Steerer Dilemma

[one-eyed_jim]

I'm sure many of you will have found yourselves with this dilemma.

I have a 1992 Stumpjumper Comp that I've fitted with a very nice Sycip threadless unicrown 1" fork that came from eBay. The ride is sweet as sweet, and everything about the build (Phil Wood, Ritchey, WTB, RaceFace, Mavic, Syncros, XT, Record) is just how I want it. It's a lovely bike to look at too.

I was recently playing with the setup on my 1994 Kilauea and fitted a LOOK ergostem to play with the position, then as an experiment applied the same position to the Stumpy. The result is that what was a lovely bike to ride is now even better, but that leaves me with a dilemma.

The original position was with the steerer uncut, flat bar, 150mm Syncros Cattlehead stem and about 40mm of spacers. The new position is the same, with all but 2mm of spacers removed. Because of the angled cut on the Syncros stem, I can't run spacers above it, but I managed to preload the bearings okay, and it's holding tight.

Now, I'm 35 and not getting younger, and while I'm in better shape (and riding more) than I was five years ago, there may come a time when diminishing flexibility requires me to bring the bars back up. Of course I could look for a riser stem or riser bars when the time comes, but I prefer the solution of a longer steerer. On the other hand, I like the stem I have, and I'm not thrilled about the idea of 40mm of bare steerer waiting to do me a groin injury. And of course it's ugly.

So the dilemma:

Put the stem back where it was?

Cut the steerer and deal with the future when the future comes?

Cut the steerer and squirrel away a suitable selection of shorter/higher stems for my old age?

Leave the stem where it is and deal with the looks. Put the castration risk to the back of my mind...

Thanks for reading, and sharing.

 

[cchris2lou]

first of all a pic of your bike would be nice .

regarding the stem , did you mean 20mm as 2mm is not a lot . :?:

if 2mm is correct , I doubt it will take a big difference .

if it is 20mm and you want to keep your steerer , ask someone with the right equipment to cut a 20mm spacer to the stem angle , cant be too difficult with right equipment .

 

[hamster]

or swap stems. You must be able to find something you can tolerate!

 

[one-eyed_jim]

first of all a pic of your bike would be nice.

I don't have a good picture, and I don't have a camera, unfortunately. You can make it out halfway through a previous rebuild in the attached picture.

regarding the stem , did you mean 20mm as 2mm is not a lot . :?:

There were 40mm of spacers. There are now 2mm of spacers. A difference of 38mm of spacers.

if it is 20mm and you want to keep your steerer , ask someone with the right equipment to cut a 20mm spacer to the stem angle , cant be too difficult with right equipment .

Not a bad idea...

 

[Andy R]

Never mind the bike - let's see more of Tanja

 

[cchris2lou]

sorry did not read properly .

just get a spacer cut to the right angle .

I can put in you in contact with some people not far from Paris who could do that for you .

 

[one-eyed_jim]

just get a spacer cut to the right angle .

I can put in you in contact with some people not far from Paris who could do that for you .

Yeah, that's probably what I'll end up doing, at least until I can pluck up the courage to commit to cutting the steerer...

I've got a friend who should be able to make me an angled spacer, but thanks for the offer.