Originally Posted by
Soody
the bars would be in the same place if you flipped the stem and moved it down 1 spacer. It's just more economical. Less material, less leverage on the head bearings.
Atm you're going up to come down.
so then it is aesthetics of keeping nice parallel lines winning out.
Though, a good reason to keep it how it is now, is you don't have to cut the fork. So it stays more flexible in future. So there's that I guess.
I'm really not saying you should do either way lol, just giving my 2c
LOL, it's all good but a stem on a steel road bike belongs level just like the top tube.
And I'm not expert but if I flipped that 17 degree stem I'm pretty sure it's going to have to go down more than one spacer to even come close to getting the reach I need. Correct?
But what do I know. I think this bike should have had a quill stem setup in the first place, LOL! Although the good thing about the treadless setup is the ability to easily swap things around. I'll probably wind up playing with this some but who knows. I didn't want to cut the stem as I realize I may only have 10 or so good riding years left in me before this bike moves on. Or, gasp, I may not like the ride or fail to "connect" with the bike and sell it. Who knows? I do hate the look of a lot of spacers on top of a stem, blech! I got it from the P.O. with a 6 degree stem slammed to the headset with a bunch of spacers on top, To me that looks ridiculous.
Stress on the bearings and how David designed it to be used does have me curious. Looking at a lot of his work shows he does run his stems at a positive but shallow angle. Hmmmmm....
All good food for thought and now I'm wondering. Good stuff, learning new things and looking at things with a different perspective.