miamijim

If you cant find the nylon washer I'm sure you could modify a metal one of the appropriate thickness with a Dremel tool (or something similar).

sekaijin

I don't have anything suitable ... I've rebuilt it with two changes adding tiny amounts of thickness to the cam joint, which reduce (but do not fully eliminate) the left shifter wiggle.

1) without the nylon washer, I have one extra thin washer from the left side. These washers are thinner than paper - if you're not careful, you can bend them out of shape. I put it on the right boss, inside the central body piece, to tighten its fit with the slotted left boss.

2) I shimmed the two retaining clips with bits of aluminum foil. Just a single thickness. I have to say I am impressed with the precision design of this thing. A double thickness of aluminum foil was too thick a shim to allow the left boss to fit through its slot.

Not perfect but pretty good ... of course if anyone has one of those nylon washers to spare, I would not turn it down.



EDIT: I've cabled up the shifters and derailleurs. Right shifter works beautifully. Left shifter works but I need to keep it really quite tight or else it slips. This must be because of the missing nylon washer, which probably would add anti-slip resistance to the left shifter.

miamijim

Post # 23 has been rivised.

https://www.bikeforums.net/showpost.p...4&postcount=23

sekaijin

Your new pics of the notched washer placement are great.

I see small differences between your Symmetric build and mine, maybe due to year version (mine is on a 1984 bike) or maybe due to prior work.

Mine has more thin washers and the outer lock washers.

Mine is missing the nylon washer which may be a design flaw that got improved in your version, but I suspect it used to be there and got lost - it would be the perfect thing to cut the wiggle out of the left side.

badger_biker 

I don't recall having a nylon washer either. I took mine out for a ride today and noticed the left lever was quite loose when it is all the way forward. If I take up the slack in the cable it is fine. Strange but it works well.
sekaijin - I also finally got around to taking some pics of my 1984 Le Tour that I promised. I had to replace the BB axle, headset, and put on different wheels, but otherwise I think it is pretty much original. Since it didn't have decals and looks pretty plain I figured it would make a great grocery getter and that is how I have it set up. I like the curve of my levers - makes it a little easier to move. Nothing speedy but it is a nice comfortable and sturdy ride.

Josef Taylor

Nice instructions! I wish I could have seen them a few years ago when I found that mine were set up with the cam backwards (or was it sideways?) and had to stare at it for an hour to get it back together properly.

As for Sheldon, he wasn't saying it would creep because it turned the front shift lever, he said it would creep because it pulled the front shift cable back and forth, by moving the lever back and forth. Since there is a spring at one end of the cable (the derailer), and friction at the other (the shift lever), as you move the system back and forth, the spring slowly wins, for the same reason as described for heavy riders pulling cable through their bottom bracket cable guides and eventually upshifting.

Now, I've used a set of these shifters and I too, found this effect not to be a problem. You almost always end up shifting the front before the lever creeps very far. I also tried an experiment in which I shifted the rear back and forth several times (with the rear wheel removed) and the front derailer did eventually move down enough to shift the chainring (if the chain had been moving, that is). Naturally, the friction adjustment in the shifter would make a difference in how long this takes, or if it happens at all.

Sheldon remains infallible. (or, at least, usually mostly right)

thefred

I know this thread is old, but thanks, Miamijim, that was an awesome public service you did.

cb400bill

thefred, thank you for unearthing this thread. And thank you to Jim for your awesome post. My winter project bike has this shifter system and I know I will be referring to it often, I'm sure.

Zaphod Beeblebrox 

interestingly enough so does my winter project.

I'm missing the mounting bolt for my shifters. I got one to fit but its not as nice as the original. Can you get those anywhere?

beech333

I realize that this thread is old, but I hope to scan and submit my Suntour Small Parts catalog to Velobase soon. For now, here is the page for the titled shifters.

Doohickie

Awesome. I have one of those shifters; I may need to know this!

sekaijin

^ yes just seeing this now - thank you for the catalog page. Perfect.

I do notice slight differences between the catalog diagram and the parts on my 1984 (or earlier) Suntour Symmetric shifter. Do you know the catalog date?

Zaphod Beeblebrox 

ive been riding mine a little over a week now and I really like them. They Shift very smoothly even while wearing big fat mittens and I can hit 4 out of 5 gears in the rear without trimming the FD.

Bianchigirll 

I think the term "if it ain't broke don't take it apart" applies here.

Zaphod Beeblebrox 

I was much less afraid of my Suntour Command shifters... I took one look at the underside of these symmetrics and was like "nooope"

sekaijin

Thanks a lot, I could have used that advice almost 2 years ago when I started this thread!

All mine needed was a drop of thread locker. But noooooo, I had to take apart the whole thiiiiing ...

jmeb

I'm ripping apart my new-to-me Centurion Pro Tour and made the mistake of disassembling these shifters -- saved my sanity after an hour of trying to make it work. Cheers!

globie

This is such a great thread I'm posting mostly to keep it fresh. I was just about to tear down my 1984 LeTour for some cosmetic frame work when I found this. Probably saved me lots of grief. Good thing the Cardinals in the World Series slowed me down!

robbied196

I see its been a while since there was a post in this thread, but I just want to say a big, big thanks to Miamijim, you just saved me a big headache! I did the old trick of thinking it looked simple, didn't take any pics, and then couldn't remember how it went back together!!!

Dweendaddy

That step by step set of photo instructions will give me the best chance of possibly reasssembling my levers!

Oldpeddaller

This thread is excellent! - I don't have a pair of these shifters but just in case I am ever fortunate enough to find some - any chance this thread could be placed in a "Sticky" so it's easy to find?

eschlwc

"phineas j. whoopee, you're the greatest!”



miami jim, i mean. great post. you've saved me and my '83 nishiki. bravo.

sekaijin

I love the longevity and usefulness of this thread! Rock on.

spacemanz

Aha! I see this thread needs a little refreshing again. Here are mine, just acquired today. Somehow I don't see that clamp fitting on the C'dale though.

spacemanz

Even cooler, these were "also known as" the Cyclone Mark II LD-2300 shifters (but with slightly different levers), which I already have the derailleurs. That's all there was for the Cyclone Mark II line, 4 items, including 2 rear derailleurs (short & long caged versions), plus the FD & shifters.