I have a carbon fork with a 1" ti steerer. I am starting to get worried about the fork giving out as it has a ton of miles on it and it may be cracking. Can I use a fork with a carbon steerer with a quill stem, or will the wedge cause the steerer to crack/fail when I tighten the expander bolt? Thanks
On a threadless steerer, the fork is held in place by a combination of the top capt/star nut or the expander bolt (for a full carbon steerer). On a threaded fork with a quill stem, the quill’s expander plug is more akin to the stem bolts on a threadless set-up. The fork itself is secured with a set of locking nuts that are part of the headset that, in turn, require threads in the top of the steer column. Thus, a carbon fork cannot be safely threaded (cut) to accept a threaded-style headset, much less the quill stem.
Clear as mud, right? Bottom line…if you’re running a quill stem, you’ve got a threaded steerer and headset. You cannot use a threadless fork, carbon, steel, or otherwise. Alloy threadless forks can be cut down and threaded, but carbon ones cannot.
Thus, you’ve got a couple choices. First is a new threaded fork. Kestrel might still have some available on-line (be sure to check your steerer length). For a real value, Nashbar currently has threaded Easton EC-30s for $99. The more expensive alternative is to go threadless, which will require a new fork, a new stem and, possible, a new headset (some like Chris King can be converted with a kit).
Personally, I’d go with the EC-30. Hope that helps…
Scott,
Thanks. Had I stopped to think about it, it would have been obvious. I forgot about the threaded steerer issue.
Actually, Wound-Up makes a threaded carbon steer tube fork. Only one I have ever heard of, and pretty darn cool.