genejockey 

I recently acquired a 1985 Centurion Ironman in really good condition, but of course I stripped it down, cleaned it and am putting it back together - original stem and bars is one thing. Original grease in the BB and headset is something else entirely. It came with what I assume was the original front reflector, which puzzled me because it had none of the other reflectors. This one was one of those that fits into the headset under the locking nut.

It turns out, that is exactly why it was there. Without it, the lock nut bottoms out on the top of the steerer before contacting the top cup, so it doesn't lock up anything. "Oh, well," I thought, "I'll just run out to a bike store and pick up a spacer to replace it."

Yeah, right.

I'd figured any shop that's been in business more than 10 years would have a bunch of these. Turns out, not so much. So I turned to Ebay, where I discovered you could either buy a pack of 10 of them, or buy a single one from Europe and pay exorbitant shipping and wait a few weeks. So I ordered a 10 pack, and meanwhile used a hacksaw to cut the reflector mount down to a 3/4 circle I could use as a spacer in the meanwhile to complete the build, pending the arrival of the spacer I needed and 9 more that I don't.

So, first, where did all the spacers go? And second, have you ever been stymied by the inability to find what SHOULD BE a common-as-dirt part that EVERYONE used to have?

mprince

I probably have a couple in my toolbox...

ThermionicScott 

Pretty sure I do, too. Shoulda put out an ISO!

Incidentally, when the oddball headset on my Diamondback started having trouble staying in adjustment, I added a reflector bracket. With that, I had a visual indication whether the stack of headset nuts had loosened, and a convenient way to swat it tighter for the time being. (Now that I've ground down a headset wrench to 33mm, I can finally adjust it properly and the reflector bracket is now superfluous again.)

noobinsf 

Third, if you are interested in selling a couple to offset your cost, I'm in. The stock headset on my Mercian bottoms out without a spacer, and while this was initially fine because I planned to use centerpull brakes, I have since changed plans to sidepulls, so I will deal with the same predicament in the very near future once I start assembling.

Send me a PM if having nine spares seems like too many for you...

3speedslow

It does boggle the mind when you think a part should be a “sure thing” find. I have two bike shops in my town. One looks at me confused when i don’t want the latest and greatest thing...

The other one has a bone yard of parts decades old. Guess which one I hang out in!

Feldman

Wheels Mfg sells 1" spacers from 2.5 to 40mm, black or silver, US made.

mprince

Those likely are for threadless, for a conventional headset the washer needs to be keyed to fit into the slot milled into the threaded steerer tube.

52telecaster

I've cut down so many of those spacers. The reflector brackets that are also cable hangers usually get modified by me too.

canklecat

Yup, before the original Nashbar was sold out I bought an old style keyed spacer and, for bikes with cantilever brakes, a cable hanger that doubled as a keyed spacer.

Centurion may have changed that design later. My 1989 Ironman and early 1990s Univega came without the reflector mounts. On the Univega the reflector mounts also doubled as emergency catchers in case a straddle cable broke -- extremely unlikely considering how thick those cables are, so I never bothered replacing the cable catchers. Either those bikes didn't need the keyed spacer, or whoever removed the reflector mounts replaced them with their own keyed spacers which were probably readily available back then.

Dfrost 

A keyed washer is nice, but certainly not required. And then there’s my headset that doesn’t have room for any washer. Been working fine for thousands of miles. @gugie added the integral cable housing stop to one of his clever decaleurs to work with the brazed-post center pulls added during Gugificazione!

dedhed

The spacer does not need to be keyed, just the right diameter.

Prowler 

I'll submit that a spacer without the bitty key are better even. I've seen plenty of those key nubs turned and ground away, which makes life harder and damages the steerer tube. I've filed them off when in doubt. I believe the key's interface was only a manufacturing convenience. File the key off the spacer, put it all together and use two wrenches properly.

SurferRosa

Use it to cut the steerer, and you wouldn't need a spacer!

Seriously, there's not a bike shop in all of San Francisco that has a conventional (aluminum!!) HS spacer for free???

repechage

not for free
i would have gone to American Cyclery
they were on Fremont, closed during an earthquake retrofit but last I read were back up snd running.

the typical reflector brackets were to withstand a 50 lb load without bending. Usually just above 1mm thick, so depending you might need one or two washers.

repechage

Now 756 Stanyan street

mstateglfr 

SF area has to have plenty of bike collectives/co-ops. Anywhere that still deals with threaded headsets should have tons of spacers.

genejockey 

San Mateo, actually. And what actually happened is that I called two places and got "Sorry!", and the third said, "Yes, we have them", but when I went there and asked back in the Service Department, the guy looked for a good 5 minutes without finding one.

So I decided that phoning was no good, and I'd have to actually physically go to every shop, if I wanted to find one. So I ordered the bag of 10 and broke out the hacksaw. Shakedown cruise should be tonight.

genejockey 

It measured closer to 2mm.

genejockey 

SF is 20 miles away, plus you'd think the older bike shops on the Peninsula that do a lot of business servicing old bikes would have them. But you'd be mistaken. I was.

gugie 

@genejockey,

Had I seen this earlier I would have PM'ed you and mailed you one. Sorry about that!

JohnDThompson 

They don't strictly need to be keyed; it just helps hold the adjustment while you tighten the locknut. With a non-keyed spacer, you can use one of your headset spanners to hold the adjustment while you tighten things down.

genejockey 

Yes, I've seen that, where the key doesn't hold in the slot very well. Luckily it didn't ruin the threads, at least not so badly that the top cup wouldn't be removed and reinstalled.

genejockey 

'Sokay! When I posted this, I had ALREADY ordered the Bag-O'-Spacers and cut down the reflector. The bike's all put together now - put on the bar tape last night. Now the bike's in my trunk, and I'm impatiently awaiting the shakedown cruise I plan for after work!

Bianchigirll 

Is it that they don't have the spacer or the employee just didn't understand what you were looking for because you had a threaded headset?

Working at a well known Boston shop around 1995 or so I saw an employee refuse to sell someone a freewheel for an older Fuji (something like an '85ish Team or Ravoli) but anyway the customer asked for a Suntour freewheel and since we didn't have any Suntour freewheels on the shelf this guy wouldn't sell him anything despite my repeatedly telling him a Sachs FW would work even better than the Suntour. He said NO since it had a Suntour RD it had to have a Suntour FW to shift properly. I think it has been down hill for shop service since that day.

SwimmerMike 

@genejockey for anything vintage there's a really good chance that Cupertino Bike Shop would have it. If you go there for anything, W,TH, & Fr are the best days since Greg Davis, their Vintage Mechanic, works those days. On other days the knowledge of where the different vintage parts are located is a little more hit and miss.