quill stems look better, finished, no fork to cut after you set the height.

 

You like what you like. I have owned several threaded / quill setups. Obviously for many years thats all that was available. But times change, things get better. Headset adjustment is so much easier on threadless.
Sure you can get your small custon builder to thread a steel fork, so thats not a problem for you.
But it's that time and expense to do that, along with carbon steerers that make it rare these days.
These days it's easy for ME.I know my bar height / drop. Give me a 1 1/8 Ouzo, CK headset and Ritchey bars and stems and I'm good to go.
Cutting a fork takes very little time, so thats no excuse

But get what makes YOU happy. Make sure you get the correct wrenches to adjust your headset.

 

I went through the same dilemma on my custom Della Santa frameset that I recieved a couple of months ago. I decided to go with the quill stem and have been happy. I had the builder cut the fork steerer and intall the heaset for me. After that the set up was easy because minor adjustments up or down are very simple. Plus I just like the way a quill stem looks. The first time I saw a threadless stem on a bike was Indurain's in the '96 Tour and I did not like it. It wasn't until 1999 or so that threadless really took over. I've been around bikes with quill stems longer than threadless, so to me, the bike just looks "right" with a quill. But, the drawback with a quill stem is that they are all 25.8 - 26.0 mm (old Cinelli 26.4 nothwithstanding) and the major handlebar manufactureres are all going to oversized clamp (31.8mm) diameter. Therefore, the smaller diameter handlebar pickin's will get mighty slim in the future.

 

Waterford makes an excellent steel fork. Nobody makes them better. The only downside is that there aren't that many great looking quill stems anymore. You really have to hunt around.

 

Brand new Nitto Pearl quill stems are readily availble on eBay, and they are (IMO) aesthetically very pleasing. The main drawback is the hassle of removing/replacing the handlebars, and I've never liked the look of quills with the front clamp.

 

If you like the looks, you like the looks. There are no appreciable downsides or upsides - they work fine and they look a certain way.

It's a custom bike that's being built to your standards - use the stem that will make you happy when you look at the bike.

 

I see the math this way:

Both quill stems and suitable bars are a bit tough to find, and will only get harder. On the other hand, find what you want, and that's about all you need, so....

I've become a fan of some of the newer shaped bars that won't fit into a traditional quill, and if you are going to put a front plate on, for my money you may as well go all the way with threadless.

They (quills) are far easier to make small adjustments to. As a person who's bars go up every spring and down every summer, that's not bad. It's not impossible on a threadless, but the control isn't quite the same.

Someone mentioned the difficulty of adjustment, but it's mostly a question of what you become accustomed to. I've seen plenty of maladjusted threadless roll out of bike shop doors.

If you are anything of a weight weenie, the quill is right out. If you want your bike to have lugs - and especially if you plan on painting such that they will stand out, threadless is right out. Just doesn't look right, IMO.

I'm not religious on the matter - as is true with most of the grand religious arguments of cycling (carbon or steel, campy or shimano, threadless or quill, clincher or tubie, aero or light) I've done it both ways, and enjoy them all. It's what you want that matters, and not much else.

 

My custom Pereira will have a quill stem, but mostly because he makes beautiful custom threaded quill stems that truly define the aesthetics of a custom bike. If you're going custom frame, might as well go custom stem, right?

 

As long as there is E-bay, there will be a decent supply of quill stems. It is harder to find quill stems in bike catalogs that cater to racers, but if you look at sites that cater to long-distance riders (peter white) or retro-grouches (rivendell), you'll find all you need. And again, there's always e-bay.

Nitto makes some really beautiful quills and those are still available all over the place.

I've ridden both, and I prefer the quill. It's easier to swap out a threadless stem, but it's much less likely that you'll need to swap a quill- if I decide that I want to try my bars a little lower today, or if I'm on a ride and feel the need to raise my bars a bit, I can do it in seconds with a single allen wrench, and I've got a range of adjustment that no threadless stem can match. I'm using a nitto technomic deluxe, so I've got several inches of adjustment to play with.

oh, and there's also this...

http://www.rivbike.com/webalog/handlebars_stems_tape/16088.html

you can't tell me that wouldn't be awesome on a lugged Waterford...

 

thanks for the replies

It sounds like people with experience don't feel that either 1) there are serious downsides to quill stems and/or 2) that any downsides should be deal-breakers.

I like looks of the nitto stems, but I didn't think of looking into a custom quill stem. Kung Fu - do you have any pix of what Pereira has in mind for you? I look forward to seeing it.

I'm definitely feeling quill stem + Paul Racer brakes + lugs. If only I could find a nos full silver campy drivetrain. I'd be rolling!!

 

Send a PM to Len J, he recently found a guy that still sells the full Chorus alloy kit. I used to have his web address but lost it.

 

Sorry........

It sounds like people with experience don't feel that either 1) there are serious downsides to quill stems and/or 2) that any downsides should be deal-breakers.

I like looks of the nitto stems, but I didn't think of looking into a custom quill stem. Kung Fu - do you have any pix of what Pereira has in mind for you? I look forward to seeing it.

I'm definitely feeling quill stem + Paul Racer brakes + lugs. If only I could find a nos full silver campy drivetrain. I'd be rolling!!

