Bicycle Mechanics - Using a stem converter ?

I know profile makes a converter from quill to quillless. They look to be a bit heavy. Anybody else make one?

I have been searching for a good light quill stem and haven't found one yet. i am thinking of a converion but hate weight. With a Ti frame, i would at least like to fight for a lightest possible combo.

Im not really into those.

QBP list a couple, can't remember brands.
I believe PBK shows one on their site also.
Perhaps a better idea is to investigate the stems from Nitto, they still have a good range of quill stems.

I have the Profile Design one on my vintage PUCH. It's stronger than the original quill-type stem I had been using. But it's not really any heavier to speak of. It works like a charm with my Thomson stem and 31.8mm handlebars. Watch out for the black-colored Dimension stem-converter. It's too long for many bikes - unless you want the stem sticking up quite high.

QBP list a couple, can't remember brands.
I believe PBK shows one on their site also.
Perhaps a better idea is to investigate the stems from Nitto, they still have a good range of quill stems.

I triedto get into both PBK & QBP but can't. Thanks anyhow. I will try to have a shop go to them. I was figuring the Nitto stems were to heavy.

Harris Cyclery special Orders has links into QBP which allow browsing the site as I recall.

I've used the Profile converter. It's ugly but it works and I doubt it adds much weight.

They come in different heights, there's lots to choose from.

These are likely the best ....
210g - http://www.benscycle.net/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=75_128_797&products_id=601
180g-http://www.benscycle.net/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=75_128_797&products_id=7559&zenid=ec320568443e588b3d746dc1654e57e0

This tall one is the best looking .....272g .....http://www.velo-orange.com/vothstad.html

The rest are pretty generic . . .little adjustment room . Zoom, Delta, Forte, Kalloy, Profile.

They are all going to weigh similar, there's no magic ingredients to lighten them, the shortest one will be the lightest by default.


Worrying about weight? I wish for you someday you'll see the futility. . . . but for now . . . . have at it. It's all a mind F anyways :lol:

They come in different heights, there's lots to choose from.
These are likely the best ....
210g - http://www.benscycle.net/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=75_128_797&products_id=601
180g-http://www.benscycle.net/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=75_128_797&products_id=7559&zenid=ec320568443e588b3d746dc1654e57e0

This tall one is the best looking .....272g .....http://www.velo-orange.com/vothstad.html

The rest are pretty generic . . .little adjustment room . Zoom, Delta, Forte, Kalloy, Profile.

They are all going to weigh similar, there's no magic ingredients to lighten them, the shortest one will be the lightest by default.


Thanks for this info. but where did you get the 180g for the one adapter from Bens? i see the 210 but not the 180

Cambria has the Profile Design for $9.95 the last time I checked. And the Nitto for $32. Here's the Profile Design. If it wasn't good - do you think I'd let it near my prized, vintage PUCH?

http://www.cambriabike.com/shopexd.asp?id=40264&page=PROFILE+DESIGN+THREADLESS+STEM+CONVERTER

The weight - you weenies? - 160-166g

Cambria has the Profile Design for $9.95 the last time I checked. And the Nitto for $32. Here's the Profile Design. If it wasn't good - do you think I'd let it near my prized, vintage PUCH?

http://www.cambriabike.com/shopexd.asp?id=40264&page=PROFILE+DESIGN+THREADLESS+STEM+CONVERTER

The weight - you weenies? - 160-166g

That looks pretty short -- how much rise does it have, or do they assume you are going to get that from the threadless stem that will be bolted on?

