Currently building a bike without micro-adjuster screw holes and am wondering where I may be able to find some of these. I have them on my Bridgestone 400 and they're a nice alternative to traditional micro-adjusters. I have found a single one for sale on eBay but of course that's no help. Hoping one of you knows some parts house somewhere that may have these.

If Loose Screws is back in some reincarnative mode, they may have them.

The ones you have pictured are Huret ref. 849 "Alignment stops": Huret catalog (1974)

If you don't mind something similar then a newly manufactured copy of a Japanese version of these is being offered here: Rear Drop Out Spacers 2 Alloy Lovecitycycles USA New | eBay

An original Japanese version (one only) is offered here: https://www.ebay.com/itm/141766743024]

If you do need the actual Huret version you pictured they do turn up on eBay from time to time.

I didn't see them there but what a great site. They actually have unglide freehub bodies for less than what you pay for a vintage frame set. Take that eBay!

You found them! I think those repops will work just fine. Thanks for the help.

Those stops are never easy to position precisely on both sides, so a single one is about as good as two imo.

I don't mind pushing the rim over a little with one knee while tightening the axle. Just keep some downward force on the saddle while the axle is tightened so the axle settles up consistently against the top side of the dropout slots and the rim thus centers between the brake pads.

If your bike has a claw-type derailer hanger, then no stop is needed (and left side optional).

I think that most people here understand how to center a wheel.

If you use two of these (or one with a claw), you just pull the wheel back against the stops and the wheel is centered perfectly every time, even in the dark ( or when you don't have your glasses, a new issue for me). I have them on all four of my French bikes because they came with them. I also have them on a mountain bike with a chain stay brake and horizontal dropouts. With those you not only have to center the wheel between the stays, but the brake pads have to meet the rims at the right location. It's a bit of a hassle without those stops, but no problem at all with them.

Never easy to position precisely? I don't get that at all.

Of course riders can center a wheel, which is part of why I said only one side stop is needed. I have encountered riders who, in part because their bikes are so light, end up with chain tension overcoming gravity and with the wheel then not centering with the brake caliper, which is about 90 degrees different from the issue of having the wheel not centered between the chainstays, and is why I suggested applying downward force to the saddle while centering the wheel prior to and while securing nuts or QR lever. This can be more critical when wider axle widths than the frame's actual spacing is used, as is often the case, and made worse by some locknut's un-beveled corners. Such are the banes of cheap bikes, but riders have long been compensating their bike's weaknesses with good habits and practices.

Often enough, using two stops, I've found that they tend to move around, to lose any fine edge of careful adjustment, and not so easy to set both stops precisely in the first place as I said. I'll admit to being finicky about how my wheels are aimed!
And with certain QR levers, as the wheel/axle slides back there can be axle stop contact with the knurl on the nut before there is contact with the axle, which is another source of inconsistent centering when one is relying on two of this kind of stop to allow the sort of slam-and-ride convenience that premium adjuster screws offer.

So as I have tired of having to re-adjust such stops, I say having a stop on just one side is fine with me, since it does at least get the chain-length and chain gap fixed, and so no variations of drivetrain function.

It's strange that I've had a completely different experience for the last forty years. I have never had to readjust them because they don't move. I prefer them to "premium adjusters" because they're not so easily damaged.

They're not really adjusters, they're spacers. Putting them all the way back positions the wheel perfectly in Simplex dropouts. The is absolutely no tendency for them to move forward. It's the same for the Suntour dropouts on my Japanese Peugeot.

They may not work well in stamped dropouts. I've never tried.

I've never had a QR contact them. Not even close.

After poking around the Loose Screws site- Anyone know where I might find the tip for a dropout adjuster screw? Or maybe I just need to find a pair of dropout adjuster screws- just to match. (queue the OCD/AR thread)

Try Velo Orange, they usually have drop-out adjusters (sold as a pair).

