Mattbob

It's true, I want a quill stem simply because they... are nice. I have a pista with a threadless fork in there now. I was seeing quill adapters ... is that to use a quill with the threadless fork and current headset? Or will I need to get a threaded fork, new headset and the quill?

Scrodzilla

Other way around. Those adapters are to use threadless stems with a threaded headset. You'll need a new fork & headset to use a quill.

Retro Grouch 

Yeah, you might be able to find a way to cobble something together and make a quill stem work but what would be the point? You'd still have a bunch of bulky hardware above your headset so you'd lose the look.

wearyourtruth

you might be able to find something sleek.

all you need is a binding ring (like for your seatpost) that can slide down your steertube and hold the headset together. the only problem is you don't get the advantage of the starnut to hold everything together while you get the tension right...

provided you can do that, you can easily just throw a quill stem into your threadless fork. sheldon has spoken of such things in the past.

leed

Problem is, sometimes the walls of the threadless fork are not thick enough for the wedge nut and you can deform it. But of course, sometimes they are.

Actually, come to think of it.. If you find your fork has thick enough walls, you can push the starnut to the very bottom, and set it up like normal, but with the clamp that wearyourtruth is speaking to, take out the screw you used to tension it, and then put in the quill stem.

Or.. Even more different, you could take out the wedge, file down the bottom of the quill stem so that it is flat without a point, and use that in junction with the starnut and the clamp. Problem is, either of those are probably very prone to loosening up over a short period of time.

Mattbob

Yeah I took it apart today to look at it.... I'm new to this, and I'm not sure why the threaded portion would be necessary.... cut steer tube, + lock ring = quill stem. ... right? Where's my saw?

roadfix

Even with the right adapter a skinny quill stem will not look good on a FAT 1 1/8" head tube...

Mattbob

I'm not sure, but I'm pretty sure the pista head tube is 1".... but regardless, I like them .

scruggle

I'm not sure what you mean by 'lock ring'. If you mean a locking headset spacer, there remains one question: How are you going to adjust the headset bearings? If you cannot answer this, you should stop looking for your saw.

leed gave one solution, but it's a total kludge (no offense leed). It also means you'll still have a cut steerer tube sticking out of your headtube, with a gooseneck quill on top of that. That won't look good.

Flash_BeeZy

There are a few options. one is to find a stem that is pretty similar to a quill but for threadless. Nitto makes a few stems that look like quills and are very pretty being fillet brazed ect. Or just get a new hs cut and have your fork threaded and buy a quill.

bionnaki

...and you'd lose out on the faceplate, one of the major advantages of threadless.

what?

the fact is converting a threadless setup to threaded is jackass and ugly. face it -- you bought the wrong frame.

Mattbob

The head tube is for sure, 1 1/8.

Flash_BeeZy

who cares what you think! He wants the look of threaded he obviously doesn't care about a faceplate. Classic frames look better with a quill anyway and in no way are jackass...the pista forks should be 1 inch anyway so he can do what he wants. Honesly I'd just get the nitto stem

Mattbob

https://cgi.ebay.com/Cinelli-Titanium...item3a548321ae

This would be perfect. Now excuse the newbie question... but the fork tube is 1", so when buying a stem does the size refer to fork tube dimension or the head tube dimension? I'll keep looking for of the above quill style threadless stems.

Flash_BeeZy

Yes you have a 1' steerer tube so get a 1' stem but if you find one for 1-1/8 if you do.. You can shim it

not_jason

I believe I've heard tell of people threading previously threadless forks, but I don't know anything about what that process involves.

As is the case with most bits of modification, I'll give this advice: If you can't do it right, then don't do it at all. There's nothing worse than seeing a perfectly smooth running system destroyed in favor of minor aesthetic changes. If you're going to end up with a bulky, awkward looking clamp above your headset, then you'll probably end up with something that (1) doesn't work as good as it used to, and (2) doesn't even achieve the look you were going for.

I have to admit that I also prefer quill stems (both for looks and adjustment), but I think they look most at home on a bike that was otherwise designed with those same aesthetic principals in mind. a brand new high tech bike with modern components, in my opinion, also looks good with a threadless stem.

LoRoK

Stock Pista forks are butt-ugly. Ditch it, get a new fork, headset and stem. That's what I did!

bionnaki

Thomson stems are pretty, by the way.

Hacking a quill stem to fit into a threadless 1 1/8th system is not pretty.

Amen.

Mattbob

Just to clarify... the fork ID is 1", the head tube ID is 1 1/8.... I'm confused which I use to classify this machine.

Didn't know this was going to be a big discussion... I wante dto see if there was an easy fix out there since I'm new to the bike world.

LoRoK

Easy fix: New fork, new headset, new quill stem. Otherwise, leave it be.

Scrodzilla

LoRoK is on the money. Do it right and get a new fork, headset and nice quill.

Cy Trivialities

while i'd agree that there is no benefit to the conversion, you make yourself seem just bitter by your reply.

Since when is a quill stem UGLY? And how did he buy the wrong frame if the pista takes 1 inch steerers?

Also, Scrodzilla. I bought a tshirt and some stickers, what's up with them?

Scrodzilla

In case you missed the updates in my thread (it keeps getting bumped down), I'm getting the stickers on Monday, printing the shirts this coming Friday (I extended the pre-order until the 12th due to an overly heavy work load at the shop). Will ship the following Monday if I can't make Saturday's drop off at the ol' Post Office.

(Resume thread.)

Nothing about a quill is ugly. My next bike will definitely sport a quill stem.

arcade

quill 4 lyfe

cs1

You can thread a threadless fork. It has to be done a lathe. The fork threading tools at most shops is for extending existing threads. It does a terrible job on an unthreaded fork. Jack Franklin at Franklin frames said he charges about $50 to do the job. By the time you get a new headset, stem and threading done it might be cheaper to get a new frame. Just my opinion. Good luck on whatever you choose.