When I had my old Trek Multitrack re-fitted with a threadless fork it took two phone calls and a personal visit to the shop to convince them not to cut the steerer tube! I told them to stack the spacers and put the stem at the very top (so I'd have plenty of cable length). I'll admit it looked ridiculous and was uncomfortable to ride but I immediately dropped the stem about half-way down the steerer and went from there with experimenting for a final position.
On Wednesday, July 31, 2013 2:16:04 PM UTC-5, meehan...@gmail.com wrote: > A friend of mine recently purchased a Long Haul Trucker from his LBS in > Wisconsin after coming up and test riding both my LHT and my Ogre to > decide which one he wanted to get. > > When the shop took delivery of the bike, my friend called me asking for my > advice as to what height he should have his steerer cut to, as the shop > was ready to cut it for him as part of the assembly and set-up process. > > I told him to ask them not cut it at all, and to have them install > adequate spacers for assembly. I explained that he could then play around > with the height indefinitely and if and when he knew that he had his bars > exactly where he wanted them, we could then cut it. He was buying a 64cm > bike too, so it wasn't a ton of spacers. I also told him that my 64cm (that > he did a test ride on) still has the full steerer and that the stem was > right at the top. > > He relayed his request to the shop (while I was still on the phone) and he > got a surprising amount of resistance! "No you don't want to do that", etc. > I kept insisting that that's exactly what he wanted them to do and it > almost became an argument with my friend stuck in the middle. They finally > agreed not to cut it and installed the spacers. > > I guess some shops just have the mentality that the steerer needs to be > cut. > > Shaun Meehan > > > > > > > > > On Wed, Jul 31, 2013 at 1:50 PM, David Craig > <neritic...@gmail.com<javascript:> > > wrote: > >> Wow, Jim, thanks for this information. >> >> I had never really thought about this since I always ride Surly's largest >> sizes. I checked out the Surly site and noted that for the LHT, all sizes >> of the 700c bikes have a 320 mm steer tube. I'm glad I didn't get a 64cm >> LHT thinking I would get additional bar height over a 62! And I'm equally >> glad I didn't advise anyone to go for larger sizes just to get the bars >> higher because your point about the problem of getting too large of a frame >> when buying a Surly using the Riv sizing guidelines seems right on. >> However, negative perceptions about stacks o spacers on uncut tubes do >> complicate putting someone on the best frame size as you suggest. It took >> me a year to sell my wife on a steer tube extension for her road bike >> because she didn't like the way it looked. Neck pain and hand numbness >> eventually helped to make the case. >> >> I did note that the 26" LHT's do have different sized steerers for >> different ranges. Size 54 and below have a 300mm steer tube and 56 and >> above have a 380mm steer tube. >> >> It seems clear also that a 62cm CC would have a lower max bar height than >> a 62cm LHT given that CC's have a 300mm steer tube and LHT's have a 320mm >> tube. So . . . someone looking to get those bars up there for a given frame >> size would be better served by getting the LHT. >> >> Dave >> >> On Wednesday, July 31, 2013 5:17:53 AM UTC-7, Jim Thill - Hiawatha >> Cyclery wrote: >>> >>> All Cross-checks in all sizes come out of the box with 300 mm steerers. >>> With a 62 cm frame, there is nothing to cut off because the head tube is >>> long enough to allow a stem and maybe an inch or two of spacers. The old >>> Surly warranty stipulated that stem plus spacers shouldn't exceed 100 mm, >>> but last year they changed that, and now they say there is no limit on >>> steerer length. But this is important: with threaded steerers, the size of >>> the frame determines how high you can get the bars. If you want high bars, >>> get a big frame. This is the Rivendell way. This advice is completely >>> worthless with threadless steerers like Surly uses, because all sizes can >>> have the same handlebar height if you don't cut the steerer. So a 52 cm >>> frame can theoretically fit exactly the same as a 58 cm frame if the stem >>> length is long enough to make up the difference. Buying a Surly using the >>> Riv sizing guideline apples-to-apples is quite likely to result in a bike >>> that's on the too-big side. >>> >>> I will tell you that uncut steerers with a lot of spacers tend to get a >>> lot of negative commentary. Our Surly floor bikes usually sport this >>> feature, and everyday somebody asks me to justify it or comments that they >>> don't like the look. Yet of the bikes that sell, only a small fraction come >>> back to have the steerer shortened. >>> >> -- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >> "RBW Owners Bunch" group. >> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an >> email to rbw-owners-bun...@googlegroups.com <javascript:>. >> To post to this group, send email to >> rbw-owne...@googlegroups.com<javascript:> >> . >> Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. >> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out. >> >> >> > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. 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