what prompted the invention of threadless stems, anyway?

the great thread shortage of 1987

Fortunately threadless can be flipped or lowered just as easily and without negative results unlike that stem. The OP asked about converting his bike to threaded. I pointed out that it was cheaper then everyone else was claiming but still silly since threaded is an inferior technology. I didn't know that was your bike sorry if you are offended that I think you made a silly impractical choice based on aesthetics.

How low do you drop your bars for riding at the track? Maybe its just the angle of the photo but the bottoms look to be barely above the wheel as is. Thats already alot lower then most trackies have them. Low isn't always fast.

i like my threaded:
http://visitordesign.com/kog-1.jpg

i like my threadless:
http://visitordesign.com/pony.jpg

i wish i had a pic of my ridiculous pista... but i do not.

Funny that someone so sensitive to stiffness in his bikes would like a threaded/bullhorn combo.

you see the gear ratio on that thing? it's for rain and mush. i don't care about stiffness in the least on that bike.

65 psi tubies....

I thought you were opposed to people doing things to their bikes because that's how other people do them?

I thought one of your big schticks was that people should ride what they want, why they want, and how it's comfortable, not because of what "most trackies" do?

also, you're boring.

there are a handful of threadless stems that i think look cool, for example the thomson elite x2 and the cinelli graphis. i use threadless now, but my next frame will be threaded. the reason being is that i find quill stems far more aesthetically pleasing. furthermore, for riding around the streets and racing in alleycats, the difference in stiffness between the two is inconsequential for me. i would definately go threadless on any bicycle i planned to compete on in officially sanctioned races, but i don't have any such plans at the moment.

ummmm not at all. I just think you should be honest with yourself and others about what is aesthetically pleasing vs what is practical.

He was talking about how he rides at the track. Unike at the bar most people choose practicality over aesthetics at the track. Hence I point to them and wonder if the camera angle is off because the bar looks absurdly low for track racing.

Note I don't think threaded stems are horrible or anything. I have two bikes I use regularly with them. If I had a choice I would always pick the threadless except maybe on a beach cruiser or something and I definetely wouldn't go through the effort of cutting threads into a threadless fork so I could use one.


At least my rants on BF have to do with bikes unlike yours.

I think dropping that aero seatpost for a plain silver alloy one would be a much greater aesthetic improvement than going to a quill stem.

Here are the reasons a threadless fork/headset are superior to a threaded one:

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/brandt/t...s-headset.html

That said, I still like my theaded fork with quill stem better :)

oh ****!

i was gonna go for a bike ride, but now i'm gonna go cry in my room instead!

The best bet - imo - is always to with what the bike has, as switching from one to the other is pretty much a zero sum game. Both systems, in real world use, work perfectly fine. Neither has a fatal flaw, both have conveniences that the other lacks. If you are racing at a very high level, you might benefit from the more technologically advanced system, but until you get to that point the engine is going to be far more worthy of attention than the other equipment.

However, if you (like me) think that the fork on the Pista looks like complete poo and you want to spend the money to swap it out for something more aesthetically pleasing then you should follow your bliss. It won't cost a whole lot (as others have pointed out) and as Eddie's example shows, it'll look much more classic.

I think Dutret's point here is (and if I'm understanding him correctly, I agree 100%) that there is absolutely no practical reason that you should consider doing this. If you think that you're going to get some kind of huge performance benefit or something out of the switch, you are wrong. This might sound really condescending - and apologies in advance if it does - but if you're not at a point where you understand the logistics of how each system works, I have a hard time believing that your motivation would be anything other than aesthetic. That being said, aesthetics is the only real reason that anyone should bother going to the trouble to make the switch, so kudos to you on that one.

90% of the bikes that people drool over here have threaded steerers, so it's pretty natural that you'd be curious or think that there was some sort of inherent benefit to them. There ain't. Ride that Pista with it's bandy-legged old man of a fork into the ground as is. If you decide later on that you want a bike that looks like everyone else's keirin/italian/whatever/lugged classic wet dream then just buy a new frame when the time comes.

m.

or spend a bunch of money upgrading the stuff on your pista like i did. most of it (drivetrain, wheels, handlebars) was for practical reasons to do with better performance. some (forks, headset, stem) for pure aesthetics. both made me enjoy the bike more

I guess the question becomes whether or not you'd do that again?

yeah, totally. it was fun, taught me lots, made me happy to look at my bike and know it was somewhat my own creation. i loved that bike and learned from it

i like my chrome UNO .80

+cuddlywuddlykittens. I don't know how hulked out you folks are, but I run chop-n-flop bullhorns on a quill stem, and even torquing away on those things, I don't have any discernable flex. Not enough to cry about anyways. Certainly not enough to call other people I've never met self-deceiving fashionistas. It hasn't cost me a race, and it hasn't cost me a position in a paceline, so I really don't see a reason to change.

If you switched a threadless set-up to threaded and told people you were doing it for performance reasons, I think that you could reasonably be called a self-deceiving fashionista. I don't think anyone has been saying that everyone should toss their quill stems and get threadless adaptors - quite the opposite in fact. Be happy with whichever you happen to run.

yeah, the ONLY reason I would go with quill is for the look. I'm not afraid to say so. c'mon, everyone likes making their bike look dope. It's just like styling your hair, or putting on make up. for me the quill would be the cherry on top. and I too upgraded basically everything on the pista except the fork/rear wheel on my pista because it was fun doing/learning, and i had the money.

the only downside I can see besides little technical things for the quillstem is changing handlebars on the fly. I have mustache, straight, and drop downs I use... unless there are quillstems that losen enough that you can slide out these bars without removing tape. I know some of them losen just slightly. anyone know some that open the diameter of bar+tape?

i have a threaded stem with a removable faceplate on one of my bikes, but it's really really ugly and the logo has been covered with electrical tape since i bought it. doesn't really answer your question, but they do exist.

so lets say i did decide to do this. since the pista is 1 inch threadless does that mean i would have to only buy a 1 inch threaded headset/fork or could i buy a 1 and 1/8th if the price was better?

1" but you don't actually need a new fork unless you want one.

have to get a 1" headset/fork because the head tube is sized to accept a 1" headset and fork. (or have i drank (drunk?) too much kool-aid?)

so you are saying i DO need a new fork? and the user above you was saying i DONT... ?