N-Octyl-D-gluconamide (1) is known to form noncovalent quadruple helices in bulk aqueous media. Upon adsorption to mica these fibers survive; on gold they rearrange to give a head-to-tail bilayer. This is the thermodynamically most stable arrangement found in 3D-crystals. Upon heating to 86 degrees C, a rearrangement to a tail-to-tail bilayer occurs. This cannot be detected in atomic force microscopy (AFM) height diagrams, but leads to pronounced changes of phase shifts in the tapping mode of AFM. Tapping also induces a reversal of the bilayer rearrangement.