Put some new 100mm bouncy forks on the Inbred 29er last night (keeping the carbon ones for winter) and it has raised the front end a tad. I do have a few spacers under the stem but want to keep them there (don't like them above the stem) as my other 29ers have longer headtubes and i may want to swap around in the future.

It's running a 100mm Raceface Ride stem which is 6 degree rise. Can i just swap it over so it becomes negative 6 degrees? I assume it won't cause a problem it's just that i know some stems have a +/- on them and mine just has a +. Can't see it being an issue but i thought i'd just check in with the font of knowledge that is STW…. Cheers.

Can't see why not.

You will die though 😀

and it will look terrible – do you have some bar-ends you can put on your riser bars to complete the look?

and you will die.

and you're running a 100mm stem on an inbred? – J*S(S! how tall are you?!

etc.

I may just put on some flat bars and keep the stem as is.

100mm is about right for me, i run 90mm on my 23" Rockhopper 29er which is longer in the top tube (over 26") and 100mm on my Salsa.

I'm all arms and legs so i could happily run it all longer if i needed to – i used to always run 120/130mm on my older 26" bikes before i moved to 29ers. 39/40" inside leg and a 7ft armspan kind of puts me outside the usual definition of 'normal' (and more into the circus freak category) 😉

yep, you're way outside the bell-curve.

Nuke-proof make a very nice wide flat bar, might do the trick…

39/40" inside leg and a 7ft armspan kind of puts me outside the usual definition of 'normal' (and more into the circus freak category)

I prefer the term "Adult Sized" and consider the other 95% of the population to be no yet fully grown.

Of course you can run any stem 'upside down', the graphics may not make sense, and the bolts may be on the 'wrong' side, but that's about it. I'm really struggling to think of an exception.

However… Oli Beckingsale pointed out to me that with an inverted stem your bars get further away from you ie lower as you turn, particularly on sharp corners, which is A) undesirable and B) a fair point. Putting spacers on top of the stem may look a bit lame, but is a better way to achieve the same thing IMO.

ahwiles – i have the Nukeproof low risers on my HT and FS (cut down a bit to 740mm) and i bought the flat bars last week to try on my Salsa but as the front end seems to be the same height on my On One now (despite the Salsa running 120mm forks) i'll try it on there first.

nj – that makes sense but more than one spacer above the stem just looks so wrong.

Flatties first then i'll go from there – i'll know more after my first SS ride tonight to test out the new mighty Suntour 15mm axle forks…..

However… Oli Beckingsale pointed out to me that with an inverted stem your bars get further away from you ie lower as you turn, particularly on sharp corners, which is A) undesirable and B) a fair point. Putting spacers on top of the stem may look a bit lame, but is a better way to achieve the same thing IMO.

He was talking shite

Yes droping the bars moves them away from you so might nececitate a shorter stem, but its the same effect whether you run spacers under the stem and the stem pointing down, or the spacers above the stem and the stem pointing up.

I run a 60mm stem with about -10deg rise and no spacers on my 456, going downhill its absolutely rocks (fire road feels a little wierd though)! I also run about 40mm of spacers to keep the 210mm steerer tube as I'm planning on selling the forks.

Yes droping the bars moves them away from you so might nececitate a shorter stem

You're missing the point, I'm not that stupid! As you steer with a negative rise stem the bars get lower, shifts your weight forward as you corner. There's enough people out there doing it that it's obviously not a massive issue for some (or they've not really thought about it!), but he's quicker downhill than me (and probably most on here!), so I took his advice!

I'm not sure what your point is njee but the bike will ride the same if the bars are in teh same position, irrespective of whether the stem is upside down or not.

OK, think of it this way……….

a 100mm x 6deg stem is a 100mm reach and 10mm rise.

If you run it the right way up with a spacer on top it gives exactly the same position as being upside down with a spacer underneath it. Either way the bars are in the same place.

