Wednesday, October 5, 2011

SMS: Spacers Make Sense.



Don’t let fashion victims tell you to shorten that steerer until you are absolutely certain the height is where it’s best for you. For maximum enjoyment of cycling your bicycle should be an extension of you, which means it has to fit you correctly, not a bunch of outside observers that can’t even see you!

The ability to alter the height of your handlebars is as fundamental to the correct fit and, hence, function of a bicycle as saddle height is. Old traditional quill stems had plenty of adjustment, so why should threadless headsets not have plenty also?

Whatever bicycle you are riding your bike it cost you a no doubt considerable pile of shekels, so it’s a no-brainer that it’s better to show your investment the respect it deserves by ensuring it’s at it’s optimum in terms of customisation, than to disrespect it by rendering it less adjustable in an effort to make it fit some inane and irrelevant visual template.

After all, you can always cut a steerer down, but you can’t cut it back up again…

2 comments:

  1. A builder I know reckoned "keep it as long as you can as long as you can". That applies to bits of wood but moreso to steerer tubes.

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  2. He is obviously a very wise man, as are you for heeding his advice.

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