Too few threads on my fork - solutions?

[bulgie]

I woudn't drill a hole in a 50 year old aluminium stem.
(I wouldn't drill a hole in a new one either, mind)

I've seen plenty drilled stems still working, but then I've seen several snapped.

Yeah everyone has their own risk tolerance. I'm fully OK with it, since I have seen probably over a hundred drilled stems going back to the '60s, getting rough duty like cyclocross and MTB, never a single one broken. It was practically de rigeur for CX back in the day, even more popular than drilling the seatpost as the rear brake housing stop. As an example Here's a write-up of a bike that belonged to Roger DeVlaeminck ("Mr. Paris-Roubaix"), winner of the 1975 World Pro CX Championships. Strong enough for RdV means strong enough for anyone, if you ask me.

Lots of stem makers thought it wasn't a problem. Those GB stems in the pics I posted were factory drilled, and I currently have factory-drilled stems from Nitto and Cinelli on a couple of my bikes.

You didn't happen to take any pictures of the broken ones you've seen, eh? I learn something from almost every broken bike pic I see, I treasure them.

 

[bikeworkshop]

Yeah everyone has their own risk tolerance. I'm fully OK with it, since I have seen probably over a hundred drilled stems going back to the '60s, getting rough duty like cyclocross and MTB, never a single one broken. It was practically de rigeur for CX back in the day, even more popular than drilling the seatpost as the rear brake housing stop. As an example Here's a write-up of a bike that belonged to Roger DeVlaeminck ("Mr. Paris-Roubaix"), winner of the 1975 World Pro CX Championships. Strong enough for RdV means strong enough for anyone, if you ask me.

Lots of stem makers thought it wasn't a problem. Those GB stems in the pics I posted were factory drilled, and I currently have factory-drilled stems from Nitto and Cinelli on a couple of my bikes.

You didn't happen to take any pictures of the broken ones you've seen, eh? I learn something from almost every broken bike pic I see, I treasure them.

I've only started taking pics in the last couple of years, because I can post on here, but even now I usually forget

View attachment 964626
Ooof.
They managed to gouge the bars into untrustworthium too

(A lot of people think 26 in 25.4 is ok, which it is, up to point)

But what I have to bear in mind is that there's something wrong with almost every bike that comes through the door, and the city rider will often carry on to the end...

So I get to see how things fail,
due to age, neglect,
abuse or poor design.

These stems are a lot older now.
If the manufacturer designed it to have a hole in the middle, you'd expect a bit more material strength to cover it. I'm sure that was the case with certain models.

And quality, therefore adaptability, varies massively from cheap rubbish through robust up to delicate racy.

The average town hack had an inch quill stem up to around 20 years ago, they are pretty rare now - I probably only see one or 2 a week, and now often on a cherished piece - extremely rare to see a drilled one.

Back in 2000 it would have been 5 to 10 day, maybe more!

Here's a few more recent failure styles if you're interested:

Thread 'Frame failure experiences'

Sep 25, 2024

I'm sure there's loads of experience of frame failure amongst posters here. I've looked at hundreds over the years so I thought we could share our knowledge

I've seen plenty of beautiful 60s racers- paint in good condition, but holes in the stays rusting from the inside.
Early brazed mtbs too, lugged or brazed.

Its hard to wash out all the flux from brazing - that doesn't help.
Some framebuilders didn't do a good job, some didn't care as it won't matter for a decade.
Some craft builders weren't even aware of the problem

Sometimes the steel near the dropouts becomes granular with...

• bikeworkshop
• Replies: 174
• Forum: Bike Chat 1998 -->

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[LondonClassic]

Its fine to say they drilled em back in the day - but in back in the day they were new, virgin aluminium. Now they are 40, 50 year old, aged and more brittle.

My eyes did pop slightly when I saw the posts above with recent dillings of old stems (I'm assuming relatively recent anyways). I think thats pulling the devil's beard just a tad.

 

[bikeworkshop]

Its fine to say they drilled em back in the day - but in back in the day they were new, virgin aluminium. Now they are 40, 50 year old, aged and more brittle.

My eyes did pop slightly when I saw the posts above with recent dillings of old stems (I'm assuming relatively recent anyways). I think its pulling the devil's beard just a tad.

You ask yourself this:

Would you ride it yourself: probably

Would you let your friend ride it: maybe

Would you want to stand up in court and tell the judge you drilled it? No

Would You let your beautiful daughter ride it? Definitely not

 

[highlandsflyer]

You ask yourself this:

Would you ride it yourself: probably
Would you let your friend ride it: maybe

Would you want to stand up in court and tell the judge you drilled it? No

Would You let your beautiful daughter ride it? Definitely not

But if she were a minger?

 

[bikeworkshop]

But if she were a minger?

You'd still love her... Cos she's yours

 

[pigman]

You ask yourself this:

Would you ride it yourself: probably
Would you let your friend ride it: maybe

Would you want to stand up in court and tell the judge you drilled it? No

Would You let your beautiful daughter ride it? Definitely not

I usually like your posts but .....
The Would you stand up in court ..... statement. Well no. But that goes for most things with the state of today's litigation. Did you really make a considered decision when you tested your bike for 50 yards on the street while not wearing a helmet?

Would you let your beautiful daughter ...... If I thought about it, I wouldn't let my kids even ride the roads. People often ask me if I regret that my boys never got into cycling and I reply by saying no regrets, I'd be nervous as hell hoping they've survived out there. That's probably more about me being anxious about them, but it feeds into your post

 

[bikeworkshop]

I usually like your posts but .....
The Would you stand up in court ..... statement. Well no. But that goes for most things with the state of today's litigation. Did you really make a considered decision when you tested your bike for 50 yards on the street while not wearing a helmet?

Would you let your beautiful daughter ...... If I thought about it, I wouldn't let my kids even ride the roads. People often ask me if I regret that my boys never got into cycling and I reply by saying no regrets, I'd be nervous as hell hoping they've survived out there. That's probably more about me being anxious about them, but it feeds into your post

Cycling, the health benefits outweigh the risks 10:1

My friends whose kids have got mopeds...

(I've been a long way on motorcycles, but I don't own one now...)

As a professional, I have to consider my decisions about safety.
The buck stops with me if one of my guys makes a bad call.

 

[highlandsflyer]

I took Tom's post to mean he wouldn't stand by that decision legally. We all take risks of our own volition; but there is a difference when it comes to culpability.

 

[bikeworkshop]

Absolutely

Imagine if you found your employee drilling through a 50 year old quill stem to mount a customers front brake cable because he was lacking 3 turns of thread on the steerer