Quill stem vs other type

As you can tell im a noob.

The frame i have will take a quill stem but I'm wanting to fit the cinelli alter. Do i need to change the forks?

How do I go about doing this?

Cheers.

You can get an adapter or change the forks+headset.

Adapter like this - http://www.decathlon.co.uk/quill-bike-stem-id_1788291.html

It usually looks weird with the threaded headset and then an ahead stem. You won't be able to put your finger on why but it will look weird.

Cheers

I think I'll stick with a quill stem in that case. The word adapter puts me off straight away.

I have used them before it's just that the lock ring of the threaded headset and then ahead stem makes it all weird. Exceptionally bad example but even a little weird looking can slowly drive you nuts.

Adaptors can look ok with a slammed stem, I have this on my Cannondale MTBeater. Quill stem would look much better. Either would look better than an Alter....

Cheers for the example.

It does make the stem look bulky.

I managed to convert a one inch threaded steerer to for use with a 1 1/8 stem through use of a shim and adaptor. Looks OK I reckon but is never going to look as good as it would if threadless. Slammed is the key as the locknut effectively looks like the spacer (from a distance) that you'd normally have underneath.

Here's a pic if interested.

Looks like a good job. From a distance you wouldn't be able to tell any difference.

Where did you acquire the adapter?

Errrr, it came with the bike or another I have, I can't recall. I'd go into a bike shop if I were you and have them source it. They're not expensive bits anyway and it will definitely be fit for purpose if you don't know what you're doing.

If this is for your concorde I would definitely go with a quill, alter would look weird imo

I seem to be having bad luck with components. Am attempting to convert threaded to ahead. Weirdly, the adapter that I bought, despite being the right diameter for my (Thomson) stem, has a top cap that just falls right through. I mean the diameter is too small.

So I go and buy another top cap right? Except, both the ones I've tried have holes too narrow for the bolt belonging to the adapter, or another quill stem bolt.

Does anyone have a specific recommendation for an adapeter with a correctly sized top cap, a top cap with a bigger hole, or a long recessed Allen bolt with a narrower head?

Or should I just accept that the bike gods don't want me to do this?

Hi Dumps, I encountered this same issue, presumably you're using a quill to ahead adapter? If so, and depending on how far down the pin sits in your adapter, you could use an expanding bung adapter like this:

http://www.bikepartsplace.com/discount/headset-compression-nut-spadca-expander-plug/

This adapter is internally threaded to accept a regular ahead top cap bolt, I didn't use this exact part but managed with something very similar. Hope that helps, good luck!

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