Originally posted by sammer
What the issue with the threadless headset? (a reply in newbie rather than teknish would be appreciated).
With a threadless headset the stem is bolted to the top of the steerer tube, which is part of the fork. That makes raising the handlebars problematic, and it's too common for the bars to be set too low for comfort on contemporary road bikes. Some adjustment is possible by swapping in a stem with a steeper angle of rise, but often not enough.
On a new bike, you can avoid this problem by not cutting the steerer until after the bike has been fit. Since most 520's have to be special-ordered anyway, this isn't as big a problem as it might seem. But once the steerer's been cut, large changes in bar height can require replacing the entire fork.
Threaded headsets use traditional quill stems. These allow a certain amount of height adjustment, and are easily replaced with taller stems if needed.
Personally, I wouldn't let this issue stop me from buying a 520, but it would probably stop me from buying one already assembled and cut. What
would stop me are the bar-end shifters. I just don't like 'em.
RichC