gointoofast

I would like to upgrade my bike to a threadless fork. However, I now see there is a "threadless stem adaptor" setup. Question: Is it safe? Alignment problems? It sure is cheaper than getting a new threadless fork. Would appreciate any qualified opinions. Thanks in advance.

spider-man

Threadless adaptors have been around for quite some time. I put one on a customer bike once, and it is fine. It is not prone to alignment problems any more than a threadless stem on a threadless fork would be. It is going to add some weight, I suspect, in comparision to a threadless fork setup.

If it were my bike, I would question the wisdom of the "upgrade" unless something is wrong with your current fork. Threadless forks certainly make an older bike look worse, in my opinion, and unless you are swapping stems and bars frequently, I wonder what the advantages would be.

Peek the Geek

I used an adaptor on my previous road bike. It worked flawlessly. The only drawback was weight, but the bike was no feather, so it didn't matter much.

gointoofast

Thank you for your reply and advice. I have a 1997 Merlin Extralight The threaded Time fork and stem look quite nice actually, but as a typical biking nut, I like to keep up with the latest. I may just try out one of these adaptors just to see what it looks like.

gointoofast

Had a typo....It's a 99 Merlin, not a 97.....

thekorn

I use an adaptor because I needed a different bar and stem for hand numbness issues, and its too hard to find the right quill stem these days. If your riding position is fine, I would not bother with the upgrade. It won't save any weight.

capwater

I used one on an older tri bike because I wanted to go with a longer stem. They can be had from many online retailers for under $20. Never had a problem with them. Once it's in, everything (except for headset adjustment) works just like a threadless.