Threadless to Threaded. Quill stem on modern bike
 

Hello fellow riders,

I have a question that I’m hoping someone may help me with.

I am setting up an older bike of mine (circa. 2010 Giant TCR 1) and was hoping to put a quill stem on it. As you would gather due to the age of the bike, it is a threadless stem. Hence the issue.

When looking this up I found lots of adapters for threaded to threadless but nothing for the other way around. This surprised me as I know there is a lot of love out there for vintage parts.

This project is not about creating a vintage look’ but more about fine tuning body position. I’m five foot 1 (154 centimeters) and so obtaining a lower position is difficult. Due to their shape, a quill stem can sit a rider fairly low.

I could think of a few issues in trying to do this. Removal of star nut for one. Headtube diameter for another..... many more concerns

If I understand your question francesgumm, you are trying to lower the bar relative to the seat, correct? Have you considered a "higher" angle stem, and then flipping it over? For instance, if the "stock" stem is 6°, try a 12°, 17°, maybe even a 24° stem (using the angles of a Specialized stem I am quite familiar with)?

it's very doable. just go to ebay and get a bmx seat clamp in 28.5 diameter

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_fro...+28.6&_sacat=0

cut down your steer tube and get a low stack height head set if you have to. remove the star nut, of course

however, the simplest solution is to get 17 deg threadless stem as badger said. again, a low stack headset if you have to

Thanks Joe,

I should have added in my initial post that I’m at a very basic skill level when it comes to entering the workshop.
To give you some idea of how basic, I had to google star nut. This post was basically looking at how tricky an undertaking it might be.

Badger,

Yep. You understand the post perfectly. Currently looking at stems with an angle and just flipping them to be lower.

Thook,

I will follow your link and see where it leads. However, as I said I’m reply to Joe, my skills aren’t great.

You don't need to be a vetran 50 year bike mechanic to flip a handlebar stem and possibly move some spacers around. I don't know why you went to quill stem conversion complications, bypassing just flipping what's there, that's some overthinking, my friend. Ocam's Razor. I'm not judging, at least you asked first before ending up on r/bicyclemechanics.

Nobodies perfect. Just last week I was trying to take my front wheel off to put in a friends van, for almost two minutes before I remembered the wheel has fork clips.

[QUOTEy=Jax Rhapsody;22196181]You don't need to be a vetran 50 year bike mechanic to flip a handlebar stem and possibly move some spacers around. I don't know why you went to quill stem conversion complications, bypassing just flipping what's there, that's some overthinking, my friend. Ocam's Razor. I'm not judging, at least you asked first before ending up on r/bicyclemechanics.

Nobodies perfect. Just last week I was trying to take my front wheel off to put in a friends van, for almost two minutes before I remembered the wheel has fork clips.[/QUOTE]

Yes. Advice taken. One doesn’t learn if one doesn’t try.

The quill stem idea is definitely more complicated then flipping a threadless stem.
Yes I can get a 40 degree stem and sure I will be low, but dam that makes the bike look ugly. I know that the feel is what matters but I will freely admit to caring about aesthetics.

Again my lack of height is a factor. An average sized rider gets a frame a size smaller, raise the seat, slam the stem and go go go.
But that option is not there at 154cm.
The bike in question is a 44cm XS which Giant don’t even make anymore so it’s already pushing the limits.

Anyway. It’s all good and it’s been great to get some helpful comments.

If a flipped stem doesn't work for you, there are adjustable threadless stems that might work:

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=adjustabl...l_1lshr0hj6h_e

Also check for any bike Co-Ops in your area as they can assist you in doing the change. As mentioned, it's not a real difficult job but there are some things that can be hard to figure out for a beginner and need to be done properly such as getting the proper spacer sizes which may need to be changed for a different stem and getting the proper tightness on the star nut to set the bearings properly. You might as well check the headset bearings as well to see if they need grease while you have it apart.

You’ll have to cut the threadless steerer to drop the bars any appreciable amount. I’m not sure how you plan to pre-load the headset, clamp, and insert a quill stem on your now too short steerer.

As for threading it, and using a threaded headset, forget about it if the steerer is aluminum.

If you don’t want to get a different threadless stem that will drop the bars, which is the best (and only) route, get a separate threaded fork and go from there. No one will want that bike if you mod it for a quill stem.

John

Even if you somehow manage to install a quill stem it won't get you any lower than a threadless stem. In fact, it will be higher. A threadless stem can be installed without spacers below the stem. A quill stem still needs some way to clamp the steer tube in place which raises the stem. If your bike has a carbon steer tube you won't be able to use a quill stem at all. In addition, your bike probably has a 1 1/8" steer tube and finding 1 1/8" quill stems is going to be very difficult.

The very first thing you need to find out, is whether a quill stem will even fit into that hole. If your steerer is made of steel then a 25.4mm quill stem will probably fit there. Keep in mind that these 25.4mm quill stems are far less common than the usual 22.2mm quill stems. They were made for MTB's in the mid/late 90's just before threadless took over. If your steerer is made of alloy or carbon, then the inside diameter could be too small to fit the 25.4mm quill stem.
As an aside, My 2 boys are around 5'1" to 5'3". I find that 650c wheel bikes work best for them. Trek and Cannondale both made 650c wheel road bikes from the mid 90's to the mid 2000's.

Not sure what you think going back to the old style quill stem will do for you that isn't easier with the more modern threadless.

I suppose maybe you are having an issue finding threadless stems in stock. I had to search and wait, search and wait, then search and wait for several weeks before the stem I wanted finally was in stock somewhere again.

If you are finding quill stems more available and in stock, it's because way few people want them anymore.

Yup, adding to the pile-on here. Going from threadless to quill involves more than just trimming the steerer tube. You will have to replace the headset, with a threaded topnut, and extensively modify your fork steerer tube, if not replace it entirely, since most modern (threadless) forks aren’t intended for use with quill stems and threaded headsets.

If this is to solve a fit issue, threadless is the much better way to go. Threadless stems come in a much wider range of lengths and angles, to better dial in your fit, and nearly all have removable faceplates, allowing you to swap stems without having to dismantle your handlebar grips and controls, like you do on the pinch-bolt clamps found on more common quill stems.

I think we were all guilty of that.

John

You're right. I haven't seen quill track stems available for over 20 years, and absolutely nobody makes or made a reasonably rigid quill stem with a 30.8mm handlebar clamp.

Nitto still offers quill track stems, for the keirin crowd and NJS wannabees. E.g.:

https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/08...028_detail.jpg
https://www.retro-gression.com/produ...uar-quill-stem