I guess so. I don't have it's rise in front of me. I'd need to pull it out to measure it -and I refuse! :D

But yeah, if you want it higher - get a stem with the right dimensions. But it certainly can be raised at the headtube high enough to satisfy most folks needs. High enough to emulate a quill-stem. If you feel like Frankenstein - get the Dimension. That'll give you almost 6 inches. :eek:

Thanks for this info. but where did you get the 180g for the one adapter from Bens? i see the 210 but not the 180

Last year I was scouring the internet for Nitto Stem adapters . . . and I eventually ran across a Nitto website in Japanese.
http://www16.ocn.ne.jp/~nitto210/list1.html You can see much of their stuff . . . navigate across the top..... you'll see the links are in English when you put your mouse on them. Here's the same page using Google translate ....http://translate.google.com/translate?prev=hp&hl=en&js=y&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww16.ocn.ne.jp%2F%7Enitto210%2Flist1.html&sl=ja&tl=en&history_state0=

These are really nice stem adapters . . .the knurled surface I've only seen Nitto do. . . as they tend to over engineer many things in a good way.

Nitto is sometimes hard to get info for . . . .but it's out there . . .maybe just not in English!

Here's the Nitto with the knurled surface:

http://www.cambriabike.com/shopexd.asp?id=30331&page=NITTO+MT+COLUMN+THREADLESS+CONVERTER

I have the Profile Design one on my current bike -and I ran it on my last bike too. I bought it because it was my first road bike and I had no idea how I wanted the bike set up and I needed new bars anyway. I picked up a stem and bars off CL for cheap and bought the adapter for a reasonable price from a local shop. It works great imho.

Bummer . . . . Cambria doesn't list the MTC-04 , the standard 22.2 to 28.6, which is what he'd need if he has a 1" threaded headset and want to use the 1-1/8 threadless stems. The MTC-04 is difficult to find in US retail stores. I saw ebay has some though .... search for "nitto quill adapter". I see Ben's Cycle sells them on ebay , but not their store. Hmmm...

The difference between the MTC-XX series and the MTC-012 is the size of knurled surface...... the MTC-012 offering considerably more height adjustment.

Bummer . . . . Cambria doesn't list the MTC-04 , the standard 22.2 to 28.6, which is what he'd need if he has a 1" threaded headset and want to use the 1-1/8 threadless stems. The MTC-04 is difficult to find in US retail stores. I saw ebay has some though .... search for "nitto quill adapter". I see Ben's Cycle sells them on ebay , but not their store. Hmmm...

The difference between the MTC-XX series and the MTC-012 is the size of knurled surface...... the MTC-012 offering considerably more height adjustment.


I got Ben's to honnor the Cambrea price for a Nitto adapter. :) Nitto sure does make a nice piece.

You know, all the stems I see are mostly black. I will probably have to paint the adapter anyhow. I probably should not be looking for anything better than a Profile. But I have bought a Nitto adapter and 2 different stems to try. One is grayish sort of like TI(it is a Nitto), which is what my frame is. But it is knid of heavy(remember I have an Extra Light from Merlin and after paying for that, I would not like to weight it down if not necessary) The other is White (kind of) , it was recommended as being 'good' and light. But my search for some sort of 'lightness' seems to bring me back to mostly Black ones with a 26mm bar that i am using. That is unless one of the ones I bought looks good. Then I have to think about matching the colors to some sort of(at least) decent arrangement.

Velo Orange has some light, sweet looking silver stems in +/- 6 and +/-17 degree. 140g for a 100mm stem. http://www.velo-orange.com/haandst.html

There's nothing like a sweet looking silver stem :)

Velo Orange has some light, sweet looking silver stems in +/- 6 and +/-17 degree. 140g for a 100mm stem. http://www.velo-orange.com/haandst.html

There's nothing like a sweet looking silver stem :)

Yea :thumb:. I bought a stem from Velo Orange also to go with a Nitto adapter perhaps on another bike.

Performance has them. I've used them twice. Don't like the look on vintage bikes, but I had my reasons: a 31.8mm wing bar in one case; a carbon bar in another. Quill stems were not an option.

I have been searching for a good light quill stem and haven't found one yet.

I bought one of these (http://shop.ebay.com:80/s.html?LH_SellerWithStore=1&_nkw=uno+quill+stem&_trksid=p4999.m20.l1246&_rdc=1). It's ugly. But I usually choose function over form. Mine cost $18 with shipping and weighs 221g. Is that light enough?