shifter help

[kboy]

Hi. I recently resurrected my 87 (I believe) Black Lightning. Went on maiden trip and right before I got home shifters fell off the down tube. Looks like they are Suntour Sprint 9000.... I went to put them back on and couldn't get the all thread rod that goes through the tube to tighten, so I turned it around and it tightened up fine, but now the shifters do not click. Anyone have suggestions or can point me in the right direction to a resource on how to properly reinstall these?

Apologies in advance for my lack of knowledge on names of parts, my only mechanical knowledge is what I am forced to learn as things break down and need repaired... thanks in advance!

 

[fkmooney]

So I have a similar issue. I'm resurrecting my 1985 SR 300 and the rear shifter boss on the downtube came off. I've tried to JB Weld it back on, but that did not work. Unlike yours, my boss was held on with two rivets and some epoxy, there was no throughbolt like the one you picture. For you, I think you can buy a part like this or this. I haven't tried this, but I imagine they can have the same threading as the throughbolt you show and can screw in.

I'm about to post about my issue as well, if you don't get any comments and want to see if anyone responds to it.

 

[black lightning 1987]

The indexed Sprint shifter should have a plastic ring around the body of the shifter that can be turned to three different positions. Yours may have gotten turned to the friction position.

VeloBase.com - Component: SunTour SL-IP00-B, Sprint / Cyclone / Superbe Pro

 

[kboy]

Thanks so much for all your responses. Hell, I'm not even sure if I've got the shifters in the right position or not since everything fell off of the bike on the road and I've had to deduce the placement of all these random pieces.

That pic helps some and I've tried turning the plastic ring, but it still doesn't click (on either side) so I wonder if I might have reinstalled these incorrectly... and perhaps switching the sides of the allthread rod isn't getting me the tension I need on the shifters.

Sorry for so many questions. There's no bike shop around me for a hundred miles and I've been pretty hopeless at figuring this out on my own.

Here's pics of how I have reassembled the shifter as

 

[black lightning 1987]

It doesn't look like you have the rear shifter assembled properly. The plastic ring should be right up against the lever.

 

[letsbike]

I looked around the internet and the best I could find on your particular shifters is this manual on a website called manualzz.com
As you might notice, the complete manual is 31 pages long.

 

[kboy]

thanks so much for the visuals and the manual, definitely helped a lot. I figured out that when i reversed the threaded rod, it was too far in the boss that the outside dial couldn't be fully tightened. There was a collar on it and I thought it was probably held in place w/ adhesive so I heated it up a bit and it just dissolved (the collar, not the rod), so I'm going to assume it was just some tin they added. Anyways, switch it back and backed it off a bit, but in doing so everything fell apart again (this time the plastic ring too, which has some minuscule bearings in it. Ughh.

I think I've got it reassembled correctly, but I don't still don't have click shifting and even friction shifting isn't working, as the lever does not hold the tension in place. My ring has UL, R or P?, and RE as potential positions.... anyone know what this mean or which it should be in? Sorry to ask all these questions, but it was great taking her out after 25 yrs in storage. Heck, first time I had been on a road bike again in all that time. I'd hate to put her back into storage like this, but I'm at my wit's end....

 

[black lightning 1987]

UL is the position for Ultimate (narrow spaced) freewheels. The RE is for regular (wide spaced) freewheels. The shifter should click in either of those for indexed shifting. The center position is for friction shifting.