First bike build, i need to be sure i am about to cut in the right place!
I have 30mm of spacers installed. Also, my frame did not come with a solid 5mm spacer, do I need this above the stem? Or can I omit it and just use the top cap?
by EccentricDyslexic
2 Comments
Specialized allows cutting 3mm below the top bolt because almost all of their stems that they intend their steerers to be used with have solid clamps that wrap almost entirely around the steerer. In your case, your stem clamp is pretty aggressively lightened and hollowed out and there’s not a lot of clamping area for the top clamp bolt. That increases stress placed on the steerer. I wouldn’t want to increase it even more by reducing the clamping area further.
In the first place, the only reason you’d ever want to cut below the stem is if you wanted a flush top cap, and it sounds like you’re not particularly pressed about that.
Cut 2-3mm above the stem and add a 5mm spacer above.
I’m not too sure why your frame didn’t come with a solid 5mm spacer – as far as I know, all Aethos’s should. But you can use any solid 5mm spacer you want and there are tons of them on the market.
Don’t forget to take the added height of the expander plug and depth of your top cap into the equation😃