I searched for info on this but have come up with some confusing solutions. My basic question is as follows: Can I purchase a threadless headset and a threadless fork & stem and simply replace my threaded headset, or do I need to get a conversion kit? Would the threads need to be bored out? If this is the case, forget it. Way too complicated.

Bascially I'm trying to see if it's a simple solution. If it's not, I won't bother.

Thanks in advance.

Are you going for threadless stem, or the whole shebang?

The easy way is a threadless adapter--essentially the bottom-end of a threaded quill stem with a 1 1/8" top--that sticks into your threaded steerer tube and takes a threadless stem. No need to swap headsets, fork, nor anything else.

If you want the whole thing, buy fork, headset, and stem in the correct size and you're good to go. There are no threads anywhere else to "bore out," since the replacement of the fork removes the threads used in the threaded headset. Essentially, there's no such thing as a "threaded frame" in the sense of the headtube...the only threads on the frame are in the bottom bracket shell and on the fork steerer tube.

Yeah, basically I'd like to upgrade to a carbon fork, and a chris king threadless headset. I'd like the whole kit-and-kabootle. Thanks for your advice.

I just used a threadless adapter and stuck it in my headset like a quill stem, then used threadless stem like normal. I got mine from my LBS, but nashbar has them as well. Best $12 I've ever bought.

https://www.nashbar.com/profile.cfm?c...eid=&pagename=

My bike, using the adapter:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/nolageek2/33224522/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/nolageek2/33223830/

I highly recommend the book, Zinn & the Art of Road Bike Maintenance. It covers a lot of the basics of road bike work, and a lot of not-so-basics, too. It does, in recent editions, leave out some stuff common on older bikes, but enough is there to answer most questions easily, or give you a point to start asking the right questions. Good luck! I recently faced this issue myself, deciding on an upgrade path.

Most threaded forks and headsets are 1". If yours are, too, you are restricted to 1" threadless forks and headsets.

Are you looking to swap out the headset/fork, or do you just want to use threadless headsets?