Originally Posted by
joejack951
The best way to avoid the problem would be to locate the butted zone and go a few millimeters up from that point. Ideally you'd do this with a gauge of some sort but your stem adjusted so that you can just slide it up and down will also work. The stem will get tight in the steerer when you reach the butted zone at which point you can put some tape on the stem to mark that depth. Don't remove the tape until you've made your final height adjustment and have a gap between the tape and the headset.
Thanks, that worked well. It's interesting that when I move the stem down, it stops abruptly rather than getting gradually harder to move. That is, it feels more like it hits an obstruction rather than a tapered area. Perhaps the taper isn't very gradual; I'll investigate next time I take the stem out.