rootboy 

Have one of those on my Gitane at the mo'.
Nice looking stems. Cinelli 1A clone.

loky1179

This kind of sums up the advances in stem technology. "See, we CAN make quill stems as ugly as threadless!"

loky1179

Nice. Is this how you seal off the ends?

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Vinnems

What's really a shame with the passing of quill stems is that all the vintage throwback frames are made with threadless stem, which is something I refuse to compromise on looks wise. I'm making a modern vintage build, and there were a few frames I was interested in that the threadless stem killed for me. I really wanted the Look AC364 for a single speed build, but it was threadless. I wanted to get the Masi Grand Criterium (that metallic blue!) but the same thing. Bianchi has a few frames, but same thing.
I went with a Pelizzoli in the end, as it was in the same range (~$1000) of what I was looking for. Cinelli still does threaded, but I guess it comes at a premium now because it's a $2000 frame. I see some of the asian frame builders still use it, though, such as Factory Five and Colossi, but I wasn't too into how some of their frames work. They are a very affordable option, though.
Such a shame, as I am not willing to compromise with threadless. I find it hideous looking and it ruins other wise beautiful bikes.

jyl

Here is a quill stem with a removable faceplate for 31.8 mm clamp. Custom from Ti Cycles. Ti and steel versions. Bet the Ti version is light!

Ti Cycles :: Hand Made in Portland, Oregon USA

mtnbke

1. Any pantographed quill stem, especially Olmo, Colnago and the like. For non-pantographed stems the TIG welded ANSWER ATAC is beautiful to me, but so is the Cinelli Grammo. I always loved the beauty of stems that had hidden stem bolts and those that didn't use actual wedges but conical expanders. Not the most beautiful, but my favorite stems are Superbe Pro and MAVIC stems, though neither really "made" the stems, but they are rare as hen's teeth.

2. Quill stems are a.) heavier by definition b.) made changing bars laborious, but certainly could have evolved to removable faceplates. Then again, VHS tapes could have had a default "letterbox" aspect ratio c.) quill stems are flat out incompatible with carbon steerers, and dicey with thin wall titanium steerers, in fact aren't actually as safe as thread less if we are being honest about it

3. Like the look of lugged stems, even on a thread less setup on a aluminum or (ack!) carbon bike. Bonus points if the lugging is copper plated and allowed to patina. I like the ANSWER ATAC stems, Ringle stems, and even vintage Syncros stems. Modern Thomson stems are okay. I always like the crazy wacky carbon stems that came out of France in the 90s, that looked futuristic and forward looking. On a non-period epoxy bike they'd look silly, but they were a thing to behold.

brockd15 

The threadless Grammo is a thing of beauty.

komenda

My fav, Titan underslung quill stem.
Have yet to find a suitable frame, to mount this.

OldsCOOL

If the quill stem is passing away, pass them my way!

Look at this Fiamme stem a friend gave me the other day. Straight out of the early 60's?? Very light, with the internal expander.

juls

https://www.bikeforums.net/attachment...1&d=1480326524
https://www.bikeforums.net/attachment...1&d=1480326524
Quick question for titan owners...what size is the od on the insertion end? Too large for a tange levin headset on an austro daimler. "sheldon site" says 27mm and obsolete. Just not sure I was reading it right. Shame to have them unuseable. Sooo pretty

chewybrian 

Isn't the point of the hole in the middle that you route the brake cable through it?

^My favorite from the thread (so far).

^I bought this one for my new Bob Jackson (soon to be on the road).

cs1

I honestly believe that thread less stems are ugly by design, not intentionally. They have no rise only extension. The actual rise is a function of the fork and possibly some add on spacers. None of which were part of the original design of the stem like a quill. As said earlier it is the sad trade off for function.

cs1

Nice link, they have some some pretty slick stuff.

johnnyace 

This Weinmann and this Sakae Ringyo:

Lazyass

Progress. Hmmph.

jamesdak 

It is???

