"Speedlifter"

David Damerell said:

They have a gadget in it called a Speedlifter, which
enables the bars on a bike with a threadless headset to be
adjusted vertically by up to 7cm. *sigh*

Why the sigh? Because it's being touted as new when threaded
has offered the same functionality since <whenever>? Or
because retrogrouches can no longer use the old "threadless
is hard to adjust" line?

I just googled and found it:
speedlifter.comspeedlifter englishOpen ↗ It's got a
QR! That's even faster than threaded. Be careful with disc
brake levers on it, though...<G>
--
Rick Onanian

David Damerell said:

Today a Rose Versand catalogue came.

Quoted message said:

They have a gadget in it called a Speedlifter, which
enables the bars on a bike with a threadless headset to be
adjusted vertically by up to 7cm.

Quoted message said:

*sigh*

I've got a Rivendell Bicycle Works catalog at home. It has a
gadget in it called a Nitto Technomic Deluxe Stem, which
enables the bars on a bike with a threaded headset to be
raised vertically by up to 6 cm over a normal quill stem.

*sigh*

It's a shame that avaricious manufacturers and catalog
retailers foist these products on an unwitting public!

David Damerell said:

Today a Rose Versand catalogue came.

Quoted message said:

They have a gadget in it called a Speedlifter, which
enables the bars on a bike with a threadless headset to be
adjusted vertically by up to 7cm.

Quoted message said:

*sigh*

My catalogue arrived yesterday. It lists several examples of
a product which promises to solve the problems associated
with quill stems: steerer-quill corrosion, water ingress,
fretting damage, and insufficient stiffness. It also removes
the need for bulky, specialist tools when adjusting the
headset, and by removing constraints on steerer wall
thickness, allows lighter steerers to be used. Can you guess
what it is?

Doesn't this get old? Isn't it possible to accept that each
system has pros and cons - that some riders will prefer one,
and some the other? Adjustability may be the winning factor
for some, stiffness for others. Some may even find uses for
both in different situations.

tinyurl.com3xwahOpen ↗

James Thomson

Benjamin Weiner said:

David Damerell said:

Today a Rose Versand catalogue came.

Quoted message said:

They have a gadget in it called a Speedlifter, which
enables the bars on a bike with a threadless headset to
be adjusted vertically by up to 7cm.

Quoted message said:

*sigh*

I've got a Rivendell Bicycle Works catalog at home. It has
a gadget in it called a Nitto Technomic Deluxe Stem, which
enables the bars on a bike with a threaded headset to be
raised vertically by up to 6 cm over a normal quill stem.

*sigh*

What's up with all the interest in raising or lowering
handlebars? Once I have a bike fit dialed in, I never adjust
the bar height again. Maybe it's just me.
--
terry morse Palo Alto, CA bike.terrymorse.combike.terrymorse.comOpen ↗

Rick Onanian said:

Quoted message said:

They have a gadget in it called a Speedlifter, which
enables the bars on a bike with a threadless headset to be
adjusted vertically by up to 7cm. *sigh*

Why the sigh? Because it's being touted as new when
threaded has offered the same functionality since
<whenever>?

Not so much new, as solving a problem that was entirely
created by threadless headsets.
--
David Damerell <[email hidden]> flcl?

Terry Morse said:

What's up with all the interest in raising or lowering
handlebars? Once I have a bike fit dialed in, I never
adjust the bar height again. Maybe it's just me.

You're probably in the majority. Of course, you do have to
make some adjustments during the "dialing in." So if you are
a tinkerer (like many of us on rbt), you might like the
adjustability when you tinker with something else on the
bike that changes the fit.

I adjust stem height occasionally. I use a low handlebar
position on my racing bike because I think I might gain some
aero advantage. I sometimes raise those bars in the spring
to allow some adaptation, since I don't ride the racing bike
much in the winter. I also lower the stem from "nominal"
when I race in the occasional time trial with aero bars.

I do this with a threadless headset. It might be easier to
do that with a quill stem, but it's not very difficult with
threadless either.

--
Dave dvt at psu dot edu

David Damerell said:

Rick Onanian said:

Why the sigh? Because it's being touted as new when
threaded has offered the same functionality since
<whenever>?

Not so much new, as solving a problem that was entirely
created by threadless headsets.

Dunno about you, but back when I was bending a 1" threaded
fork per week or so, all my 1" stems offered no more than an
inch of adjustability.

I have seen a few crotch-threatening 7-shaped stems with
long quills since then, but they've always been the
exception. Not to mention heavy, flexible, and weak.

To me, the real travesty of the threadless epoch has been
the disappearance of stems with lots of rise. That has
nothing to do with the headset, though.

Chalo Colina

Terry Morse <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<tmorse-

Quoted message said:

What's up with all the interest in raising or lowering
handlebars? Once I have a bike fit dialed in, I never
adjust the bar height again. Maybe it's just me.

It's that most bicycles with threadless headsets have the
steerer tube cut to the shortest length possible, making it
impossible to adjust the bar height without the use of an
extender. Higher end bicycles will sometimes ship with an
uncut steerer tube so that spacers can be inserted and the
tube cut to the desired length.

It is true that the quill headsets typically have a limited
range of adjustment, but they are not as low as the
threadless equipped bikes to begin with. A lot of casual
riders prefer a more upright riding position, with the bars
roughly level with the seat.

The SpeedLifter looks like a good product. It's unfortunate
that such a product is necessary. Spending $60 or so to
solve a problem, that was created by bicycle manufacturers
trying to save manufacturing costs, kind of sucks.

Quoted message said:

It is true that the quill headsets typically have a
limited range of adjustment, but they are not as low as
the threadless equipped bikes to begin with.

Where's your evidence for this?

--
Phil, Squid-in-Training

That's because the fashion followers buy bikes that are too
small for them, and are aided and abetted in this by most
bike shops.

Nick

"Steven Scharf" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

It is true that the quill headsets typically have a
limited range of adjustment, but they are not as low as
the threadless equipped bikes to begin with. A lot of
casual riders prefer a more upright riding position, with
the bars roughly level with the seat.

Benjamin Weiner said:

David Damerell said:

Today a Rose Versand catalogue came. They have a gadget
in it called a Speedlifter, which enables the bars on a
bike with a threadless headset to be adjusted vertically
by up to 7cm.

I've got a Rivendell Bicycle Works catalog at home. It has
a gadget in it called a Nitto Technomic Deluxe Stem, which
enables the bars on a bike with a threaded headset to be
raised vertically by up to 6 cm over a normal quill stem.

This is not a valid comparison, though; once you've fitted
the Technomic, the bicycle's no more complicated than it was
with the factory too-short stem on.

With a Speedlifter, you've always got this extra mechanical
frob in the middle of the stem.
--
David Damerell <[email hidden]> Kill
the tomato!

[email hidden] (Chalo) wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

I have seen a few crotch-threatening 7-shaped stems with
long quills since then, but they've always been the
exception. Not to mention heavy, flexible, and weak.

To me, the real travesty of the threadless epoch has been
the disappearance of stems with lots of rise. That has
nothing to do with the headset, though.

It has everything to do with the headset.

One expectation was that with threadless headsets, not only
would the manufacturer not need to manufacture a variety of
fork sizes, but that they could use stems with almost no
rise. The rise would be adjusted by cutting the steerer
tube to the desired length, then inserting spacers. But
this isn't what happened. In most cases the manufacturer
cuts the steerer tube to the almost the minimum length
possible. If you want more rise then you use extenders or
adjustable stems. There are workarounds for the problems
introduced by threadless headsets, but now the onus is on
the buyer to spend more money, at retail prices, to fit the
bike properly.

I keep a bunch of extra bikes to use for visitors. It
would be a real pain in the headsets couldn't be adjusted
at all. Fortunately only one bike I have came with a
threadless headset.

"LAN Support" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

That's because the fashion followers buy bikes that are
too small for

them,

Quoted message said:

and are aided and abetted in this by most bike shops.

This is true. I often wonder what the up side is for bicycle
shops to do this.

See:
rivendellbicycles.combikes framesize.htmlOpen ↗