KrisPistofferson

Threadless solved the problem of being able to adjust your handlebar height, and even made bikes uglier as part of the bargain.

melville

Threadless:



Quill:



Both on track bikes. There was about 150 g weight savings, but the quill bike was not using the lightest stuff. The bigger benefit was the more rigid handlebar--almost like a traditional steel bar/stem but at least a pound lighter.

Longfemur

I've always enjoyed the ability to fine tune how high or low I want my handlebars, and it's a lot easier to do that with a conventional quill stem. As for failing, I've never had a stem fail since I was a teenager, and I'm 55 now. Threadless may be more "mechanically simple", but it's also more "user complicated", not to mention that it makes every road bike look like an 1990's mountain bike. Even a Richard Sachs road frame is horribly disfigured by one of those contraptions.

And let's not exaggerate... Some of my quill stems have been ones that use a simple wedge, and some have been the more high-quality ones that use an expander. The simple wedge ones don't need a hammer or anything to be loosened other than your allen key, and the cone expander ones only need a small tap on top with the handle of a pedal wrench or even just the larger key in an allen key set.

I've never liked hybrid things that combine functions. Threadless is a kludgy design that combines the stem and the bearings and needs both to work. They took off in the racing world because of stiffness... needed by the modern, extra large, steroided cycling athlete. In the consumer world, they are there to save manufacturing the trouble of making and distributing different length of forks, and I suppose also for people who are really too big and heavy to be riding fine road bikes in the first place.

Road Fan

The gentler approach is always best!!!

brandenjs

You are right, that quill stem just did'nt seem like it went with the style of the bike. Also it was a bit long for me. I actually could use a shorter one than the one that is on there, but I can ride comfortable for many miles so I'll leave it. It is plenty stiff. I have'nt noticed any difference at all. This is the link for it from E-bay..

https://cgi.ebay.com/Stem-Adapter-con...2em118Q2el1247

operator

You people realize you've been answer and replying to stuff that is fully 7 years old right?

Reinn

[QUOTE=brandenjs;7761151]I added the threadless adapter to my Kestrel mainly so I could have more options for sizing and comfort. I really like being able to change up and it really does'nt look that bad to me..Very functional..Here's a before and after..I know I'll hear it---"FLIP Superb looking White Kestrel frameset and fork.

grumpus

You reply to a 15/22 year old thread and your entire contribution is "aw"?

Kontact

Read the title line of his post.

Reinn

Apologies,typo.I didn't check my message before i posted.Newbie here.Meant to say superb looking white Kestrel frameset.

JohnDThompson 

"Newbie."
Cut him some slack.

brandenjs

Wow, that's one of the long gone threads....Funny thing is that I still have this bike he is talking about and I still appreciate the compliment Reinn...

79pmooney

Old thread and all new bikes come threadless now. But the choice is still there if you buy older bikes or go custom. And there are still good reasons to go quill. Looks. Reliability. Easy (like really easy if you keep things greased) height adjust. And no need for special tools or even any degree of mechanical aptitude. Adjustments made with a common Allen key (and maybe a rock or hammer or big wrench). Yes, you can get the quill bolt too loose or too tight but the acceptable range is huge. Adjustment is quick. You can do it mid-ride or just before you leave and never sweat that you got the bolt right. Also, almost always, lining quill stems up with the front wheel is easier with the rather svelte quills than the almost always bulkier threadless. (Get it wrong and the mid-ride correction is no big deal.)

I've had one threadless bike, my first Ti Cycles. It is steel forked with 1" steerer. (I insisted on the steerer size, mostly not liking the fat headtube look.) Now? When the rather excellent Chris King headset dies, bike is going back to Ti Cycles to have the steerer cut down and threaded and the bike fitted with a Nitto Pearl or the like stem.

grumpus

It doesn't have a title line that I can see.

grumpus

Ah, OK, no worries. You've mistyped something else now, there should be a [/QUOTE] between the text you quoted and the comment you added. I try to remember to preview each post before I submit it, but we can always go back and edit.

grumpus

He could have got 14 days or a $5,000 fine but I'll let him off with a caution.

Kontact

See above.

grumpus

There is nothing above that - post titles are a decoration, they should not be relied on to convey information that is not present in the content area of the window/text box etc.

Kontact

Okay. But it still exists.

Russ Roth

If the headset dies, not when. All my experiences is that if the head tube is properly prepped, the headsets last forever.

79pmooney

Are you referring to just the Chris Kings or in general? This is my first King. Only other headset I've used with lots of miles and still running is a Stronglight roller bearing. This King's got 15k.

Weogo

At the Bike Co-op we've had a few over-tightened binder wedges that expanded the threaded fork steerer tubes to the point of rubbing inside the head tube.

Can carbon steerer tubes be crushed by over-tightening a threadless stem?

Russ Roth

The king. Face the head tube, surface the crown, install and forget. I burned out a cane creek headset after 3 cross races, fastest I've seen a headset seize, king was smooth 8 seasons later when I sold the bike. Now plenty of brands make top quality headsets that last the years but king is still the best imo. Getting one for my middle kid's bike, my oldest used it for 2 years and it's had to be pulled apart 3x and cleaned and regressed, now it's just dead.

Trakhak

My impression is that the problem of headsets developing "indexing" notches, where the headset is reluctant to allow the fork to point anywhere but straight ahead, diminished or disappeared after the threadless system became dominant.

I acknowledge that my sample is limited: I've owned lots of bikes with threaded headsets since getting my first big-boy bike in about 1960 and only about five latter-day bikes with threadless. Still, I've put plenty of miles on those five bikes without a hit of headset deterioration.

Garthr

I've only used threaded stem my entire cycling life. The only headset crown race that developed indentations was the Campagnolo's of the 80's. For such a nice looking headset the crown races were not up to the standard by my usage running 25mm tires at high pressure. I have a new VO Rando frame to build that's threadless though. As for the funtionality, a headset is a headset. Adjustability is obvious as to the differences. As for availability, while complete quill stems are less available, threadless don't have anything to boast about either. Sure there are many brands available, but it's many brands of look-a-likes and spec-a-likes. I've resorted to buying UNO brand as they are one of the few that offer lengths up to 130mm and the potential for lower angles of -17d and below. Plus they offer them in silver. Limited stem choices, regardless of the headest implementation is akin to the limited choices in cassettes, where a 12t low is rare and a 13t low is even more rare. Not to meantion lack of cog choices. I see a certain irony in cassettes as when they were introduced a selling point was versatility in cog selection and inividual replacement. That flipped and now it's "you can have it anyway you like as long you like what I give you" . That's not "progress", it's regress. But I digress, enough of that nonsense !

For quill stems and 31.8mm bars, I use threadless quill adapters and a threadless stem. They come in a variety of styles and quill heights. Sure it weighs more, but so what ? I've ridden enough bicycles of many weights to know that the weight of a bike has nothing to do with enjoying the ride of the given moment. Myself I've weighed more and less enough to know that such has no bearing on my Being.

Threaded/threadless are just two ways to do the same thing.