Mechanics and Fixing Any Questions Answered

It's possible that it won't fit as threadless steerers might have a different internal diameter to threaded ones in order to handle the compression force of the stem (on the other hand may threaded steerers are thicker to have enough thickness for the threads to be cut into, so take that with a pinch of salt).

How do you plan to attach it and preload the headset though? If you leave the star nut in you wont be able to put the extender in as the wedge would foul it. If you remove the star nut and fit the extender you've got nothing to screw the headset preload bolt into.

Presumably you want something like this, but for a 1" steerer. I have no idea whether it would be safe to shim that.

@Zebra Most quill-ahead adapters just take a plastic bung in the top but there are some that are set up to take a regular top cap. I had to find one in order to fit one of the top caps I laser engraved to Mrs M_V's bike when I put it together.

Sure you could use it to preload the bearings, no idea what brand I went with or anything though. Maybe just look for one with a bolt on top cap instead of the usual bung?

Edit: first hit on google,

https://www.wiggle.co.uk/brand-x-quill-adaptor-alloy?lang=en&curr=GBP&dest=1&sku=100277811&utm_source=google&utm_term=&utm_campaign=&utm_medium=base&gclid=Cj0KCQiA2ZCOBhDiARIsAMRfv9J62psK8ulHHDxKKb5VbgdKu0nA6lTHzMdCidE7O5OZSxs5YmPOQGAaAhw3EALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

How have you inspected it? You won’t really know unless you try and thread another headset down the fork threads and compare them. If it threads in tighter than the one that keeps on coming undone then you know the threads are prob worn.

I would use a thinner spacer on the fork and see if that helps at all

I think quills mostly look shit too.

Meh. Not sure which ones you’re looking at but the majority of any known brand quill stems are def better looking than a head equivalents.

Nah, but I'm aware beauty is in the eye of the beholder, also, there are plenty of shit looking aheads.

Or no spacer at all? I’ve run them like that fine in the past but happy to be told that’s a no no. Just make sure the top nut isn’t bottoming out onto the top of the steerer and is tightening against the spacer/nut below it.

^ agree, the spacer is usually just an anti-rotation device to aid with tightening the topnut anyhow;Take it out with no problems. It's an idea to grease where the 2 nuts lock together to avoid any scoring of the surface.

I've not read the whole item, but are we sure an "Italian" thread has not crept in, they look British, but have a subtle difference in thread form - and probably more style - lol.

I still don't get how that would work. If you use the wedge of the adaptor then you don't have access to the star nut to preload the headset bearings; if you don't use the wedge then you're bolting the adaptor downwards into the steerer and relying in the interface of the flat top of the steerer walls and the tapered section of the adaptor to hold the two together. That's not how adaptors are meant to be secured, so I wouldn't trust it, especially since the tension required to properly preload the headset bearing is very low and so wouldn't force them together very firmly.

You ditch the star nut.

Insert the adapter and tighten it with the wedge as per a quill stem. The bolt that tightens the wedge is a larger diameter, hollow and threaded internally. This thread replaces the star nut and give you something to bolt the cap into it.

Like an expanding wedge for a carbon steerer

There’d still be nothing pressing down on the top bearing.

^ Agreed. There's no way to press on the top bearing without a star-nut or carbon expander bung.

However! An adjustable spacer can provide pre-load:

Pre-load was what I said would be a problem with a threaded to threadless converter but then @MCamb posted one that takes that into account, although it's hard to see from photos, the wedge bolt will be a 6mm Allen and then the top cap bolt threads into that once in place to add pre-load, a bit like on carbon expander bungs. This instruction thing kinda helps.

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Oh I see!! That that should work nicely then.

There’d still be nothing pressing down on the top bearing.

There would be. Once you attach the adapter you’ve effectively extended the steerer (how soundly is another matter) so you just stack up the stem and spacers as normal.

Interesting, thank you for all the input, I think I'll order one of those and give it a try.

Question RE: square taper BB routine maintenance.
Got a secondhand year-old steel frame with a square taper BB that has signs of a bit of corrosion here and there on a bolt head or down the seat tube, so I’m trying to do a bit of preventative maintenance to keep the frame nice and rust-free, (I’ll probably strip the frame and use dinitrol on it at some point next year). The cranks are from the late 80’s with new chainrings.
I’be read that re-greasing the BB occasionally is a good thing, but also that excessive removal of the cranks can damage where they press onto the BB axle.
So my question is should I be removing the cranks to re-grease the BB maybe every year or something after a hard winter, or am I unnecessarily shortening the lifespan of these cranks? Please and thanks for any guidance!

This depends on what BB it is, how tight the fit is (i.e. shape and condition of frame threads) and how much crap weather the bike will experience.

If it's a sealed BB then I would think that you could simply grease it well and leave it for much longer than a year. Maybe 3-5 years, easily? I'm not too sure. If it's a typical Shimano splined BB then they can handle some force upon removal, and I am happy leaving them a while. Campagnolo BBs with aluminium cups can get shredded with far less force though, so need to be greased very well and not left for decades. Though you can still get lucky, especially if it's a good weather only type of bike.

Taking the cranks off every year will likely not kill them. But I'd say you don't need to do this. Bolt them down nice and hard but don't go above 50-60Nm. Then you won't deform the cranks tapers too much.

This is all assuming you're storing your bike indoors. Rain will obviously make everything seize.

@Ndeipi Thank you for the detailed answer! Shimano splined indeed, and whilst it's not a good weather only bike, it will be kept indoors and dry for 95% of the time so I think it will be fine. I'll strip the frame next summer for some rust prevention work, so I can re-grease then. Noted about the torque limit for the cranks.
Thanks for your time and expertise, appreciate it.

Most welcome.
Btw the 50-60 Nm torque limit is perhaps conservative and you can v. likely do 70 Nm without any damage. It's obviously important for them not to become loose. I'd welcome other input on this if anyone has more experience.

I’ll invest in a torque wrench that goes that high, my current one stops at 15nm I think. Cheers again!

You don't need to invest in a big expensive torque wrench. I've never used a torque wrench on square taper cranks, to be fair. I don't own one. I just tighten as hard as I can by hand, with a tool around ~30 cm long, and then I know I'm in the ball park.

Back in a pro workshop I remember using a big torque wrench roughly 30 cm long and struggling to get anything much above 50 Nm (I am of slight build). You don't need to be accurate on alu square taper cranks.

That makes sense, thanks for the follow-up. Cheers @Ndeipi!

Crabone bars, the brake levers don’t tighten up enough to stop them moving.
Anything that would fix this (apart from ‘change the bars’, ‘change the levers’, ‘change the bike’, ‘set the bike on fire’, etc.)
This ‘simple’ project is turning into anything but.

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Crabon assembly paste, if that's not enough then a shim.