I know that this is more of a vintage focused part, but have you considered a threaded hole in the quill bolt so that a normal threadless top cap/bolt could be installed? There's a few stems like the Pro Vibe stem or ENVE Aero stem that need a top cap to complete the look.

You know, it would look really nice to pair with this if someone were to make a vintage-inspired stem with a bit of rise attached to the headset followed by a -17 degree angle.
Sort of like the velo orange tall stack stem:

but with the hidden bolts of the old Thomson Elite stems (I think Trek did a similar thing with some of their stems in the mid-90's):

The oversized diameter would give it away as being threadless (especially in short lengths - I use a 120-130 Cinelli 1r on my road bike, so it might not be as obvious there), so it wouldn't be a perfect match for vintage bikes, but I think it'd be super cool.

I've been thinking about this all morning and I believe I have a solution that doesn't require any new parts. Well, there are a couple of approaches that I can try. I think the best option is to drill and tap the proximal end of the top cap threaded stud. It is M8x1mm on that end (just under the 6mm hex in the top cap) so there is plenty of material for this. You only need a few good threads to hold your decorative (at this point, that's all it is) cap in place so I can probably just drill 5-6mm then bottom tap that hole to make this work.

The other option would be to insert either a trimmed nut or a thread insert into the back of the top cap before the threaded stud is locked in place. There are a few millimeters of open space between the end of the hex and the beginning of that stud (typically occupied by the rubber plug) that can hold the nut/insert. You'd still only get a couple of threads and this requires an extra part plus modifications to either the top cap or the part itself making it less desirable.

With either option, you'd cut the innicycle steerer to be a few millimeters below the top surface of the stem (keeping in mind the thickness of the inni top cap), just like a typical threadless steerer would be cut. It's aluminum so you don't need to worry about crushing it.

M5 thread in the stud:


I'm really liking this actually, and may just add it in as a standard feature to allow people to use custom top caps, something that has been requested previously. The extra cost will be minimal on a production run.

[edit] Re-reading your words, it sounds like this is exactly what you were suggesting.[edit]

I think you're on to something here. I've had this hidden bolt stem concept in my mind for a while. But hidden as in Hidden, like you won't see them at all. What this could ideally allow is to make the rise portion of the stem trimmable/customizable allowing for a very vintage looking aesthetic (relative to a typical threadless stem at least). Of course, the cost is going to go way up as we are now talking about a big block of aluminum to machine, or perhaps a forging die, but we're saving vintage framesets here. Cost no object, right?

I finally got a chance to open the package and look at everything in hand. It looks so good!

Just messaged Joe for some support because I did a dumb and broke something. I'm so excited to get this working. So nice to see well thought out and designed parts. Looking forward to joining the rest of you happy folks!

I added a link to post #2 but here (finally!) is the installation video I’ve mentioned several times:

Produced in collaboration with Rob Garrison of Garrison’s Cyclery, a very passionate cyclist, owner of the coolest shop in the area, and most of all, a huge fan of innicycle headsets

I just these videos and the innicycle conversation headset today. Damn you! I wish I would’ve seen these earlier! So many great retro for ames I passed up buying because I hate the thought of a quill adaptor. Just purchased a conversion headset today ...but in silver. Black is all sold out. I just purchased a frame with an inch head tube, also. Retro build soon to follow!

I also just found this product from the old shovel cheap gravel build video. This seems like a really slick product and would help with my dirt drop conversion. Will the black conversion kit be back in stock anytime soon?

If you've read my backstory, you'll see how familiar your situation is to mine. I simply can't stand those basic threadless adapters for so many reasons! Spreading the word about innicycle has been far harder than I anticipated. I wish I could let every potential customer know by text message that I produce this item, but instead I get to rely some YouTube videos and word of mouth. I do have plans for a second launch event of sorts that hopefully can drum up a little more interest this year. I really botched the first go around.

