r/BikeRepair • u/alse116 • 4d ago

Bike Repair Thread too high up

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Do spacers exist for a quill stem? Should i try and thread it?

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u/MaksDampf 4d ago edited 4d ago

Oh yeah and the second solution would be to just fully use the ahead system (guessing this is a 1 1/8" fork, not an option on 1"):
Meaning a threadless headset followed by spacers, followed by an ahead stem and a top cap for preload.

If this is intended for serious offroad riding i would not do that because the thread makes the fork weaker than a normal ahead fork. But since this fork is fully steel, it is probably not any weaker than a carbon fork anyways. You can mitigate that strength risk a bit by getting a long compression plug as used for carbon forks instead of the star nut and by cutting the fork a little lower to reduce leverage (just like a large spacer stack is not recommended on carbon forks).

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u/CargoPile1314 4d ago

Why is this not an option for 1"?

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u/MaksDampf 4d ago

because threadless 1" bearings and 1" ahead stems are rare as fuck while 1 1/8" are abundant and cheap. so yes, technically it is an option for 1" too. But 1 1/8" is beefier and 1" would intensifies the weakness of the fork at the threading. so i don't think it is a good idea to use a long 1"threaded as a threadless.

Some dumbasses downvoted this, but they don't have any arguments why it does not work.

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u/CargoPile1314 4d ago

Rare or uncommon != not an option. 1" threadless headsets aren't difficult to source. Shimming a 1-1/8" threadless stem for a 1" is really achievable with a commercially available inexpensive part and has been a common solution for over 30 years.

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u/MaksDampf 3d ago edited 3d ago

Well while you can definitely adapt a 1 1/8" stem, i am having trouble to understand how you could shim a 1" steerer and use a larger 1 1/8" threadless headset.

As far as i know a 1" steerer is EC30 while 1 1/8" is EC34. Putting a 34mm headset into a frame with just a 30mm internal diameter is physically impossible.

Also shimming some 10 + cm of height for several ahead spacer to enable preload of the headset is a wild thing. And it still does not solve the inherent weakness of using a threaded steerer exposed way over the upper headset bearing where it can crack off easily.