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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