My road bike is about 5 years old and probably the last of the non-threadless stems was used. What advantages if any if I went threadless with a carbon fork? Would I save a pound, gain durability or reliability? My aluminum fork seems decent enough and the old quill type stem does allow for more adjustability, I just don't want to be doing this for the sake of looking more cool, or the OCP police might come knocking on my door. Your thoughts please.

There's something to be gained by a carbon fork, but IMO the threadless headset is more for the manufacturers. I still don't like them.

a lightweight carbon fork is sweet! carbon offers a smoother ride than alum. and is stiffer. the new forks come in about 300 grams...but that is serious money, you could find a 350 gram fork at a reasonable price. I think the key is to leave the tube on the long side...about an inch above the stem. just add a spacer there and you can always raise the stem if you need to later. another advanage to leaving the tube long is that there is less chance that you crush the end of the tube. you will save weight on the fork and stem...at least a 100 grams on the fork and another 100 on the stem.

I pull on the handlebars hard when I stand on the bike so I like a stiff stem, but thats me. some of the lightweight stems will flex. I like 3T, thomson and fsa.

threadless won't come loose (stem clamps around outside of steer tube, doesn't expand against the inside), is a little lighter, much less adjustable in terms of height, requires only an allen wrench, usually requires less maintenance, won't get stuck, arguably looks better (or worse).

threaded is simpler, more adjustable (loosen top bolt, move stem, tighten bolt), requires more care (grease, tightness checks), can come loose, can bottom out in the the head tube, requires a 32 or 36 mm flat headset wrench, weighs a little more, arguably looks better (or worse).

that's about as unbiased as you can get. i've owned road bikes with both designs. threaded gave me a little more trouble - my headset kept coming loose even after proper tightening and as a result the whole fork would shunt forward and rattle when i came to a stop. eventually, even after repeated trips to the shop, they determined that the threads had been stripped - but i got a new headset under warranty. however the adjustability was definitely a very nice thing.

Assume it is a 1" stem. You could do this as a partial upgrade: get a quill stem adapter, Profile Design among others, and then you can go to a more modern stem setup. If you want to go to threadless consider that you will need a new headset, fork, stem and maybe bars. Also if you do not have the tools you will have to get your LBS to press in the new headset. Is it worth the cost of upgrading? Try looking for some older carbon threaded stems on ebay as another option.

Assuming your fork has a steel steerer tube, going to a Carbon fiber fork with CF steerer tube (which by necessity means threadless headset and stem) will save at least a pound, if not closer to 2pounds of weight (depending on exactly what particular componets we're comparing) I'm not really a weight weenie, but when the savings is measured not in grams, not in ounces, but in pounds, its starts to make you think.

Did the exact thing on 2 of my bikes - changed out threaded steel forks for threadless carbon fork with ALU steerers.
I was surprised by the weight diff.
the Campy Record Headset and Cinelli stem combo weighed almost 8 oz (EDIT * I may have overstated that weight, now I'm seemin to remember the headset/stem diff as being well over 6 oz... getting old...*) more than the Cane Creek S2 headset and an ITM ALU Stem (both stems 120s)

The CF fork was almost 1 lb+ lighter than the Columbus and Rey531 Steel forks!!!
The CF fork rides fine, although not any smoother than the steel fork. Overall the change was worth it for me, losing some weight and, although not as 'pretty' as a nice threaded setup, threadless is way simple to get adjusted right and maintain. Visually, I've gotten used to 'threadless' and its not half ugly.

i don't have the exact numbers as i forgot where i wrote them down at (i think i did post them in the mechanics forum if you want to search), but i saved around 26oz. by converting to threadless. swapped the columbus steel fork, orginal campy threaded headset, original itm bars and itm stem out of my mid 80's bianchi with a bianchi carbon fork, aheadset, itm aluminum stem and itm carbon bars.

this was enough weight to make the bike feel considerably lighter, it also rides much better, much smoother. i think good steel is awsome in a frame, but a carbon fork provides a much better ride.

Where did you find a 1" threadless bianchi carbon fork? I want to do the same thing but haven't been able to locate one. Thanks

i just monitored ebay constantly for a couple of months. several have came up, they usually go for $50-100. I paid slightly more as it included the headset.

FWIW this is the best price I've found on a new Reynolds Ouzo Pro.

I too have an aluminum fork on my steel Specialized Allez from the early '90s. I've thought of switching it out for a carbon fork too, though I imagine the weight savings won't be dramatic over the aluminum fork, but it should give a better ride. My aluminum fork is pretty stiff, though not uncomfortable. It seems to be designed well.

Other than weight, is there any other reason bike makers briefly went to aluminum forks?

If you like the way your old quill stem looks (I like mine), Cinelli make a pretty cool-looking titanium stem for threadless carbon steerers called the Grammo:



and it's pretty lightweight.