So, I've got this strange anonymous frame that I bought for my lovely wife (black, French BB, English steerer, no decals save for a simple "Dura Ace" sticker on the seat tube where the Reynolds/Columbus decal should be). I am determined to get her back on a bike, even if I have to shame her with a "labor of love" bike built from the ground up.

Anyway, I figured a "city" bike would be the best option. Despite iab's best efforts, I never plunked down the money for a high-priced old Bianchi Sport from Italy, however, I am quite taken with the look of manubrio condorino.



They are pretty hard to find in the US, and fairly expensive to ship from Italy. Because of the sharp bend, the stem is incorporated into the bar itself. Soma Fab makes (or made?) a "Condorina" bar which has that classic shape, but no stem:



(Apologies for that image size. Why can't BBcode IMG tags take size attributes???)

I'm not sure what they were thinking. Oh, right, all stems today have open face plates. Right... That pretty much turns a silk purse into a sow's ear as far as I'm concerned. There are no classically styled quill stems with open face plates. The Nitto UI-2 stem comes closest, but it's pretty ugly as well, with its TIG welding puddles and sharp bend at the back. Besides, I have a suspicion it's angled smaller, for Keirin use. Might explain why it's only available from Japan.

This is where my confusion comes in. I know nothing about threadless stems. It seems I would need some sort of threadless adapter and a (very) short threadless stem, but everything seems to be made for modern large diameter bars. Does anyone make a short, silver, diminutive (sort of slender) threadless stem that accepts a bar with a one-inch center section?

Maybe I will just bite the bullet and buy a true condorino bar from eBay Italia. Are their integrated stem diameters suitable for insertion/clamping into a classic British/Italian steerer tube?

Thx...