To thread, or not to thread

[Dr. Doofus]

ok

if our doof wants to go lugs, he'll shell out 900 more bucks -- doable, but a stretch. if he goes lugs, then its threaded all the way. our doof needs to be a little more of a class act.

if our oofd goes TIG and only has to come up with 300 more bucks, it'll still be with a steel fork, for the rakin and the trailin so the fork gets built around the bike and not the uddawayaround.

but

on a tigger, to thread or not to thread? our ofod has a cool NOS 1" campy HS and a box full of NOS ritchey-by-nitto stems from 120 to 140...so it could be back to the 90s just because doof-of-ours is eccentric and nees to look stylish while getting spat out the back

or should our merciful father of doofdom succomb to the 21st century and go threadless?


whaddayasay, serottans??

[Too Tall]

Pop for lugs and have it last a loooong time. If this is your race bike I'd go with what's available rather than what you like looking at....modern parts make sense for race iron.

[Dr. Doofus]

its a race bike, my simian simulacrum

so what's available at home is threaded 1" and some good stems...guess doof could buy a couple of HS and another stem or two from Yellow Jersey to keep hisself in goodies

or just get some king/ritchey 1 1/8 crap

[stackie]

Doof,

$600 for lugs? Paul's site states $150 for lugs on the TIG SL.

Lugs or no lugs? Well, as an owner of two lugged bikes, I love the look. Sometimes, I think that a nice fillet brazed bike might be easier to clean, so if I did a rainy day/commuter bike, I would consider (n.b. consider)fillet brazing. But, you're talking TIG. Still probably easier than lugs to get those pesky flecks of dust off. For $600, if cash is a concern, I'd go TIG. For $150, get what you like.

As for your threaded question... I'm don't know all of your personal particulars, but you seem like you're a little older, a little wiser. You have a job that you need to report to on monday, so you're not going to risk your life to pip that 19 yo bike shop employee on his free cannondale. You're out there to enjoy and be safe. (Where is this going?) Well, threaded stems are great. They're easy to adjust. If you get a little less flexible, you can just raise them. Sure, you can do that with threadless, but hopefully you left some steerer tube covered up with a bunch of ugly spacers so that you have a way out from that down low position. So, the added weight of a threaded stem gives you a great deal of future adjustability. And, since I've already proved that you aren't going to risk your life to pip that 19 yo, what's a few grams. Finally, a nice slender threadless stem is just so pretty, particularly on a nice slender tubed (as compared to the large aluminum tubes) steel frame.

I vote threadless. And if you save the dough on the lugs, get Paul to do you a nice threadless stem, but only if he'll stick one of those sweet little lobsters on the front of it. Heck, get one even if you do spend the dough on the lugs.

Jon

[OldDog]

To my bloodshot eyes, thread-less stems are out right ugly. Stacks of spacers make the bike look like it is cobbled together with whatever is lying around.

There are builders who will design and build very cool stems and paint and mate with matched spacers. If I was to go threadless today, lugs or not, I'd seek out one of these guys, like Kirk, Sacha, TK.

[Dr. Doofus]

Paul's webguy is abit behind...its 1450 for lugs, 995 for TIG

so 500 bucks


the more our lady of doofic charity reads yerpost, stackie...the more he's persuaded to go threaded, actually...maybe Paul could do a Lobsta-Gangsta welded threaded stem????

[bcm119]

What is this Rock Lobster thing all about?

Are they from Maine? Shipped in refrigerated planes? Do they change color when boiled? Do they come with a thick rubber band on the fork?

[Fixed]

Bro do luggs and go threadless ya ain't goin be spaced out cos I know ya like ya bars low dude i.m.h.o. Cheers oh yeah steel fork threadless is cool :beer: :beer:

[Dr. Doofus]

Threaded

after looking at several bikes when our lady of perpetual doofness should have been working, one sayeth unto the forum

Threaded

threadless stems are booty on small-tubed bikes

threaded is cool, threaded can be easily adjusted, threaded has no smokestack-lightnin cancha hear me callin spacers

Threaded

shall be the way of the TIG Lobster

might splurge and have Paul make a cool

Threaded

one

and our saint of proverbial dfoo can always get more from Yellow Jersey and an extra 1" HS to boot.

and it was good

[Fixed]

Sorry Doc. bro I don't know much about this stuff anyway .Cheers :beer:

[PeterW]

Dr.,

My main bike these days is a Della Santa. One year old. Reading your thread about your new frame, I've been meaning to take some pictures and send them to you. I'll do so this week, promise. Zero Uno OS steel, so the ride is pretty modern, but the looks . . . You'll see. At the price, a DS is unbeatable, IMHO. Your tig choices are nice, but . . .

Anyway, it is threaded. Nitto Pearl stem. The look is perfect. But living on the South Carolina coast (with salt and sand) I've already had problems with rust in steerer tube and rust eating at the stem. This weekend, I took it apart and was shocked at the damage so far. I store the bike inside, keep the stem greased, etc., and this was a bummer. I frame-savered it (is it possible that I forgot to spray the steerer tube when I did the rest of the frame last year?! I don't think so, but who knows.)

In this harsh enviroment where I often ride through puddles of salt-water (I've actually been hit by a wave coming over the sea wall), I'll probably get threadless on my next frame. What I give up in looks, I'll gain in weather-protection? Rock Hill ain't Charleston (I'm sorry for you), but something to think about.