Splined steerer tube - good idea or not?

ashleymp777

Having just spent the last 10min faffing around getting my stem straight after unpacking my bike it suddenly occured to me, why dont fork/stem manufactures put a small spline on the steerer tube? That way your absolutely guaranteed that the stem is perfectly aligned with the front wheel? Its not as though anyone would sets up the stem so it's not.

What do you think? Has it been tried before and failed?

nicklouse

cost. strength. creates extra damage.

a bit like the argument for and against direct mount stems.

supersonic

You are not guranateed it is aligned. I'd argue the opposite: any slight mismatch in machining and it may be impossible to get it aligned.

Northwind

The way I look at stem alignment is, if you notice a misalignment then it should be the work of seconds to straighten it up. If you don't then it doesn't matter.

RevellRider

I've always run my bars slightly misaligned. The left hand side bar sits slightly further forwards