Need to get the steerer cut down on my forks, however if I cut it down to what I require for my bike (175mm with no spacers) then I'm thinking this'll be considered too short if I ever decide to sell the forks on? What's a good length to try and keep to?

175mm is short. I cut my steerer to 190mm for my Inbred with a couple of spacers, and even that limits frame choice a bit.

Personally, I'd never cut below 200mm. I always have 20-30mm of spacers on my bikes too.

Having measured a number of my bikes (to look out for replacement forks) 175mm seems to be the minimum you can safetly get away with, but as per PP, I've never seen the point in cutting it down at all, unless it's not the brand new "super long" length.

Personally, I'd never cut below 200mm. I always have 20-30mm of spacers on my bikes too.

I'm exactly the same…

You can sell a fork with a 200mm steerer the next day usually, selling one with a 175mm steerer will require the patience of a saint! I'd suggest that even a 190mm steerered fork will be too short for a lot of people.

Nothing wrong with running a couple of spacers on there anyway, allows you to fine tune your bar height to suit your requirements.

current steerer is 215mm, so I'd have 40mm of spacers under the stem… bit too much for my liking, so will lop off a bit (can't run spacers above the stem apparently, it's a Straitline Vertical Wedge jobbie, I do wonder why they say not to?)

Guess I'll go down to 200mm then 🙂

depends on the frame, I like my bars low though so end up with 2" of spacers above the stem to keep them at 200mm.

As a rule

Stem = 35mm
headset = 30mm
+ headtube is how much you need at a minimum.

So arround 185 for most people, bit less if you have a 100mm head tube.

Agree with above, for max resale value don't cut below 200mm, use spacers.

I've got an On One with 100mm head tube and rather than cutting the steerer down below 200mm, I bought a big width Headset and used more spacers.

I do wonder why they say not to?

Looking at the design of the Straitline, I'd say that, for safety's sake, they want you to have something inside the steerer where the wedge is to stop it getting crushed. I can't imagine a SFN makes that much of a difference though.

I'm running forks with a 165mm steerer on my medium Inbred – I bought them second hand and not to worried about losign a few extra quid when I come to sell them

I do run a number of spacers with a pair of Talas I got recently on my singlespeed but I'll cut them to the 'right' length soon.

Bikes aren't designed or tested to be run with with 40mm+ so why compromise your bike position and riding pleasure just to make a few extra quid if you ever come to sell them?

you can use the spacers above the stem, no body position or riding pleasure compromised. Might look a bit silly tho, if you go too far 😀

you can use the spacers above the stem, no body position or riding pleasure compromised. 😀

Apparently not with the stem I'm using though, they specifically say "steerer tube must be trimmed to a maximum 37.1mm and minimum 35mm above headset components" which technically rules out spacers above the stem?

"steerer tube must be trimmed to a maximum 37.1mm and minimum 35mm above headset components

aren't they just saying that as a guide to what's required to preload the headset rather than any other technical concern?

Apparently not with the stem I'm using though, they specifically say "steerer tube must be trimmed to a maximum 37.1mm and minimum 35mm above headset components" which technically rules out spacers above the stem?

Not necessarily – depends on the rationale.

You could just buy a normal stem rather than have stem choice dictate sell-on of forks.

Might look a bit silly tho, if you go too far

Mine is a bit long but I live in fear of losing a potential buyer if I ever decide to sell.