Could be, but if you sit in the driver's seat, you don't notice the panel is sticking out too badly!!!!
With the success, albeit somewhat limited, of the door handle repair -- brought about as much to reduce embarrassment as anything else -- I decided to tackle something I've been putting off for YEARS: replace parts in the gear shift lever for my bicycle.
I've had the bike for over 20 years but after about 12 or so years, the rear derailleur started "shifting by itself". And the direction was from larger sprocket to smaller, so going up a hill became a challenge. . . more and more so as the years progressed. A couple of cycling buddies suggested that a couple of small G-shaped springs and a toothed "gear" needed to be replaced. So, the parts were ordered. The replacement parts and instructions have been in hand for several years, but the gumption to make the repair was not there.
First thing required was to move the shift lever to a position that the assembly could be worked on. That required removing the handle bar tape and the underlying black, electrician's tape that was holding the cable housings in place. The handlebar tape is the curled "ribbon" hanging almost to the floor.
At that point, the screw holding the toothed gear in place could be seen if a covering was removed. This was a 4 mm Allen head. But, the instructions said to insert a 4 mm Allen wrench into the bottom of the whole gizmo, too. That was easier said than done. Here is top and bottom:
You have to look into the assembly to see the bottom Allen head! Fortunately, I hoped, the instructions gave instructions that the screw for the right hand controller was a left hand thread, and the left hand controller had a right hand screw.
After fighting with breaking it loose, I swallowed my pride and took the shifter to the local bike shop. Instead of saying, "We'll do it for you," they said, "Have you tried sticking it in hot water?" The shifter is mostly aluminum (levers), carbon fiber casing, and stainless miscellaneous parts. They said a little water shouldn't hurt things. Took the shifter back home and tried the hot water approach. Two soakings and it broke loose!
This is the old toothed gear, retaining ring, washer, and G-springs.
The new one looked just the same except for the grease!
Hoping the manufacturer knew what to do, I followed the directions and put a small amount of grease on the parts and inserted the G-springs.
Surprisingly, the parts went back together fairly easily once I ensured the ratchet teeth (showing in the photo) were turned counterclockwise as far as they would go.
And, I got the shifter back on the handlebar in a reasonably good position.
Need to re-wrap the handlebar tape, connect the cables, and adjust the derailleur. Sure hope I don't find out that I put something in backwards
