Threadless to threaded

For various reasons, I want to convert my bike from a threadless stem to a threaded. Is this
possible without buying a whole new fork? How could I do this?

Thanks, Dave

 

On Tue, 27 Jan 2004 11:54:29 -0800, Dave Carroll
<[email protected]> may have said:

>For various reasons, I want to convert my bike from a threadless stem to a threaded. Is this
>possible without buying a whole new fork?

Usually yes, with a little ingenuity and perseverance, although this get into the area of
Modifications Not Covered By Your Manufacturer's Warranty. Use this advice at your own risk; it
works for me, but I'm not taking the rap if it doesn't work for you.

>How could I do this?

If you have an RST fork, buy a replacement steer tube from Harris or your local bike shop, and swap
it in. Few other brands make it as easy to get and install this tube. (Few major brands are as
unsatisfying to demanding riders, either!) If that's not a viable option for your fork, there
probably is still a way, but not if the steerer tube is carbon. In that case, go buy a fork.

Assuming you have a metal steerer tube, if the ID of the steerer is either 22.2mm or 25.4 (most
steel ones are the latter size in 1 1/8" threadless setups), it is possible to use a threaded stem
in a threadless steerer. Just use the existing stem as a steerer tube clamp, or use a suitably
modified threadless stem as one, and once it's installed, knock the starfangled nut out through the
bottom of the steer tube and install a threaded-style stem. If you need to readjust the headset at
some point, there are several ways to get around the lack of the starfangled nut. There are
removable wedge-like affairs (remarkably like the bottom of some threaded steerers in some cases)
which can be used and removed, and there's always the dodge of using a long piece of all-thread all
the way to a plate and nut at the bottom of the steerer tube, with a wingnut at the top to tighten
the cap down. You can also just bend a hook in the bottom end of the all-thread and stick it up
through the tube. It just needs to be there long enough to adjust the headset play out. Some people
can get it snug without using the top cap at all.

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Dave-<< For various reasons, I want to convert my bike from a threadless stem to a threaded. Is this
possible without buying a whole new fork? How could I do this? >><BR><BR>

If the steerer is steel, have somebody with a lathe thread it. The trick is getting the threads
parallel to the fork crown race seat. Any frame builder can do it. like Mark Nobilette..

Peter Chisholm Vecchio's Bicicletteria 1833 Pearl St. Boulder, CO, 80302
(303)440-3535 http://www.vecchios.com "Ruote convenzionali costruite eccezionalmente bene"

 

>If the steerer is steel, have somebody with a lathe thread it. The trick is getting the threads
>parallel to the fork crown race seat. Any frame builder
can
>do it. like Mark Nobilette..

Also, the steerer walls may be too thick and may need to be bored out. Phil Brown

 

Dave Carroll wrote:

> For various reasons, I want to convert my bike from a threadless stem to a threaded. Is this
> possible without buying a whole new fork? How could I do this?

Does "without buying a whole new fork" exclude having a new steerer brazed in? Only suitable for
steel forks, obviously.

I'm having a longer threaded steerer brazed in at the moment to get round the old-style Shimano
32mm stack height my bike was designed for. It's cheaper than a new fork and the frame desperately
needs a respray anyway. 42mm stack height covers most headsets on the market and I can fit spacers
to pad out the difference. I don't really like the look of A-stems on a road bike, however
efficient they are.