These snail cams fitted over the axle between the rear hub locknuts and the rear facing (track style) dropouts. The rear axle was "flatted" so that the cams rotated with the axle and were synchronized with each other. The rear axle had a small square at the end (same size as on a small chainring bolt) so that the axle could be turned with a spanner prior to tightening the wheel nuts. There were stops inside the dropouts and just forward of the axle slots. When the wheel was inserted, the snail cams bore up against the stops, the axle was turned to rotate the cams and adjust the wheel position and then the wheel nuts tightened to lock everything in place. The advantage was fine adjustment of wheel position for optimum chain tension and then secure fixing of the wheel so that it couldn't be pulled out of position by extreme pedalling forces.
Clear as mud?
Hugh Thornton Cheshire, England
In a message dated 20/06/2006 23:44:42 GMT Standard Time, raleighpro@dejazzd.com writes:
Steven,
Thanks for outing this.
In checking the seller's other sales I found this:
"Tendicatena per bicicletta BSA "
http://ebay.com/
Pete Geurds
Douglassville, Pa