Originally Posted by
chipndale9
7 degree is fairly sloped up regardless of the flip position. I have a 10 degree and while it looks horizontal on first glance it is still slightly angled upwards. 17 will probably slope downwards but I never owned one so can't say for sure.
Yes, though the exact appearance will depend on head-tube angle.
Example: I have a 7 degree stem on my own bike, and even flipped down, it angles up noticeably...
I formerly had a 10 degree stem on the bike, which appeared ALMOST horizontal to the ground, but not quite, still slightly up.
***Ok, I stopped being lazy and looked up the head tube angle of my road bike: 72.5... So a little math, adding a 17 degree stem would drop the angle down to within 1/2 degree of perfectly horizontal...
Further, it seems that close to 73 is pretty standard. so 17 makes it about flat horizontal. (the exception being that very small sizes normally incorporate a lower number (Imagine 90 being perfectly vertical...so this actually makes the angle FARTHER away from vertical...to give more wheel room)...normally down to 71 or even 70 degrees.