I know, right? Not only do I not know about the third-hand fork's previous 13 years of life, I got this threadless headset for a good deal and I even got it installed for free today, ($65 for a 6 month old chris king, you ask?). So I'm sticking to threadless for now at least. I'm in the market for a new threaded headset probably in the future, as the old tange on my bianchi rc has some play, probably from pitted cups. Haven't disassembled to tell though.

I appreciate all of your input, and I think a general consensus has been made. I think that another person who comes along with a similar thought will be better-informed by this thread. I took my frame in to the shop here, and the mechanic told me that I could use the top nuts from my old threaded headset as long as a second was used to keep the lower one from loosening. That would've been fairly tricky given the profile of the nuts and the fact that the threads don't go all the way through on the top nut.

I think I may be able to afford a threadless fork, just not a high end one. After thinking about it, it will be more cost effective and guarunteed-to-be-safe then jury rigging a quill type extension in there. I was thinking something like the nashbar 1" carbon fiber fork for $80. I don't know what nashbar branded stuff is like, though. Maybe you guys can shed some light on an appropriate fork for my R1000.

So, does anyone have a recommendation for a great value, threadless 1" carbon fork? Nashbar -- $79. rake on my original is 43mm fyi.