Hi all,

Recently bought a beautiful Dahon Vigor D9 from Craigslist. In short, I love it and the SRAM X5 has really impressed me. This forum helped a ton when I decided to get back into commuting after moving closer to work again.

Anyway, yesterday on the road I noticed some play in the handlebar post (Radius 3) and decided to inspect the hinge myself. Not knowing what the heck I was looking at / for, I removed the steel plate/tongue trying to diagnose where the play was coming from. As I was moving the grub screws back and forth and saying "Ah yes.. of course" and nodding to myself, the springs boinged out, flew into the Hudson river, and are gone forever. I lost the springs. What's done is done. Acceptance is giving up all hope of living a different past.

So, I understand how to eliminate the handlepost play issue now (a 1 minute adjustment, tightening the 8mm adjustment bolt between the steel tongue and the polymer block) but now my baby tension springs are gone. These seem to exist simply to keep the steel tongue centered and pushed back under the bottom rim of the handlepost? But without them, the steel tongue doesn't move... like at all. With that said, the steel tongue I have DOES seem kinda off centered, doesn't it? So, are the springs just a safety feature in case you smash the polymer block? Or? Am I missing something?

Anyway, it's these:

Which are supposed to live here:

My spring-less plate, which seems no different without the tiny springs


Lastly, my beautiful bike: