Control Tech 1 1/8 - More info

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SirRidealot

New Member
Hi there, I’m new to this community, as I’ve just bought this old frame, that I will fix!
However, I’m not new to Cannondales, had several over the years, as with other bikes.
Anyway, I bought this 1993 Cannondale R900 2.8 frame. I’ve been wanting a 2.8 with that conical downtube for years! The paint is not the best, but apart from that it’s in pretty good order. It comes with the Sub-1 fork and a fresh headset, a decent bottom bracket, hangers, but nothing else.
So it seems that the -93 and -94 came with the 1 1/8 threaded steerertub on the Sub-1 fork. It then came fitted with a Control Tech quill stem. I find it really difficult to find any information on this stem, or even less so find one for sale..
Was it an ordinary Control Tech -15 degree Road stem?? Looking at pictures, they seen to lack the classic stickers on the sides.
I’m not going to do a ”perfect restoration”, but rather a mix of old and newer components, to give it modern ride quality, but with a nice original look. I want to keep the Sub-1 fork, because it’s looks quirky and I want a slender stem to go with it. So preferably a quill stem. Maybe I can get a silver or black quill stem that I use with a shim. But I want to avoid an aheadset adapter. Any other good ideas on suitable stem??
 
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black lightning 1987

black lightning 1987

Moderator
Staff member
Welcome. I believe that the 1993 fork was 1 1/4", so the quill diameter is 1 1/8". It would have been -15 or -17 degrees but Control Tech made other angles. There are a few on ebay but they are all MTB stems. 25.4 mm drop bars exist but the MTB stems might have to be modified to get a drop bar through them. You might get a drop bar through an ITM Eclypse steel stem. Dean and Trek System 1 stems are identical to Control Tech but I'm not sure either was made for a 1 1/4" fork. I think the most practical solution is a Nitto adapter and whatever 1 1/8" threadless stem works for you.

www.ebay.com

Nitto MT Stem Column Adaptor: 1-1/4" Threaded Fork to 1-1/8" Threadless Stem | eBay

For installing threadless stems on a threaded fork. Nitto MT Column cold-forged aluminum with knurled clamp surface. 130mm tall, cold-forged aluminum with knurled clamp surface. Minimum insertion to top of clamp surface: 58mm.
www.ebay.com

This stem looks like it would accept a drop bar though it's listed as 25.4 for a MTB.

www.ebay.com

Vintage Control Tech Mountain Bike Stem 135 1 1/8 Threadless 0 Degree 25.4 Black | eBay

Light scratches on black powdercoat and decal wear shown in photos.
www.ebay.com
 
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SirRidealot

New Member
Thanks. I presume these stems were specially made by Control Tech, for Cannondale. Talking about a shim, I was thinking the other way around. There are shims to fit a 1” strem in a 1 1/8” steerer tube, like this one from Soma.
www.somafabshop.com

Velowerx Shim 25.4mm-->22.2mm Quill/Steerer

www.somafabshop.com www.somafabshop.com
As the Sub-1 fork is so skinny, I feel that an A-headset, stem will look a bit to big.
 
black lightning 1987

black lightning 1987

Moderator
Staff member
Measure the internal diameter of your fork. I don't own a 2.8 frame of that vintage but my understanding is that the outside diameter of the fork was 1 1/4", which would make the internal diameter 1 1/8", or 28.6 mm.

Basically the only design/dimension difference between a Control Tech quill stem vs. a threadless was the additional material at the back of the extension on the threadless version that was necessary for the clamping screws. So I agree that the adapter and threadless stem combination won't have as clean a look as the quill stem. It comes down to how long you are willing to wait until a suitable quill stem turns up for sale.

I would assume that Control Tech produced the 1 1/4" road stems specifically for Cannondale. They made 1 1/4" stems for MTBs but all the ones I have seen are 90 degrees or rise stems. I don't know why they were evidently sourced without CT decals. I think later Cannondales with CT stems had the CT decals.
 
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doxilia

Member
Yours must definitely be a 1993 R900 frame as I have a 1994 frame (polished Al finish) and it came with a Sub-1 threadless fork and Tange (Japan) threadless headset. Super solid and heavy headset by the way.

The 1-1/4” aluminum steerer is still there along with the gloss black Control-Tech stem but this latter was obviously clamped to the steerer (no quill).

Should this be of any help, I finally pulled the headset out of my bike (30 years later) as I’m in the process of rendering a modern “version 2” of its original build. Mostly going with carbon cockpit, fork, seatpost, light saddle and possibly electronic drivetrain. The sub-1 fork is the main reason behind this change as it’s extremely stiff and I’m looking for a softer ride up front. Also, while it may be “sub-1” it’s rather heavy.

