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Old 12-30-21, 03:25 PM
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bulgie 
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The idea (threaded steerer/headset, with threadless-style stem on a brazed-in stub) is very old, having been used by French Constructeurs going back at least to the 1930s I think. Some of Tom Ritchey's earliest road bikes used it, ditto Charlie Cunningham's mind-bending MTBs. I used it on my first two custom MTBs, in 1981 and '84. Jan Heine still prefers it for his own bikes I believe — don't some of his modern Herse bikes have it, like the one that he used to break the record ("fastest known time") on the Oregon Outback route?

It made more sense back when all headsets were threaded. Never what I'd call practical, but it was lighter than any quill-stem setup, so I liked it in my weight-weenie days. Why you would still use it today rather than a standard threadless setup, I don't know. Quill stem with threaded headset still has some advantages, such as easier height-adjustability and shorter fork length for Rinko, but the brazed stub seems to be taking away options for no good reason. Does Jan H explain somewhere (blog maybe?) why he still likes it?

Mark B

Last edited by bulgie; 12-30-21 at 05:22 PM.
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