In praise of...quill stems

[Zoiders]

Quills are pretty but I find they flex like buggery when wellying it out of the saddle and they are worry for fixed use.

A-heads don't have be cut perfectly straight, they can be faced a few mm wonky around the top of steerer tube and they still work as the top of the steerer doesn't interface with anything, you could have one cut as much as 1/2"" out of whack and still make the headset work with a tall enough spacer

Star fangled nuts?

Bin them and buy a headlock device or two.

A-heads - modular, easy to fit, easy to swap between bikes (if you leave few spacers worth of extra steerer in place).

With the craze for all things retro right now I think there would be cash to be made from putting a 1" threadless headset and stem back on the market rather than the lumpy and over engineered 1" 1/8' standard from the world of MTBing.

 

[just jim]

Star fangled nuts?
Bin them and buy a headlock device or two.

And I have too in the form of a Hope Head Doctor, an apt name since my mangled fangled needed medical help. Why buy a thing, then buy another thing because the first thing is a bit rubbish?

 

[Smokin Joe]

The A-Headsets on my bikes have both completed five years service and never needed adjustment. When replacement time comes it will take about ten minutes.

Stuff quill stems.

 

[just jim]

The headset on my 1996 Randy hasn't required much attention either, except when I raised the stem by a cm. It was easy, I just loosened the bolt on the top and shifted it up. But yeh, you're right. Stuff 'em.

 

[Paul.G.]

Threadless headsets or Quill Stems, but which one is best, only one way to find out!


FIGHT!

 

[fossyant]

You can't get a more pretty stem than a Cinelli XA.........

 

[e-rider]

the change was mainly to improve the headset (the old sort could/would come loose, difficult to adjust; AND if you ever replaced it you often found that there was not enough thread on the steerer tube for the new headset (depending on its design) causing huge problems)

However, the A-head is lighter and stiffer and comes in many more sizes (lengths and rise) than quill stems. I'd like to see a quill stem handle OS bars

I also don't think A-heads are generically ugly - some designs are but some look very nice

Quills are OK but the A-head offers loads of advantges

 

[e-rider]

You can't get a more pretty stem than a Cinelli XA.........

I find the 1A more pleasing to the eye

 

[e-rider]

Quills are pretty but I find they flex like buggery when wellying it out of the saddle and they are worry for fixed use.

A-heads don't have be cut perfectly straight, they can be faced a few mm wonky around the top of steerer tube and they still work as the top of the steerer doesn't interface with anything, you could have one cut as much as 1/2"" out of whack and still make the headset work with a tall enough spacer

Star fangled nuts?

Bin them and buy a headlock device or two.

A-heads - modular, easy to fit, easy to swap between bikes (if you leave few spacers worth of extra steerer in place).

With the craze for all things retro right now I think there would be cash to be made from putting a 1" threadless headset and stem back on the market rather than the lumpy and over engineered 1" 1/8' standard from the world of MTBing.

plenty already available - clearly not something you look out for!

 

[Zoiders]

plenty already available - clearly not something you look out for!

New Old Stock on fleebay maybe.

Not a current production item with spares back up, there may be one or two manufacturers that still offer one as an option but finding one on the shelf in most places is a non starter.

If you are lucky you might get a stem with a shim included but otherwise it's the dusty old clearance bin at the back of the workshop in your LBS.

 

[Smokin Joe]

Still available from CRC -

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=56691

 

[Fiona N]

I think quills still look better on the 'retro' bikes with slim tubing where aheads look bulky and awkward. Whereas on the oversized and variable tubing of more modern frames, the chunkiness of most aheads looks in keeping and a slim quill would look out of place - so, horses for courses.

 

[Zoiders]

Still available from CRC -

http://www.chainreac...x?ModelID=56691

Thats a quill not a 1" A-head.

1" A-Head was an early type A-Head that fits 1" quill frames.

 

[Smokin Joe]

Thats a quill not a 1" A-head.

1" A-Head was an early type A-Head that fits 1" quill frames.

I know what it is.

I misunderstood the post and though it referred to to unavailability of quill stems.

 

[Finn]

I'm currently not praising the one thats stuck in old falcon racer... Looks good though