Yes of course, that's common sense, but that's when pointing forward. As they don't rotate on a completely vertical axis as you turn them with an inverted stem they get lower, with a positive rise stem they don't.

If head angles were 90 degrees then it wouldn't matter.

Easton market their stems as 'use either way' so give it a try, you can always change it around again. I put some 100mm Reba's on my XL Swift, with some mid rise bars and 20mm of spacers. The front is a little 'light' on the very steepest of granny ring climbs, but the frame angles seem to compensate and the overall effect is a very comfortable general riding position.

Most important of all, zero rise and no spacers looks cool 8) I look fast even though I'm not.

Someone said to me I was crazy to cut my forks down so much as they'd be hard to sell? The cycling equivalent of polythene covers on the sofa.

No njee20, the stem and spacers define the position relative to the steerer tube, you could have a -45deg stem and a stack of spacers under it, and it would still hold the bars in exactly the same place as the 100mm x zero stem with no spacers (assuming the 100mm was measured as reach not 'length').

Try it, get a 100mm x 6deg stem, run it fliped with a 10mm spacer under it, then turn the bars and make a mark on the top tube where they meet it. Then repeat with the stemt eh right way up and no spacer under it. The bar will meet the top tube in exactly the same place.

Most important of all, zero rise and no spacers looks cool

I prefer the flat look, i.e. 90deg – head angle = stem angle.

However… Oli Beckingsale pointed out to me that with an inverted stem your bars get further away from you ie lower as you turn, particularly on sharp corners, which is A) undesirable and B) a fair point. Putting spacers on top of the stem may look a bit lame, but is a better way to achieve the same thing IMO.

I've always felt this to be true, Although I've often been told its not. I ran my stem upside down for a bit and it did nt feel right. It was 100mm *10 degrees.

Somehow I cant visualise it someone needs to do some cad work and create an animation.

Most important of all, zero rise and no spacers looks cool

I prefer the flat look, i.e. 90deg – head angle = stem angle.

30 degree stem?

Sorry njee you are talking ****.

I prefer the flat look, i.e. 90deg – head angle = stem angle

Rad.

As you steer with a negative rise stem the bars get lower

Sorry, I can't imagine that…. The bars will move only in one plane, that is described by their rotation in the headset. As the bars turn, the inside grip drops, and the outside one rises, as the head beairngs are at an angle and higher at the front. If you flip the stem, all they'll do is rise/fall by the same amount, but in a lower arc….. Surely? 😕

On a separate note.

For the same 10 degree stem upside down the position of the bars will be further away if the steering is straight.

As the 10 degree will work against the fork angle not with it.

This would make little difference at 60cm but if you had a 130cm stem the bars may be quite a bit further away.

30 degree stem?

60deg head angle?

mines -10 on a 69deg HA, so yes theres amissing 10deg in there, but on a 60mm stem its hard to spot the rise one way or the other anyway.

Thanks to the joys of optical illusions most fliped stems look 'flat' so no need to get quite so steep. But look at top end track bikes where the stems flat for aero reasons, looks stunning. Same with older road bikes as head tubes were longer the stems were steeper to compensate.

Of course you can run any stem 'upside down', the graphics may not make sense, and the bolts may be on the 'wrong' side, but that's about it. I'm really struggling to think of an exception.

Here's one:

I've heard of some of the lighter weight road bike stems from the likes of ITM etc that can't be flipped, but never come across this instruction on a mountain bike stem.

presumably top loading stems would look a bit daft as well.

flat stems look good on horiz-top tube bikes only IMO.

Sorry njee you are talking ****.

Fair enough, it's quite likely, was just passing on sommat I was told, which taken at face value seemed to make sense! I must admit I've not really had the time/inclination to see if there's any merit in it!

Finbar: Aah yes, I knew I'd seen something with an integrated top-cap, just couldn't think what! Always liked the look of those USE stems too, nice and clean.