My rear gears have been skipping from easier gear to harder gear recently, i read someplace else that a way to fix this was to loosen the barrel adjuster a quarter turn by turning it clockwise when standing at the rear of the bike. But where are they? Does my bike not have them installed? if this is the case can I go to my LBS and have them sell me one that is not a campagnolo museum piece? and where should it be installed?

Campagnolo Nouvo Record der. never had a barrel adj. The problem you describe sounds more like the shifter is slipping.

Ahh OK Thank you. I did just try to slightly tighten the "D ring" in picture #4, directly underneath the shifter.
Is that what I would do to prevent the shifter from slipping?

Pulley cage is bent too.
Addendum: looking at that freewheel, at least two of those cogs have teeth which are getting really stretched apart. You need a new chain and freewheel as well.
Phil

I added in an Inline Barrel Adjuster on one of my bikes. It uses an old Campy Tourney derailleur, it is quite picky, I often change out wheel sets and need to make adjustments. I am at the point that when I change out the wheel set I just make a few twists to the adjuster and I am in the sweet spots. On another bike I added a barrel adjuster to the boss at the wheel stay. Note that all my adjustments are very small. If you need big adjustment then something is wrong...

How many rear derailleurs come with barrel adjusters before indexing? I just checked my bike with Dura Ace EX, so it's friction shifting, and it has one. I was thinking "Why?" because there's a lever and no detents, but then I realized that you might find that the cable was stretching/elongating and has too much slack in high gear, and might not have enough pull to get into low gear before running out of lever travel.

But, skipping when in gear, with friction shifting, sounds more like a chain and cog problem than a cable tension problem. Or a loose lever problem, if it happens gradually between shifts.

Both the chain and freewheel are less than a year old!
can that be possible?

Agreed. OP should also check derailleur hanger alignment. Hard to tell from the photos, but RD appears tilted slightly inward, so either RD cage or hanger might also be bent.

As said above, you don't need barrel adjusters with that friction, non-indexed setup. The cable should be set slightly slack when in the smaller cog and that's it.

Yes, depends upon how much you ride, how dirty the drivetrain is, and how much you are pushing.
Phil

Yeah, then it seems unlikely. More likely, then, that it's the lever being a little loose so it doesn't stay in place.

It could but it’s not something someone can tell from a photograph. I see nothing wrong with your drivetrain and all you need to do it tighten the shift lever. If you check the chain for wear or if the chain is skipping, address those separate issues. Don’t go fixin’ that that don’t need fixin’.

I guess, ymmv. It really bothers me if the cable is slack (even a tiny bit!) at the top of the shifter travel, and I need to take up slack before the chain begins to shift. I probably spend more time than most guys in initial setup of securing the derailleur's cable anchor when removing all slack.

Yeah, no. Absolutely no need for a slack cable if everything is properly adjusted.

Maybe "slack" is not the word - I meant "no tension". I'm an ESL, you know...

my 2 cents: before you just tighten the shift lever screw(s), consider cleaning all the innards first, THEN reassemble it DRY (or some say a thin coat of grease but ONLY on certain contact surfaces, not EVERYwhere...you may need to consult the Campy Oiuja Board for further details)

Campagnolo downtube friction shifters were known to be prone to slipping. Ironically, it might have be a consequence of their manufacturing their components to very high standards of precision.

If the problem recurs after you tighten the D ring, one fix is to degrease the threads of the D-ring bolt and then add a drop of blue Loctite to the threads.

Or there's the quick-and-dirty technique I used with my Campy down tube shifters back in the day: I simply grabbed a Vice Grip and crushed the D-ring threads ever so slightly. Works perfectly and appalls the purists as a bonus.

Yes the D ring adjusts the shifter friction. As far as wear, all I see is too much lubrication on freewheel and chain. Can't tell if worn.

Thanks I'm riding through snow sludge and over ice surfaces these days so it's hard to get motivated to do a proper clean that would be destroyed in the first 15 minutes I'm back out riding...

out of curiosity what freewheel and chain are you using. the freewheel looks like it has some ramps and teeth designed to help shifting, so that could be why some may think it is worn

how many miles in the year the chain and freewheel have been on?

I recall needing to tighten the levers much much more than I was comfortable with. My first nice bike with SR was slipping and Bill Ron said I needed to tighten the levers. I did and they still slipped. Bill really really tightened them. Nowadays, when I get em just right, it feels like the D-ring should break off at that just right point.

I think it's a sunrace freewheel, not sure of the chain type - a LBS installed them..
also hard to say the miles - mostly I just use it for commuting a little over 4 miles each way...

With friction shifting, I used to eliminate the slack this way: turn in the high gear (small cog) limit screw a small amount; loosen pinch bolt; pull cable with pliers and keep holding the tension; tighten pinch bolt; let go with the pliers; turn back the limit screw the same amount as I turned it in before.

Well, personally I would definitely have tension on the cable.

But if the cable is under tension when the chain is in the smallest cog, wouldn't shifting into it be unreliable?