stems

here's a question for you all... i can't find much of an answer online.

you know on your stem you have the two clamp bits on either end? i.e. one for bars, one for the tube of the forks.

well, the bit that clamps onto the fork's tube - are they always the same height (not diameter)? I find my stem at the moment a bit too long, and i'm putting a lot of weight on my hands and it hurts after 30min+, so just buy a shorter stem that fits the same diameter tube/bars, and it'll be ok?

I haven't got any spacers on the steerer tube, so it'll have to fit perfectly otherwise the aheadset cap thing won't fit properly.

ta!

i think it's called the "stack height"... if that helps at all. :)

Actually forget all of the above, I know what I'm doing now... I'll sink this.

The top of the steerer tube should be slightly recessed in the stems clamp, by a couple of mm. As long as you have a recess not exceeding 5mm you should be ok. I'm sure stems don't differ by that ammount in the clamp height anyway.
Can you not get the exact same stem but shorter? What stem is it?

You can manage with a spacer/2 if the new stem has a shorter 'stack height'...

Usually only super beefy (downhill/freeride?!) stems will cause you issues with stack height - I'm sure that people cut their steerers different lengths anyway, so it should be OK if you get a similar roadie stem.

Stack height refers to the vertical height of the headset, its not really the right term here; not sure what is.

Sadly, its been my experience that a stem's steerer clamp length varies (but this is with 1" threadless there may be more consistency these days with 1 1/8" stuff).

Not too sure what the solution is here. If you're buying from an LBS you should be able to measure and compare. Spacers, if you need 'em should only set you back a quid or so.

If you're buying online then you may want to pick up a couple of 1 or 2mm spacers to be sure (or beg/borrow steal 'em).

Hmm what I'll probably do is just get a stem the same as the one i have at the moment (bontrager race OS), then it eliminates the problem altogether.

Thanks for your replies.

does anyone know where i can get a silver ahead 1/18 straight stem 25.4, in london? i want one like a nitto UI-5gx, but cheaper......

cheers