How long should I keep the steerer tube on my 150mm Boosted Pike forks, in order to be confident that at a future date I will be able to switch them to a new bike?

207mm

He may have been joking but most of mine have been about 200 – 210 mm on size L frames normally with headtubes around 120mm.

Headset stack varies from about 12 – 20mm

Stems are normally about 40 mm

And I like about 20mm of spacers to play with.

What do you know ? Add them up = 200mm.

Have a look at your needs.

OK, it was slightly tongue in cheek, but that is pretty much where most of my steerers end up (somewhere between 200mm and 210mm and usually at the upper end). That’s with me being 6′ tall and usually riding a Large size frame though.

You can always cut some off at a later date, but you can’t add it back on.

I’m always amazed/slightly amused by how many forks you see for sale with steerers around 160mm. No use to man nor beast!

Aren’t most modern frames using zero stack headsets ?
120mm for large headtube 20mm for spacers and up to 60mm for stem is 180mm. I could easily get away with 160mm with spacers on mine. Still cut it at 180 though

Zero Stack doesn’t mean the stack is zero ;).

Thanks folks, 200mm – 210mm is what my experience suggested. Good to have this confirmed

+1 depends on the size of frame you ride

Conversely my Giant Trace and Marin Nail Trail (both XLs) need steerers 250 / 240mm respectively.
Why I keep ending up with frames that have such massive headtubes I don’t know.

Also bear in mind angle sets – although most modern headsets are zero stack, if you stick an angleset in at a later date you’ll suddenly need 10mm..

On the flip side, I bought an almost new 120mm 15mm Reba SL a couple of years ago for just over £100 as it had a very short steerer tube, which just about fitted my set up (integrated headset on a 120mm head tube). I struggled to find a stem slim enough but got there in the end.

So everyone, feel free to carry on cutting your steerer tubes too short !!

It depends on where you want your bars. Put them in the right place, then cut the steerer down accordingly.

You may then have to shop around for frames that will put your front end where you want it (and enable you to use your forks in them).

For me this meant zero spacers with the lower stack height of the two FSA headsets that would fit on one of my current frames, but it has a longer than average head tube. I measured at least twice before making that cut.

Also bear in mind angle sets – although most modern headsets are zero stack, if you stick an angleset in at a later date you’ll suddenly need 10mm..

Very true – I’m glad I left a fair bit on my Spitfire’s Pike because I after a couple of years I acquired some very nice wider carbon bars which were 20mm lower rise. And then recently added an angleset – not much steerer height left!