got a new fork but undecided on which route to go.
part of me wants to keep the steerer long to just run flared riser bars but after watching the park tools video on sizing & cutting a fork, one of the comments was something like:
"45mm of spacers below the stem is pretty much max as any longer and you can introduce flex on the steering column" iirc.
for those who left their forks long, any down sides or weird issues come up?
last pic: marino bikes custom segmented fork.
by Tight_Explanation707
7 Comments
In my opinion, high risers look and feel so much better than a stack of spacers with drops..just my opinion though.
You’ll likely have more leeway on a steel steerer, unless it’s trying to be super light. That’s often given as a blanket CYA guideline in case you put 5” of spacers on an aluminum steerer and start hunting curbs and potholes. A safe bet would be to ask the manufacturer for their guidance.
High rise bars will better preserve reach, assuming you’re not rolling them back, while a longer steerer is a way to shorten it.
I put about 15cm of spacers on my fork. I think I fucked up the steerer tube.
Split the difference? Good size steerer and riser bars.
All those minivelos seems to do just fine with 3m of spacers tho. And if there’s flex, wouldn’t that be a good thing (to some extent) anyway ? I mean we’ve had suspension stems for decades now.
I like the look of a horizontal stem, so tall steerer and flipped stem might be a look (classic lovely 7 shaped stem 🥰), but at the same time I don’t like my stem being higher than my seat. At least the part that connects to the steerer for a threadless or the elbow on a quill. I suppose if with hella spacers it still lands at or below the seat it’s acceptable I mean you likely don’t have track bike level of stack on your bike. Sorry I can’t be of help to actually decide which route to go for.
not flared. lol regular aka low rise bars.
barsss