bike_guy

I am liking the humor on here, seem like a fun bunch a guys. Sound advice as well, so thank you. I’ll just wait till I hit the 10 posts, should only take a day or two. I need to put my wife’s bike back together anyways. That aside, I did take it for a spin this morning. If anyone one is from LA, you probably know how hilly it is. Certainly made things interesting. To recap, headset came a little lose. Might need some thread lock or something. Back tire shifted, and was rubbing again the seat stay. Tightening the skewer with a kung foo grip, seemed to address that. Old school bike, thought it would be cool to put on old school bar tape with no padding. That was a mistake. It reminded me that I was in my mid 30s, quite punishing. Last but not least, the breaks were very “squishy.” Front cable end popped off somehow, line frayed a bit. I saw Jesus when heading down one of those hills into an intersection. Leads me to believe those “extra” parts are in fact for the brakes, and necessary. All in all, I lived to bike another day. Y’all enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Korina

Hi, how's it going? (Only two more posts!)

PS Don't ride a bike with parts missing; even if you don't die, you could destroy the bike.

Steel Charlie

I had a motorcycle like that. Every time I took the motor down I had pieces left over after it was back together.

Moe Zhoost

I use cloth bar tape on my bikes and find it quite comfortable. But then again, I'm close to twice your age and have many other pains to distract me.

Random_bike_guy

Drum roll . These little guys are the parts in question. I should mention that the brakes are dia comp, suntour vx front & tear derailer & suntour power shifters. I could not tell you how much time I spent looking for photos online, or at eBay listings and zooming into to see how this stuff went back together. All things considered, Think I did pretty good. That aside, Lesson learned.

ClydeClydeson

The four parts that look like washers with teeth might be spacers to fill the back of the rear dropouts. The screws pass through the ones with larger holes and thread into the threaded holes on the other ones. The curved end of the 'tooth' goes against the axle.

The other parts look like the cleats that hold the band clamps that hold the brake levers on. If the brake levers are already on then I am wrong and these are something else.

Random_bike_guy

I see. Well I will do some searches in google images to confirm. The breaks are on and have been assembled, but it’s possible I forgot parts. Thank you everyone for responding. If you have any other thoughts, I would greatly appreciate it. Planning on giving it a second ride this weekend. Have a great night!

BTinNYC

Clyde's got it.
The dropout spacers are installed with the screwhead on the outside.

After a complete strip and rebuild of my VW bug in 1979, I had a coffee can with 3 or 4 leftovers.

dedhed

https://www.ebay.com/itm/19476043537...oaAjEpEALw_wcB

​​​​​​https://www.ebay.com/itm/39422128534...YaAvNPEALw_wcB

coupster

Assuming that your rear dropouts are horizontal. (if not never mind) Loosely assemble the dropout spacers/stops and slide them into the dropouts, big end towards the back. Install the wheel and make sure that its straight and not cocked to one side. Slide the spacer/stops against the axle and tighten the screws on the drop out spacers/stops. Otherwise you will be cursing yourself every time you remove and reinstall your rear wheel as you try to get the wheel straight in the frame. Also if you don't install them, your axle will slide in the dropouts and eventually the rim will rub the frame and/or brakes.

Random_bike_guy

well this explains why the axle kept shifting and rubbing against the chain stay. I picked up quite a bit of speed on those hills, hopefully I did not bend the rim or axle. Going to try and install these per your instructions. Thanks again!

Random_bike_guy

me again, unfortunately. I installed these dropout spacers, but looking at them, I don’t see how they are designed to prevent the axel from shifting and when rubbing against the chain stay. I put them in with the teeth pointing forward (my dropouts are semi horizontal to the road, and pressed the axel against them, putting the skewer in as tight as possible. It would be fantastic if this worked since I’m had rear wheel shifting issues on the maiden voyage. I just don’t see how this will fix that. Thank you in advance!

coupster

All of those that I have had experience with, including my personal touring steed, if you tighten the two halves together with the screw, the spacer will not be able to move in the dropout. This provides a physical stop that will prevent the axle from sliding backwards in the dropout preventing the wheel from canting off center. With everything installed, when you stand beside the bike and grab the wheel, the axle shifts and the wheel moves sideways? Stupid question, but you are installing one of each dropout, right?

Moe Zhoost

Are you tightening the skewer properly? I don't mean to disparage your mechanic skill, but after years of volunteering at our local co-op I see many folks that don't do it right. If you use it like a wing nut, it will not adequately secure your wheel. This video may help:

Random_bike_guy

no offense taken, I have zero mechanic skills. One could say that is the point of this exercise. Could have easily bought a brand new bike, but wanted the experience. I’ve learned quite a bit up until this point, and will continue to do so. I was doing this wrong, thank you for sharing the video

VegasTriker

Ha Ha! None of us were born with the innate ability to put things back together the way they came apart. Taking a picture before you disassemble something sure helps. YouTube videos can be a pretty good guide. If you are lucky it will work out as easily as the YouTube video shows but don't always count on it. Learning by doing is much more effective than watching someone else do a task. You are on your way to being skilled.