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I'm gonna show you how to update a vintage bike
from an old style quill stem to a threadless stem.
The advantages of a threadless stem is they come in a variety of lengths and
angles,
and they're very easy to replace. And that allows you to
adjust the fit of the bike by moving the handlebars forward and back, up and down,
simply by replacing the stem. And
replacing an old style quill stem is just not that easy because you have to
remove the handlebar tape and the shifters and slide it off and slide the new one on.
And you can't easily play with the fit of the bike
as easily as with a threadless stem.
What you are going to need is a threadless stem adapter.
This is a one-inch to 1 1/8th
inch threadless stem adapter by Profile Design. There some other companies that make
these.
But the one that you are most likely going to need is a one-inch
to 1 and 1/8th inch
threadless stem adapter. They come in some other sizes
but this is the one that you're probably going to need is a one-inch
to 1-1/8th inch. Be very careful when you're buying them to make sure that you know
what you're getting.
Because they make a 1-1/8th inch to 1-1/8th inch
and
and those aren't going to work on most bikes.
So you want one inch to 1-1/8th inch for the stem adapter.
To start off with I need to remove the old
stem. So I'm going to go ahead and remove the handle bars from these.
There's like a
6 millimeter bolt under there. I am going to loosen that and actually totally remove it.
Okay, so I got that out.
Okay now though my options to get the handlebars
out of the stem are to unwrap them and take the shifters off and slide it out.
But I don't want to do that. I've got these all wrapped nicely so
what I am going to do is I'm just go ahead and cut
most of the way through this stem here. I am just going to go ahead and sacrifice this stem
because I am not planning on reusing it. I've got like a Dremel cut off tool and I am just going to very
carefully cut through this
but not cut all the way down to the handlebar. Just most of the way.
Now using like just a large screwdriver
I am going to get this in and wedge this apart and hopefully get this thing to break.
There!
Now just go ahead and remove the remains of the old stem.
It's a six millimeter bolt here. And just slide that right out of there.
Now that I got that open, I'm going to go ahead and just clean out in there a little bit. I've got like a rag,
some paint thinner.
And just clean out in there...
clean out some of the old dirt and gunk out of there.
Okay, now what I am going to do is I want to put a thin
coating of grease a down in there between
the stem and the fork tube. The fork tube
is chrome moly steel and this is aluminum.
And if they're in contact for a long time you get what's called galvanic corrosion
and this is basically just gonna weld itself
to the steel. Or this will oxidize and this will just get
stuck in there. You don't want that. So what I am going to do is put a thin coating of
grease
down in there.
And then just rub a little bit of grease...
it's just a thin coating,
you don't need a whole lot...ust on the stem there.
Okay and now with the the new stem that I am going to be installing,
I am going to go ahead and slide that onto the adapter first.
It slides right there and then I am going to go ahead and a slide this down
into the fork tube like that.
Then like
a regular quill stem, I just go ahead and tighten this
top bolt just like that. Then I'm gonna go ahead
and remove these bolts on the front of this
stem.
Get the handlebars situated where they're going to be.
Put the little front plate on and I have... make it so that the logo is facing upright.
Not important, but cosmetic. And then tighten these bolts.
Now go ahead get the at the handlebars straight with the wheel.
And then these little a side bolts
on the stem itself, I'll go ahead and tighten those, and those will clamp down
to the threadless stem adapter.
And there it is all finished. A threadless stem adapter on a vintage bike.
I think it definitely helps too update the overall look of the bike.
Makes it look a little more current. It definitely helps
to a make the bike more adaptable
for a future user. They can simply replace the stem to adjust the fit of the bike.
And it's not that hard to do and doesn't really cost a whole lot of money to do it.
Anyway that's how you install a threadless stem adapter on a vintage bike.
I hope that helps.