Thanks. I'm not afraid of Fred stuff. For the most part, I'm the only one I'm interested in pleasing with the aesthetics. This project was an intended to be a clash of classical & modern anyway...old lugged frame with modern wheels, brifters, carbon fork and flared offroad style drop bars...surely a firestarter on many "taste"-driven cycling message boards...lol. I was looking forward to riding it in my bright safety green jacket my wife gave me for Christmas too! Thing is, the bars I want to run have a 31.8 clamp diameter & I doubt i'd find a quill stem for that.

Back to the topic, it does look like i could use a stem with a shorter stack height (about 35mm would work if I've got my measurements right) and have adequate coverage along the steerer. Anyone know of a stem with a short stack height?

Oh, and it's already with no spacers...so pulling a spacer isn't an option.