Originally Posted by
surak
A benefit to going with the -deg stem and leaving spacers underneath is that it leaves more steerer tube intact for future adjustment, assuming you cut the tube so you're not running a stack of spacers above. You would cut the steerer, right? If you care about aesthetics, that would be more important than the stem angle.
My thoughts run very much along these same lines. Another thought: A steer tube cut to the minimum so that the stem can be run without spacers yet with the stem flipped to its upward angle is probably going to look strange, just my input. I actually was in a situation where I wanted to raise my bars a bit and reduce reach. I flipped my stem and cut a spacer's worth off my steer tube. It helped a bit, but the final solution was the same frame in a size 1 cm smaller with a top tube about 1 cm shorter. I reused the same fork, but the new head tube meant that I needed to add a spacer. I flipped the stem back down, and voila, perfect fit. This bike went from one that I liked to ride to a bike that I love to ride. Appearance be darned, I want a good fit along with a bit of fudge room. I would never cut a steer tube to its minimum