I love those adjustable stems! Specialized really came up with a good idea on that one.


Basically, look at your stem where it mounts to the headtube; there's an oval "window" and there should be two numbers visible through it (numbers that are stamped into the shim). Those are the degrees that you can raise and lower the stem. Now look on the both sides of the stem next to the oval window, there is an arrow on one side (it's a triangle); that is where you put the degree of angle that you want. The best way that I can describe it is if you want 12* of rise, look for the arrow on the stem, slip the shim in so that the 12 is next to the arrow, this means that you will be working with 12*.


Now, depending on whether you mount the stem slanting up-or-down, you will have 12 degrees of either rise or drop. I don't know what the other value is on your shim but the same rule applies: if it's something like 6*, put the six on the side of the arrow (doesn't matter if it looks upside-down or right-side up) and you are now working with 6*.


Does that make sense?