In any case, the head tube is a 41.2 mm external and 37 mm internal. Yes, that’s right, 37 internal not 34. A proper 1-1/4” head tube. So getting a 1-1/8” fork steerer with a 30 mm crown race is a challenge to say the least. Either problem solvers HS reducers (37 to 34) for a standard EC34 headset, or, if you’re lucky, a discontinued Chris King devolution headset. I was lucky enough to find both. Currently waiting for the black devo CK to arrive (off eBay) though I really wanted to go with a midnight CK so we’ll see how things work out. I plan on using ENVE aero stem and AR bars.

Also waiting for the carbon fork to arrive which I’m hoping will open the door to 30C tires. The front brake caliper is the show stopper on 30’s with the sub-1 fork as it’s bolted very close to the tire. The frame design in the chain stays close to the seat tube as well as the rear brake mount and the caliper itself should not be a problem with 30’s. Or at least true sized 28’s on “wide” (21 mm internal, 26 external) carbon rims. 28’s mounted on 15 or 17 mm internal alloy rims measure down to 25.

I’ll post back with developments on my build as it progresses should it be of interest to others.
 
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doxilia

Member
An ENVE SES aero road stem (and AR bars). I thought the polished Al would look good with a midnight CK headset (would have to be an EC34 w/ reducers) and matte black stem and fork. However, the CK devo HS I found is black so we’ll likely go with that for a starters. Initially I think I’ll try using the -12 degree +2.5 mm stem collar and see how that works out fit wise.

I do like the flat stem/flat toptube look of the original -17 degree CT stem so I don’t want to angle the ENVE up from flat too much. Just enough to reduce the spacers needed for my fit. I’ve seen some of these 2.8 frames with the CT stem flipped for substantial positive rise and I find it detracts from the lines of the bike significantly.

Of course once the HT is fitted with a headset (or reducers) allowing a 1-1/8” steerer, any standard OD1 threadless stem can be used.

Are you contemplating a similar front end switch on your Mavic R1000?
 
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SirRidealot

New Member
black lightning 1987 said:
Measure the internal diameter of your fork. I don't own a 2.8 frame of that vintage but my understanding is that the outside diameter of the fork was 1 1/4", which would make the internal diameter 1 1/8", or 28.6 mm.

Basically the only design/dimension difference between a Control Tech quill stem vs. a threadless was the additional material at the back of the extension on the threadless version that was necessary for the clamping screws. So I agree that the adapter and threadless stem combination won't have as clean a look as the quill stem. It comes down to how long you are willing to wait until a suitable quill stem turns up for sale.

I would assume that Control Tech produced the 1 1/4" road stems specifically for Cannondale. They made 1 1/4" stems for MTBs but all the ones I have seen are 90 degrees or rise stems. I don't know why they were evidently sourced without CT decals. I think later Cannondales with CT stems had the CT decals.
Click to expand...
You are correct! Measured it right now and it’s 28.6. Using an adapter, is the only option I have, unless I manage to find an original Control Tech stem somewhere. The only place where I’ve seen them are on pictures of original complete bikes.
I feel it’s a very strange decision by cannnondale to go with an 1 1/4 steerer on a road bike. Especially as the fork legs are so skinny. I guess this was in an era where they were things were changing in a fast pace, where road bikes in the eighties were basically the same as in the seventies. Cannondale were very innovative, just look at the mountain bikes that same year.
Edit: Now searching for 1/4 instead of 1/8, I do find stems on ebay. ;-)
 
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doxilia

Member
SirRidealot said:
You are correct! Measured it right now and it’s 28.6. Using an adapter, is the only option I have, unless I manage to find an original Control Tech stem somewhere. The only place where I’ve seen them are on pictures of original complete bikes.
I feel it’s a very strange decision by cannnondale to go with an 1 1/4 steerer on a road bike. Especially as the fork legs are so skinny. I guess this was in an era where they were things were changing in a fast pace, where road bikes in the eighties were basically the same as in the seventies. Cannondale were very innovative, just look at the mountain bikes that same year.
Edit: Now searching for 1/4 instead of 1/8, I do find stems on ebay. ;-)
Click to expand...
If your goal is to keep the bike original in cockpit flavour, here’s a polished “silver” 28.6 (1-1/8”) quill stem that’s probably also correct length wise (120 mm) although I’m not sure what frame size you have:

www.ebay.ca

Zoom Stem 120mm Quill 28.6mm Handlebar 25.4mm Angle 15 (479) | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Zoom Stem 120mm Quill 28.6mm Handlebar 25.4mm Angle 15 (479) at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!
www.ebay.ca

It should insert directly into the 1-1/8” ID steerer with no shims needed.

