i've been over to two local bike shops - one says they can't thread the fork i have and one says they can - can someone clear this up for me?

i have a 1", steel, soma fork

If the fork is already threaded and you need to extend the threads and then cut off the excess steerer tube, thats pretty easy. A little elbow grease and patience.

If the the steerer tube is not threaded at all, then you are bordering on a technique that requires rocket surgery. Very difficult to start the die square on the steerer tube. Although I can't remember seeing a 1 inch fork that wasn't threaded.

yea mine has no threads at all.....

best bet is to go threadless in this case...

well, it's still possible to thread the fork though right?

The material in the steer tube is thinner (weaker) than that of a threaded one. It can be done, but it's not advisable.

Why would you want to? Threadless is the superior system.

BUT! BUT! BUT!!! it doesn't look cool enough. obviously that's what's most important.

leave it threadless and stop being such a cry baby.

says who?

oh no, not again!

Cored machined stems. Nuff said.

This dude does, sucka:


That said, if somebody says that they can thread it, thread it. If it breaks, you can blame them and plead ignorance, right? Free dental work.

This is not neccessarily true. Do this at your own risk.

Unless the steerer tube is too short why bother though a super cheap stem and headset will perform better then whatever threaded stuff you have and you can always sell them.

If this is something you really want to do, take the fork to a reputable frame builder and get them to cut off the current steerer near the crown, and then sleeve a new threaded steerer onto it. This is the best (and probably the only) way to do this safely.

You could also just get a nice, classic looking Salsa stem and not worry about it.

+1

Though I do like the look of a classic old threaded type with a nice stem better.

Have you checked to see if a 22.2mm (1") quill stem will tighten up properly inside the steerer tube? The inside diameter of threadless steerers are rarely consistant. It would suck to have it threaded only to find out it's not usable.

buy a threddedd fork!

Possible, but completely unrecommended. Your LBS either won't have the machien to do it, or they'll **** it up. Or it'll strip. Just buy a threaded fork.

The amount you'd pay in labour to have a a finished product that is a semi-hack job would be the equivalent to a new columbus steel threaded fork.

I might be being totally ignorant as I have never actually played around with threadless setups, but if a quill will grip the inside of the steerer, is there any reason you can't just cut the tube at the top of the headset and use the stem as if it was a threaded system? Provided you're happy with never being able to use it threadless...

What are you talking about?

I wondered this after looking at https://www.fixedgeargallery.com/2007...asonThomas.htm

I am currently building a CrossCheck so this caught my eye - at the FGG pic the fork seems threaded - and looks like a original Surly fork. Because 1 1/8" threaded headsets are quite rare IŽd think that either

a) Older Surlys had 1" steerer tube and threaded forks?

or

b) Someone had threads cut in the original Surly fork and found a suitable headset (could it be 1 1/8" ?)

cool bike, nonetheless. My kind

I did this before. It's still running fine. If you want to thread it, any good bike shop should have a die for threading a fork, if you really want to, see if you can borrow it (it isn't exactly a commonly used tool. In Australia this may be a little easier.....) and use a file (or optimally a lathe) to bevel the top of the fork. There is a green, thick cutting compound which smells like capers (no ****) which can make this infiniteley easier. Then just thread it on until it bites, go 1/2 turn, 1/4 turn back, then 3/4 turn, 1/4 turn back etc. etc.

Of course if the steerer wall is too thin then you will have big problems with bulging when you tighten your stem's centre bolt, not to mention cracking and bending.


EDIT: Ah, its Trefolex I'm thinkin of.

I had a problem once building up a large frame bike. Could not find a suitable 1" threaded fork with a long enough steering tube. I was able to find NOS 1" unthreaded with hugely long steerers. (I think there was a brief transition stage from threaded to unthreaded that used 1".) So all I had to do was get it threaded. I was advised that it is difficult to start the threads out square, so I should ask lots of questions before paying someone to do it.

I did ask lots of questions. A couple of bike places said they could do it, but did not inspire much confidence. One place though seemed to have done it before and seemed to know what they were doing. I paid them a small amount (maybe $15?) to do it. Worked great. Still use that bike today and have not had one problem.

A previous poster mentioned that unthreaded forks might not all have the same (usable) inside diameter. I cannot speak to this except to say it was not an issue on the fork I used.

jim