On my bike there are a few spacers under the stem about 20mm,s worth. Whats the reason for this if i removed them and put them on top of the stem what difference will it make to the handling.
im asking this because the bike in question has an integrated headset to keep the front lower but then on top of this is 20mm of spacers??? Im going to swap them tomorrow and see for myself but i just wondered why?

All they do is alter the height of the bars. a tinsy alteration to weight distribution as you alter the eight of the bars

That’s what they’re there for

So if the spacers are removed my weight will be further over the front wheel. Will this make it harder to pop the front wheel up over obstacles?

how do you run yours do you have many spacers??

a tinsy winsy amount yes but not enough for mere mortals to notice

try it, see if you like it/ride better, if not stick em back….

How high do you find your bars – about right?

There are other factors to consider like the height of the head tube and forks and (I suppose) what feels comfortable, but generally you are looking to set up a fairly low front end. getting weight on the front wheel is important, but being light on the bars/grips is also important. You should experiment, but, be warned, it’s all too inviting to have your bars set highrise for a more comfortable upright position, especially if your not nailing it DH, but really you need your weight forward to take control of the bike when it matters on the technical sections.

10mm can make a massive difference when we’re talking about this stuff, in fact with anything in relation to the body a small change makes a big difference. Swap the spacers to the top of the stem and see what you find.

You’ll probably find it’s better for popping the front end and really getting involved with the bike’s handling.

Unless you’re running 100mm forks or something like that then getting the front end as low as you can (comfortably) makes the bike sharper. If you’re gonna ride it all day though it might get to be a pain in the neck.

Take ’em out, swap ’em around, have a play. Height can do a fair bit for handling but also for general feel, frinstance I run mine fairly high as I find it confidence inspiring for descending/drops to have slightly higher bars- I’d sooner trade a little climbing accuracy for more comfortable descending. But better/more confident riders probably don’t need that comfort blanket. It’s no different in that regard to higher/lower rise in your bars, except that it also pulls the bars slightly backwards if you add spacers.