>>1219383>I'm looking at Walmart's site now and the vast majority of bicycles there use threadless.Not the bikes actually sold by walmart that you can pick up in store.
>The manufacturing "thing" isn't a meme, considering that manufacturers themselves will tell you that it's why threadless was nearly instantly adopted industry-wide. Nothing else has spread so fast and in such a standardized fashion. And remember, I said that it was the biggest advantage, not the only one.That's what some people in the industry will say, often times people who have no involvement in manufacturing. If you're making X medium size bikes, you know you'll need exactly X medium size forks.
This is only really an issue when procuring forks, such as suspension forks from third parties, especially in MTB where forks are seen as something modular and upgradable and not a inherent part of a frameset. The big driver for mass adoption was being able to use aluminum steerers. That's also related to suspension forks. You can but a steel steerer in an aluminum fork crown, but since it's a permanent press fit, not mixing materials is ideal, and there was a time shitty elastonomer shocks were seen as premium, and that would justify using lighter aluminum steerers as well, seen as a premium not a cost cutting feature.
There's some truth in it when it comes to suspension forks, since suspension forks weren't made by the manufacturers and not even matched to the frame like carbon road forks, but that's about as far as the manufacturing meme goes. It's not cost so much as not having to coordinate between different manufacturers. Even so, there were lots of other things going on, manufacturing cost was hardly at the top of the list.
>The ones using quill stems come in a single size, which negates the manufacturing advantage that threadless offers.Most of the bikes threadless or not sold at walmart come in a single size.