FullGas

always partial to my DA 'hidden bolt' quill...

artful design.

bulldog1935

here guys, knock your lights out

1" Threaded - Head Parts

Quill/Threaded - Stems - Handles, Stems, Grips

ps - if somebody can use a 120mm ITM steel stem, it's yours for the priority postage - I'll never be able to reach that far again.
(send me a pm)

himespau 

I'd like it better if the tig marks were polished to the point where I didn't notice them.

DMC707

I agree in the looks department in favor of traditional quill with deep drop cinelli style bars---

That said, I have a couple of restorations going on that will get a proper Cinelli or 3T cockpit --- these are bikes that aren't reserved for daily duty anymore

As for the daily drivers, --- well, one does have a Technomic stem, -- but the rest now have been updated to a threadless adapter, 31.8 stem and bars, --- I really like the 3T anatomic bend shallow drop bars, and the Salsa cyclocross style bars

I just like the solid feel at the helm with the big diameter stuff as I usually am running 46c bars, or at least 44, ---they generate more flex in general by being wider
--
--- HEck, its my bike and I ride what I like, but that said , any of my modifications that I make are for comfort and easily reversible if someone ever buys one of my rigs and wants to do a numbers matching restoration or something

Darth Lefty 

My new idea, that I haven't yet tried, but I think is cool enough to share, is to do this sort of thing with the multicolored "Irish linen" twine that is used for pool cues.

non-fixie 

I think Sheldon refers to the clamp size. The Titan stems I have are all 22.2mm. There might be 22mm versions as well for French bikes. As long as you have matching bars you should be good.

brockd15 

It is!!!

79pmooney

The passing of quill stems? really? I have 5 bikes, 4 with threaded hadsets. One of those bikes has two "cockpits" - bar, stem, brake levers and calipers. That's 5 quill stems. An '80s Cinelli 135, a Nitto Pearl 12, a Pearl 13, a Ticycles 155 -22 and a TiCycles 175 - 27. (Plus a TiCycles 180 -17 that outlived a bike.)

Yeah, the TiCycles stems are all custom, but the Nittos are in production and easy to get. Those Pearls don't take a second seat to any stem ever made. Don't believe me? Pull one out of the box and examine the machining.

If I had better hindsight, when Geo. Bush distributed that loan from China, I would have had Ticycles make me a threaded ti stem for my good bike which was built threadless. I had them make me a -17 120 ti threadless to replace the Ritchey I set the bike up with that worked just fine but that I had zero love for. The ti is nice, but a quill would make it a better bike. Yeah, HB replacement takes a lot longer! (Every 10 years.) But simply moving the cockpit up and down for conditioning changes and specific rides is so much easier. No headset to mess with. I can do it just before I ride; it takes one wrench and maybe two minutes. Only adjustment I have to make I have to do on a threadless also. (Line the stem up with the wheel. And every quill stem I have ever owned has been much easier to sight down than any threadless.)

A poster above talked of quills being more dangerous that threadless. Yeah, I guess, if you are willing to throw out a century of knowledge. A quill stem in a steel steerer fails so seldom that most of us know no first hand (and probably no second hand) reports of them failing outside of extreme use or abuse. The room for error is far bigger than is the case with bolted, faceplated threadless stems. I almost doesn't matter how tight the quill bolt is. Yes, too tight and you can distort the steerer but very few steerers have ever fails after seeing that distortion. Too loose and it is really easy to knock the bars askew but the bike is still ridable. The single bolt bar attachment requires more attention, but if it fails, the bars almost always stay in the stem and just droop.

Big advantage of threadless - saves factory and shop time. Makes changing bars a lot faster. (But not whole cockpit changes like I do on that one bike. I don't have to mess with the headset, more than one bolt or a torque wrench. I can be hurried or careless and not pay a price for it.)

Rant, rant!

Ben