I’d venture that the reason Cannondale used 1-1/4” steerers on road bikes was to avoid having to produce another steerer size from the one they were already using on their MTB. They simply standardized on 1-1/4 (OD2) across the board and welded these steerers onto the sub-1’s. So from 93 to 94 the only thing that changed in the fork was that they stopped threading the steerer and went to a presumably lighter threadless headset. However, the Tange is quite substantial and essentially has been bulletproof for me as it’s required no maintenance in 30 years. It’s a good design with seals top and bottom.

Interestingly, brands such as Giant and Scott still use 1-1/4” steerers (Giant calls this OverDrive-2, OD2) in their carbon forks so their stems and integrated carbon bars (e.g., Syncros) come with OD2 sizing and shims to allow them to be used with 1-1/8” steerers (OD1).

I always thought that for an aluminum fork, the sub-1 was rather “chunky” in the blades and evidently also in the steerer. I weighed mine with the brake caliper mounted and it came in around 700g I believe which is inline with other Al forks.

I decided to change my fork and cockpit to see if I could improve (soften) the ride quality of the bike as I live in a city with terrible streets. A more shock absorbing fork, stem and handlebar along with some good bar tape will hopefully soften things up front without loosing the reactivity the bike has. For the rear end there isn’t much one can do other than seeing if 30C tires will work (front and back). I’ve actually been using a carbon seatpost for some time but it makes very little difference compared to the also bulletproof original Al seatpost as the amount exposed is minimal on these flat top frame designs.
 
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doxilia

Member
eBay seems to have a few of these “original” CT quill stems too. They are considered MTB stems (as expected) and most seem to be 135 mm in length:

www.ebay.ca

Vintage Control Tech 1 1/8 Quill Stem 135 mm Length 25.4 Clamp 90s MTB Touring | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Vintage Control Tech 1 1/8 Quill Stem 135 mm Length 25.4 Clamp 90s MTB Touring at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!
www.ebay.ca
 
black lightning 1987

black lightning 1987

Moderator
Staff member
doxilia said:
An ENVE SES aero road stem (and AR bars). I thought the polished Al would look good with a midnight CK headset (would have to be an EC34 w/ reducers) and matte black stem and fork. However, the CK devo HS I found is black so we’ll likely go with that for a starters. Initially I think I’ll try using the -12 degree +2.5 mm stem collar and see how that works out fit wise.

I do like the flat stem/flat toptube look of the original -17 degree CT stem so I don’t want to angle the ENVE up from flat too much. Just enough to reduce the spacers needed for my fit. I’ve seen some of these 2.8 frames with the CT stem flipped for substantial positive rise and I find it detracts from the lines of the bike significantly.

Of course once the HT is fitted with a headset (or reducers) allowing a 1-1/8” steerer, any standard OD1 threadless stem can be used.

Are you contemplating a similar front end switch on your Mavic R1000?
Click to expand...
My 1992 R1000 is 1". I was thinking your stem might work for SirRidealot with a quill adapter.
The Control Tech stem you listed is for a 1 1/8" fork, the quill OD is 1". I've never heard of anyone using a shim with a quill stem but it might be possible.
 
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doxilia

Member
Right you are BL87!

I can understand stating OD’s for quill to ahead adapters but stating a quill stem is 1-1/8” seems like a bad way to spec diameter when in fact it’s 1”. After all it’s not the outer thread diameter of the steerer that’s of interest as with ahead but the insertion diameter.

It would make more sense for these quill stems to be spec’d with 22.2 (7/8”), 25.4 (1”) & 28.6 (1-1/8”) insertion diameters.

If the OP is interested in keeping the front end as original as possible, these quill stems may still be the best option using the shim he posted earlier in the thread. And a good amount of torque on the quill bolt I’d imagine. Maybe even carbon assembly paste between shim and steerer. Any slippage would of course be rather undesirable but the design of the shim seems to take this into account.

Actually, on opening the link to the shim, that particular one appears to be the wrong size. It would have to be 28.6->25.4 for these CT quill stems to work.

I’d almost be inclined to replacing and welding a 1-1/8” steerer on the sub-1 to have an array of options. Or just going with a standard straight carbon fork to simplify things - the path I chose to take.

Incidentally, what is the ID of the head tube in the ‘92 R1000 - is it 30 or 34 mm?

I will probably store the entirety of the original components, wheels included, to restore the bike should one day I decide to part with it. It’s really better suited to a taller rider than myself as it’s a 58 cm - the upper limit for my 183 cm height. I wish they had advised me at the time a 56 cm would have been a better fit but that’s how they sold bikes back then.
 
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doxilia

Member
Glad to see you were able to find some! I can sympathize with the steep cost of them though. Not factoring in shipping, etc.

The Nitto adapter plus a standard 1-1/8” stem would probably be easier to manage spec wise and allow any drop bar you like to be used.

But…, it does brake with the traditional classic look.
 
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