Originally Posted by boattail71

The shifters, and the whole bike, has veritably no use to it but has suffered from decades of storage neglect and superficial damage. It's an interesting story, a true barn find, but I digress. So, while there is no damage from use, the little black washer has deteriorated (see pic - this came from under/behind the screw head). I believe that this is the part that is causing the shifter to fail. If so, does anyone know how to replace this? Is this a rubber washer or maybe a fibrous material? I assume that this washer is designed to add friction. It is this friction component that I need help on. Does anyone have experience coming up with a solution to this problem? My tact is to keep these shifters, and all of the components original to the bike if possible.

Thanks for any help.