The dangers of disassembling things with kids around

Those of you who follow this NG may recall that I'm resurrecting an old Paris Sport bike. Last week,
when this odyssey began, I began removing parts that would be more easily cleaned if off the bike,
like the rear derailleur. I assumed I could complete the process and reinstall it in 2 hours, taking
into account the major distractions caused by my 14 yr old son and his friends, all trying to burn
down the kitchen by making an extremely complex gourmet dish: Grilled cheese sandwiches.
Anyway...the derailleur wasn't reinstalled until last night. There's the problem.

99.99% of the time, when I disassemble something I've never worked on, I make a sketch or notes. Not
this time. There is no separate mounting hole for the derailleur on this bike. Rather, it seems
to fit in the rear wheel's dropout, *before* the rear wheel is reinstalled. The derailleur has
it's own mounting hardware - it's not held in my the mere presence of the wheel's axle.

When done this way, everything fits back together nicely, based especially on my observation that
the brakes line up exactly where they should on the wheel's rim. The chain's not back on yet, so I
haven't tried shifting yet, but the derailleur appears to be lined up with the gears correctly.

But still....did you ever put something back together and say "hmmm...." ???

Does this sound right?

 

In article <[email protected]>, "Doug Kanter"
<[email protected]> writes:

>99.99% of the time, when I disassemble something I've never worked on, I make a sketch or notes.
> Not this time. There is no separate mounting hole for the derailleur on this bike. Rather, it
> seems to fit in the rear wheel's dropout, *before* the rear wheel is reinstalled. The derailleur
> has it's own mounting hardware - it's not held in my the mere presence of the wheel's axle.

I have an old Raleigh Supercourse that had something that sounds similar. The "claw" I used to mount
an up-to-date derailleur on it has a bolt through it that goes through the opening in the drop out.
The "nut" on the bolt is special for the purpose, it just slips inside the drop out and has a flange
that seats against the inside of the drop out surface. The axle goes in after that nut and bolt are
installed. The quick release does clamp down on the "claw" but I think it is the nut and bolt that
holds it in place. I'm fairly sure you can substitute the top of your rear derailleur for "claw" in
that discourse.

Tom Gibb <[email protected]

 

"TBGibb" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
> In article <[email protected]>, "Doug
Kanter"
> <[email protected]> writes:
>
> >99.99% of the time, when I disassemble something I've never worked on, I make a sketch or notes.
> > Not this time. There is no separate mounting hole for the derailleur on this bike. Rather, it
> > seems to fit in the rear
wheel's
> >dropout, *before* the rear wheel is reinstalled. The derailleur has it's
own
> >mounting hardware - it's not held in my the mere presence of the wheel's axle.
>
> I have an old Raleigh Supercourse that had something that sounds similar.
The
> "claw" I used to mount an up-to-date derailleur on it has a bolt through
it
> that goes through the opening in the drop out. The "nut" on the bolt is special for the purpose,
> it just slips inside the drop out and has a
flange
> that seats against the inside of the drop out surface. The axle goes in
after
> that nut and bolt are installed. The quick release does clamp down on the "claw" but I think it is
> the nut and bolt that holds it in place. I'm
fairly
> sure you can substitute the top of your rear derailleur for "claw" in that discourse.
>

Thanks, Tom. Your comments suggest that what I'm seeing is within the realm of possibility, rather
than a hallucination.

 

"Doug Kanter" <[email protected]> wrote There is no separate mounting hole
> for the derailleur on this bike. Rather, it seems to fit in the rear wheel's dropout, *before* the
> rear wheel is reinstalled. The derailleur has it's own mounting hardware - it's not held in my the
> mere presence of the wheel's axle. Does this sound right?

Sounds about right to me, that's the way the (French) derailleur on my 1976 Schwinn Continental is
hung. In my case the kids are 5 and 2, they tend to make off with interesting bike parts and
incorporate them into some complex Rescue Hero mission..

 

"Doug Kaye" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> "Doug Kanter" <[email protected]> wrote There is no separate mounting hole
> > for the derailleur on this bike. Rather, it seems to fit in the rear
wheel's
> > dropout, *before* the rear wheel is reinstalled. The derailleur has it's
own
> > mounting hardware - it's not held in my the mere presence of the wheel's axle. Does this sound
> > right?
>
> Sounds about right to me, that's the way the (French) derailleur on my 1976 Schwinn Continental is
> hung. In my case the kids are 5 and 2, they tend to make off with interesting bike parts and
> incorporate them into some complex Rescue Hero mission..

5 and 2 is nothing. You just wait! When they're 14, they get the idea that they can use your brain
without your permission.

 

"Doug Kanter" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:<[email protected]>...
> "TBGibb" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
> > In article <[email protected]>, "Doug
> Kanter"
> > <[email protected]> writes:
> >
> > >99.99% of the time, when I disassemble something I've never worked on, I make a sketch or
> > > notes. Not this time. There is no separate mounting hole for the derailleur on this bike.
> > > Rather, it seems to fit in the rear
> wheel's
> > >dropout, *before* the rear wheel is reinstalled. The derailleur has it's
> own
> > >mounting hardware - it's not held in my the mere presence of the wheel's axle.
> >
> > I have an old Raleigh Supercourse that had something that sounds similar.
> The
> > "claw" I used to mount an up-to-date derailleur on it has a bolt through
> it
> > that goes through the opening in the drop out. The "nut" on the bolt is special for the purpose,
> > it just slips inside the drop out and has a
> flange
> > that seats against the inside of the drop out surface. The axle goes in
> after
> > that nut and bolt are installed. The quick release does clamp down on the "claw" but I think it
> > is the nut and bolt that holds it in place. I'm
> fairly
> > sure you can substitute the top of your rear derailleur for "claw" in that discourse.
> >
>
> Thanks, Tom. Your comments suggest that what I'm seeing is within the realm of possibility, rather
> than a hallucination.

There's always Sheldon Brown's wonderful web site, too - http://www.sheldonbrown.com/gloss_a.html
(scroll down to "claw" to see a photo.)