Headset spacer hate

Looking at the anti porn thread I notice a distinct hatred of headset spacers, I wondered why it was, I have 40mm of spacers on my headset but I'm reticent to cut the steerer tube because I'm happy with the bar height and in case at some point I want another bar set up that requires a longer steerer tube. Is there any reason apart from a purely (an ;) )aesthetic reasons to cut the steerer tube as short as possible?

I was told (but never verified) that too long steerer = too much force on headset leading to trouble up there. I guess it relates to see-saw physics ir whatever it's properly called.

^ nah that's bollocks really unless you have like 10cm of spacers and a tiny headtube.

the whole slamming stems/having no spacers thing is stupid. Its far better for your bike to fit well than be slightly more appreciated by a bunch of people on the internet.

Didn't Scoble have a Thorn with a foot and half of spacers?
Or is that it?

"Bollocks unless"

Yeah, my old lbs in Coventry reckoned about 50mm spacers maximum.

If it gave a competitive advantage every ex-golfer in rapha would have a huge spacer stack on show on the Sunday nod.

Thanks for the replies, pretty much as I thought, personally I have a longish headtube on a 61cm frame so there shouldn't be any seesaw type issues......

Thorn bikes with their stupidly short head tubes (for the type of position their customers adopt) allegedly have a habit of destroying headset bearings due to too much leverage being exerted.

Its far better for your bike to fit well than be slightly more appreciated by a bunch of people on the internet.

This, its you riding the bike afterall. But if you need much more than around 40mm of spacers below the stem then the likely hood is that the frame doesn't fit you/fit your needs. No problems about a shit tonn of spacers on top of the stem though, cutting that is just for aesthetics/aerodynamics or whatever.

No problems about a shit tonn of spacers on top of the stem though, cutting that is just for aesthetics/aerodynamics or whatever.

This creates the risk of "debagging" oneself in an emergency stop situation.

^this is truly something to take note of.

And can anyone tell me if there is technical reason not to use one large 40mm spacer instead of 4x 10mm spacers, I guess it shouldn't make a difference but does anyone know for sure? thanks

And can anyone tell me if there is technical reason not to use one large 40mm spacer instead of 4x 10mm spacers, I guess it shouldn't make a difference but does anyone know for sure? thanks

It doesn't make jack shit difference, in fact with one spacer you'll have more rigidity & less likely to have any minute movements (between each individual spacers) especially if you haven't quite tightened everything up really snug

4x10mm spacers will be cheaper and easier to find, 40mm isn't really one of the standard sizes.

Turns out there's spacer-hate in this house.
Wife displeased with the stack I gave her when re-jigging her fucking cantis following Space Horse purchase.
She regularly fawns over passing quill stems, asking why she can't have one and why her setup looks like 'something from under the sink'.

I see her point, so I've ordered this from the LBS.

Velo orange does make some nice stuff.

What is the bike it is going on, I am liking the orange?

It's an All-City Space Horse.

It's an All-City Space Horse.

cheers

yes it was hard to find a 40mm single one but I did eventually and think it looks better than the stack of 4. I just wondered if there was a technical reason not to use a single large one as opposed to 4 smaller ones. Sometimes I get the impression that the headset is loose but when I go to check there is no slack at all so perhaps it is all in my mind but it got me thinking about it. The Velo Orange stem is lush though.......... Thanks for the reply Mr Bump it puts my mind at rest...... at least about this.

There is a rue of thumb (not mine) that for CF steerers the total spacers should not exceed the diameter of the steerer.

Beyond that, I'd tend to agree that if so many spacers are required, there are shortcoming with the overall fit of the bike. However, who cares if it's just a runabout bike??

diameter of the steerer?

I thought it was not more than half the length of the head tube

Wife displeased with the stack I gave her when re-jigging her fucking cantis following Space Horse purchase

You could flip the stem and lose most of that spacer stack. Having a scoblestack of spacers under a negative angle stem is like walking from Harrods to Selfridges via Piccadilly Circus

I just wondered if there was a technical reason not to use a single large one as opposed to 4 smaller ones.

It's purely a commercial imperative - stocking a few sizes and adding them together to make the required size is much cheaper than stocking spacers in 2mm increments from 2mm to 50mm - that's 25 SKUs compared with 2 SKUs to stock 10mm and 2mm and sell them in batches.

There is a rue of thumb (not mine) that for CF steerers the total spacers should not exceed the diameter of the steerer

There is no rule of thumb, there is a set of specific fork manufacturer guide lines, usually in the region of 50mm maximum spacer stack under the stem.

You could flip the stem and lose most of that spacer stack. Having a scoblestack of spacers under a negative angle stem is like walking from Harrods to Selfridges via Piccadilly Circus.

I would cycle that personally, not a bad ride.

You could flip the stem and lose most of that spacer stack. Having a scoblestack of spacers under a negative angle stem is like walking from Harrods to Selfridges via Piccadilly Circus

Sometimes you just need a really long walk.
On this bike, some non-moving parts were chosen for aesthetics over performance. She hates the Thomson, basically. Hopefully it will end up my parts bin for another build of my own...

I have a foot of spacers on my thorn it's fucking great.