I missed this post earlier.

Quills give you more flexibility to change bar height and do have a unique aestetic. If you like it go for it.

The one downside has to do with changing bars & or changing stem length. Either one requires stripping the bars of both tape and at least one of the brifters.

Here are a couple of sources for quill stems:

http://www.peterwhitecycles.com/stems.asp
http://www.yellowjersey.org/stemz.html

If you can't find what you want then e-bay is the ticket.

Len

 

Go with the quill stem if you like the looks. I've had both quill and threadless stem, and I prefer quills. I like the flexibility in adjusting handlebar height with quill stems, and I also think they look better. I personally don't think finding quill stems will be an issue. Virtually any bike shop can order Nitto stems, or they are easy to find on line. You won't find a better quality stem -- quill or threadless -- than Nittos. Nitto also makes a quill stem with a removable facecap, which makes handlebar installation a snap. I've got one, and like all Nitto products it is very well made. Salsa also makes a nice quill with removable facecap, but to me it is not as nice aesthetically, although on the right frame they look great.

 

Narrowing it down...

This is good information. I like the convenience, but not the styling of the Nitto with the removable face plate. I think if I went Nitto it would be the Pearl.

I also like the 3TTT Evol stem that I've seen on ebay. I also really like what I've seen of NOS Dura Ace Quill Stem like those on Peter White's site.

https://cgi.ebay.com/New-Old-Stock-...02-Evol-Stem-135-mm_W0QQitemZ280117782063QQihZ018QQcategoryZ42333QQcmdZViewItem

https://www.peterwhitecycles.com/stems.asp


The bikes that inspired me to go quill were older DeRosa lugged steel bikes that some guys had had forever when I first started road riding. I'm not sure what the stems were, but the bikes were luscious. Another example that I really like is this Vanilla:

https://www.vanillabicycles.com/frames/road/2/lrg/7.jpg

Kung Fu Felice also made an interesting suggestion with the Pereira custom quill stem. Obviously a little more coin, but it is intriguing and gives the option to route cables for center-pulls through the stem itself.

This is exciting. I will definitely post pix as the project progresses after cross season.

 

http://www.pereiracycles.com/gallery/

Almost all of Tony's stems (on his traditional road bikes) are custom.

 

Having been out of the quill stem game for about 15 years, I recently messed up the wife's new frame. She took delivery of a frame/fork/headset and then I went about building up the bike. I torqued a little too hard on the quill stem bolt but the stem was not straight - and it wouldn't pop loose. Eventually took it to a bike shop where they used a leather covered steel mallet to loosen it from below (under the fork crown). They said I bulged the steerer tube by overtightening the wedge bolt. I felt like an idiot. Guess I just didn't have the feel for the wrench any more.

Anyway, I'm waiting patiently for my Pereira too. Is it possible to specify an extra stout steerer tube, or should I simply learn to take it easy on that bolt next time...?

 

TakmanJapan says...

Quills look lovely and I find them more aesthetically pleasing. My personal favorites are 3TTT 2002 or Record 84 models. The 2002 and some later types (Cinelli Oyster) had a removeable face as well.

If you want it to be silver then you may want to look up the post about polishing components using lye. So you can widen your purchasing pool and then make it into whatever you want.

Enjoy!

 

I just used a Record 84 quill on my 1998 Serotta-made Paramount...it catches my eye every time I look at the bike. Wasn't expensive either...

 

Cable hanger for quills?

If I am running cantis or another center pull brake, what are the cable hanger options and solutions. With threadless I use the steerer tube hanger that goes at the bottom of my spacer stack.

What would you do with threaded/quill setup?

 

What would you do with threaded/quill setup?

they make 'em to fit quill stems and threaded headset stacks, or you can use a fork crown mounted hanger... back in the day when cables were not aero they used to drill through the stem and use it as the hanger

 

... back in the day when cables were not aero they used to drill through the stem and use it as the hanger

Pereira still drills through the stem on his custom models that have cantilever brakes - he can make your stem anyway you want, with whatever bosses/braze-ons you need for cables. His execution is pretty sharp.

 

I have 2 custom Waterfords.

One has a quill stem (the newer frame) one is threadless (the older frame).

In use there is no difference.

They both ride and look great.

Question-how often do you think you will actually adjust your stem? On my bikes I plopped the stem into place when I built them up and have never moved them since.

 

If you're going quill, I actually like the look of the less expensive Nitto Dynamic better than the Pearl. The Dura Ace made by Nitto is the bees knees for looks, but it's pricey compared to the others.

 

I don't plan on adjusting the stem

to answer your question - MB1, I don't plan on adjusting it much after I get it dialed in. Since it will be a custom frame, I hope to have it things pretty well sorted in the fit process.

I just read your post on Racer brakes. I also plan on building the frame around those components (brake wise). How do you hang your cable for the racer brakes?

Thanks

CP

 

Just a standard cable hanger with an adjuster barrel.

...I just read your post on Racer brakes. I also plan on building the frame around those components (brake wise). How do you hang your cable for the racer brakes?

Thanks

CP

I use Campy brake levers which have a built in QR so there is no problem getting the wheels in and out with even the fattest tires.