Quantcast

Flipping your stem

Steve M

Turbo Monkey
Mar 3, 2007
1,991
45
Whistler
Some stems can't be easily flipped upside down because the flat area on top of them isn't large enough to clear the top crown of a DC fork (which is a problem you don't have on XC bikes, since the stems are very long and you generally only use SC forks anyway). You can sometimes get around this by putting spacers underneath it, but this may well defeat the point of doing it to begin with. Really depends on the individual stem. At the moment I have a Sunline V-one stem upside down with about 3mm of spacers underneath it to help clear the top crown. Works fine and is still lower than running it right-side-up. Before that I had a Bilt (catalog brand) 70mm stem upside down, that didn't require any spacers under it.
 

preppie

Monkey
Aug 30, 2002
379
0
Europe
Well, I flipped my stem because my front wheel drifted too much,
especially in off camber sections and loose stuff.
My flipped stem did not only improve the front wheel grip,
it also improved my cornering, pumping and even sprinting.
Only manuals and the super steep stuff is a little more difficult.

My only concern is that the Easton Vice stem isn't designed to be flipped.
I guess it's O.K. because it looks pretty burly and it's 290gr.
The Easton website says ±10°, so I guess this means + normal and - flipped?

Thanks
 

DirtyMike

Turbo Fluffer
Aug 8, 2005
14,437
1,017
My own world inside my head
The easton vice is plenty strong enough to be flipped, but I am unsure if it will fit properly. I would say try it, just make sure its sitting flat before you crank it down so not to accidently damage anything.
 

Kevin

Turbo Monkey
Well, I flipped my stem because my front wheel drifted too much,
especially in off camber sections and loose stuff.
My flipped stem did not only improve the front wheel grip,
it also improved my cornering, pumping and even sprinting.
Only manuals and the super steep stuff is a little more difficult.

My only concern is that the Easton Vice stem isn't designed to be flipped.
I guess it's O.K. because it looks pretty burly and it's 290gr.
The Easton website says ±10°, so I guess this means + normal and - flipped?

Thanks
Yeah because of the shortness and the angle you might have to put a spacer under it and that could take away the advantadge of the flipping. lol
What fork is it going on?