I just removed some of those from a '73 Gitane. They worked for years, and then for some reason I couldn't get the wheel to stay put in the dropouts. I tried switching QR levers, clamping down as much as I could, checking to be sure the axle wasn't too long, removing the springs used to center the QR skewer... finally a friend said, "Try removing the stops and sliding the wheel all the way back in the dropout." Worked like a charm. I have another Gitane waiting repair so we'll see if they work in that bike...

If you have a steel frame, has anyone ever had a machine shop tap the bike to take adjustable dropouts?

I've never had a bike that had them, but I bought a Lemond Mailot Jaune for my ex that had them. I've never really understood the benefit of why I'd want to incrementally adjust my wheelbase anyway.

I'd be much more interested in the new headsets MTBikers are using to change the steering geometry of their bikes by one degree. Can you imagine how many of us in C&V world would want to take old vintage racing bikes and make them more STish with relaxed geometry. Nobody likes a twitchy race bike on a charity century ride when you're thirty, but as we age some of the best C&V race bikes become less "rideable." Nobody wants to be riding a spooky handling quick twitch race bike while constantly reaching for downtube levers while fatigued. If they made this Jan Heine would start talking about how much it improves how the bike planes. I can't imagine using them to make the bike geometry have a steeper head tube angle, although people use them that way as well. I'd prefer slacker to bring stability to bikes that are already stable (STs).

I don't know if there is enough space in a 1" head tube to pull it off like they are doing with MTBs and to do this with threaded headsets, but its a thought:

AngleSet

I was just test riding this new build Centurian that had no adjusters. I had the wheel axles pushed to the rear of the dropouts. I had already ridden it up a short quite steep hill at the beginning of the ride and then had ridden about 3 miles maybe a little more. I was down shifting and something happened and I found myself on pavement before I knew what had happened. This is the first time I have been down in 40 years and I was more than a little embarrassed and only slightly road rashed on one knee. I picked up the bike and found the rear wheel loose from the dropout. I suppose that the QR could have been a little too loose though I haven't had that problem in 50 years of cycling but there is always a first time. Maybe I should have included this in the original post but I was still embarrassed and I did not want to confuse the original question.

I am not really sure what the screw adjusters do other than locate the axle to the RD top idler but I don't know what that relationship does in the shifting function. It must have some bearing though or there would not be the room for the axle to move forward/rearward.

I also found the wheel slightly waffled and I have since straightened that with spoke adjustment.

Adjusters would not have helped.

Surly Monkey nuts. My LBS gave me a pair, I see the retail is high enough I should probably bring them a 6 pack

I think you made a good observation that when these parts are used in fully-aligned (front-to-rear, as affects wheel position) dropouts, there is no space for either spacer/stop to move rearward out of adjustment.

But when a claw hanger is perhaps in place on one side, or when the dropouts have some fore-aft misalignment at the rearmost end of the slots, or when the rider perhaps wants their axle as far forward as practical, those are the cases where a precisely positioned axle stop spacer may later move rearward and thus out of "adjustment" over time.

Mountaindave 's experience with these spacer stops interfering with the axle and QR gripping the dropout sounds like it could be related to the situation I mentioned in my earlier post, i.e. that some QR heads and nuts (and/or the axle locknuts) can in some cases have an OD that allows the toothed grip ring area to perch upon the axle stop spacer before it begins gripping the dropout, which could of course compromise the grip on the dropout. or may at the least not allow the axle itself to slide quite fully against the concave "tip" of the spacer stop.

So is there any harm in not using any dropout adjusters, besides fussing with the wheel alignment anytime it's removed? I have a bridgestone 300 with those clamp styles like in the first picture of this thread. I recently mounted up some new tires and could not get them to clear the rear stays unless I removed the adjusters. I haven't finished getting the bike in working order. I'm wondering if this is a bad idea and I should get slightly smaller tires to keep the use of the adjusters? Thoughts? The tires are 27" 1 1/4 panaracer pasela. thinking 1 1/8 would fit fine but was hoping to make this kindof a touring set up.

[MENTION=359368]wheatfly[/MENTION] - no problem. Gotta make a priority decision - tire size vs ease of install/removal.