Originally Posted by
FBinNY
Yes and no. I did a field repair of a stripped headset using a piece of PVC pipe and the quill stem. I cut and fitted the pipe to fill the gap under the elbow, adjusted by the tap, tap method and tightened the stem to the max. The bike completed the trip (maybe 3-400 miles) without issue.
I didn't suggest this simple approach since folks here are too finicky to accept this type of jerry rigged solution, and who wants a bike with a piece of pipe under the stem. OTOH if this were my beater or commuter bike, I wouldn't hesitate to do this if chasing didn't work. Keeping a beater on the road for $1.00 makes more sense than sending lots of dough on it.
Okay that makes sense, I've done something similar I had a mtb with a threadless fork and the star nut was utterly useless, had to hand preload the headset while tightening the stem bolts.