Stem Advice

Max_Man
Max_Man Posts: 185
edited September 2008 in Workshop
I'm thinking of getting a slightly shorter stem for my Allez Elite, looking at it today and there are no markings on the original that tell me the angle and length...anyone know the standard length and angle of these for my bike (size 54). (Hope someone knows, I know it's a bit of a chance question).

Also looking at the back of the stem, I can see a sort of inner collar with +16 -8 marked on it, any idea what that is.

(Still new to this stuff, sorry for the basic questions).

Comments

  • alfablue
    alfablue Posts: 8,497
    Max_Man wrote:
    I'm thinking of getting a slightly shorter stem for my Allez Elite, looking at it today and there are no markings on the original that tell me the angle and length...anyone know the standard length and angle of these for my bike (size 54). (Hope someone knows, I know it's a bit of a chance question).

    Also looking at the back of the stem, I can see a sort of inner collar with +16 -8 marked on it, any idea what that is.

    (Still new to this stuff, sorry for the basic questions).

    The stem is adjustable using shims (see this). With the shim you have it presumably offers either +16 or -8 degrees (if you flip the stem), maybe changing the angle by flipping it or getting a new shim will mean you don't need a new stem, perhaps...?
  • wilwil
    wilwil Posts: 374
    Max_Man wrote:
    I'm thinking of getting a slightly shorter stem for my Allez Elite, looking at it today and there are no markings on the original that tell me the angle and length...anyone know the standard length and angle of these for my bike (size 54). (Hope someone knows, I know it's a bit of a chance question).

    Also looking at the back of the stem, I can see a sort of inner collar with +16 -8 marked on it, any idea what that is.

    (Still new to this stuff, sorry for the basic questions).

    I just had a Spec S Works stem which is the deerer version of yours. It came with 3 shims so that you could change the angle. The number nearest the mark on the back of the clamp is the angle you have your stem. So if you flip the stem and insert the shim in the bottom of the clamp you will see the other number is closest to the white mark
  • wilwil
    wilwil Posts: 374
    Oh and there are instructions on the Specialized web site
  • Max_Man
    Max_Man Posts: 185
    Couldn't find any relevant instructions on the Specialized website so decided to remove the stem and work out the angle collars. Very simple, by rotating the collar you can get different angle levels.

    My stem was flipped by the LBS when I bought the bike and was OK to start with being new to road bikes, now I have a good number of miles in and used to the position it feels quite high at the front. I flipped it back to the lower setting this evening and it feels a lot better and suprisingly not as long to reach for the bars, I don't think I need to get a shorter stem now.

    One thing I did notice, this is the first time I have adjusted the headset, it only needed the slightest tension on the top allen bolt to remove all the play in the forks...is that normal. My MTB usually needs more nipping up than that.

Categories