First, thanks for the comments! I hope this idea of converting old MTBs into drop bar gravel bikes spawns some additional interest in innicycle headsets.

Production has started on more black and silver units. If you can hold out through the bulk of the northern-hemisphere summer, you can get your color of choice. Until then, though not for much longer until that same later date, I still have silver units for sale.

I finally made the decision to swap the Rock n Road to threadless. I ordered the silver headset and some spacers off Amazon then a silver stem from VO.

I’ll be fully modernized this season

Thanks for the quick reply. What is the best way to check on inventory? Just watch the Amazon web store around August for black ones to be back in stock?

There are a few other things I can upgrade on my bike to keep me occupied until end of summer.

Follow this thread. It will have updates before stock is back at Amazon.

Sounds great! Thanks.

I hate that you made that video. Now I have to go take things apart when I get my frame back from Bilenky so I can grease the quill and plug part of things with lithium grease.

Oh and having all those shop tools would be so clutch... So much better than the PVC pipe approach to getting things together. Pretty sure I bent one of my fork dropouts tabs slightly so I had to have the shop take a look at the alignment too. Oh well....

I should be picking up my frame from bilenky on tuesday. Hoping to get everything together by the end of the day!

I hope I didn't butcher the crown race. Putting it on! Guessing that things should work out okay if everything snugs up okay when you set the preload etc. The design with the lips that close up at the top and bottom for weather-proofing as well as showing the user that everything came together well is really quite nice.

have to agree, buying a new head set just to raise your bars up higher seems counter intuative

John never responded to my counter so I'm not sure if he fully understands how the innicycle headset works. It does not present the 'challenges' of adjusting handlebar height the way a typical threadless headset does; headset preload with an innicycle installed is fixed just as it is with the original threaded headset, regardless of whether a stem is clamped in place or not. Stems and spacers can be swapped around as desired without ever re-adjusting the bearings. Heck, you can do that with a typical threadless system so long as you didn't cut the steerer tube too short, assuming that you don't mind readjusting the headset. So to say that threadless doesn't allow for height adjustment is either being disingenuous or not fully understanding the system, especially in the context of the innicycle headset.

Now, on to your post While there have been a few customers who bought these headsets seemingly just to allow them to run their handlebars higher, I have to believe they considered the quill stem options first and decided for some reason that a threadless conversion would be better. Whether it was to gain access to more stem options, more handlebar options, gain some stiffness, or achieve a different look, they got *something* else in addition to higher handlebars when they swapped their original headset for an innicycle. Of course, if you go to my original reasons for creating the headset, higher handlebars was decidedly not on the list of design considerations so don't blame me if someone truly does use one just for that reason

Is this website legit? I looked up Innicycle headset and this was the first entry for shopping. It has it available... You go in the home page and there’s no link to any bike parts.
Lineflame is the site. Won’t let me post the link since I’m a newb.

0% legit. Any website claiming to have them in stock right now is making things up.

Found a silver crankset to try on the Trek :-)

You won't regret it. With the Innicycle adapter, the steering thing is "money."

I hope not..

I got some silver VO dodads and some leather Brooks tape to finish the bike as far as I'm willing to go right now.

Headset installed, VO stem installed but I'm not in love with the stem but I will say the new setup feels tighter and less flexible than the Technomic and 105 HS. Now we know what these look like at max extension. I think I'll play with the handlebar rotation this weekend when I can get some miles in.

Hey guys, happy user of Innicycle.

I'm looking for ideas on how to compress the Innicycle headset like a normal threadless stem does.

I'm trying add a stem mounted bell so that it is not loose on the stem.

Classy looking build! Beautiful frame and your color and component choices all compliment it nicely.

Two options to try: double sided foam tape or an o-ring (similar to the ones used in the inni spacers). Either should allow for some compression which ought to help hold the bell in place. If you need o-rings to try, let me know. I have a few (thousand) extra on hand.