Sincitycycler

What's the difference between a threaded fork (headset?) and a threadless one? Advantages of each? Thanks

MichaelW

Threadless is lighter and stiffer and usable with an Al or carbon steerer. It is simpler to adjust with much lighter weight tools.
Threadless is more easily adjusted for handlebar height and the forks are harder for a bike thief to remove..

shaq-d

or so they'd have you believe. the bike thief one is funny

roadfix

Put it this way......
There is absolutely no disadvantage in having a threadless system...(even to the fork thief)

dafydd

i find threadless stems pretty fugly, but aside from that, yeah, what fixer said.

TallRider

Threaded steerer systems are more prone to flex than threadless, because threadless clamps onto the steerer tube (and everything is at least 1" wide at all points) while threaded inserts into the steerer tube, at which point it is only 22.2mm.
The flipside is that stems with a bit of flex, provided that they're well-engineered and not going to break (e.g., Cinelli XA, Nitto Technomic) are a bit more comfortable on the hands. Don't go around looking for much suspension in your threadless stem, though, unless it was designed for that purpose and has springs

HillRider

I have bikes with both threaded and threadless stems/headsets/forks including two that came threaded and were converted to threadless late in life. If there is any difference in comfort due to the headset/stem/fork type, I sure can't feel it.

TallRider

Maybe your stem isn't long enough. I'm a bit too tall for my frame at 6'5", and I've had 115mm (Cinelli XA) and 130mm (Nitto Technomic). The technomic has a ridiculously long quill, to boot. See the picture in this thread:
https://www.bikeforums.net/bicycle-mechanics/154513-quill-stems-flex-lot-there-any-way-around.html

Nessism

I can feel the difference.

At Timcupery stated, quill stems flex more because of the smaller cross sectional area compared to a threadless stem. This is a similar situation to the small diameter of tubing in older 531 frames- which many people will tell you have wonderful ride characterists. Smaller diameter = more flex = more comfort (generalized statement).

HillRider

I know WHY they flex more, I just don't think the differences are significant for most riders. And, yes, I have relatively short stems (10cm) and don't expose a huge amount of quill length so the lever arms are shorter in both cases. Also, a lot of the filex in longer stems comes from the stem extension itself so a long threadless stem will flex more than a short one. It's not just the quill diameter that controls this.

FarHorizon

I must also point out that bar height is MUCH easier to adjust with a threaded stem than with a threadless one. Once the steering tube is cut on a threadless fork, that is it. You can NEVER get more height without using a "stem extender."

HillRider

You are absolutely right which is why I always set up a threadless fork's steerer about 10mm longer that I think I'll need and put a 10 mm spacer above the stem. It gives me the option of raising the bars later if I wish. Remember: measure twice, cut once.

Threaded stems are obviously easier to adjust for height but most models have a very short quill above the "minimum insertion" mark so your adjustability is limited anyway. Two exceptions are the Nitto Technomic and Profile H20 stems which have quite long quills.