Originally Posted by
mstateglfr
Many questions for this.
Primarily though- why not just use the quill stem and a 26.0mm(or 25.4, whichever it fits) handlebar? You would get the bars at the same height and only probably 1cm closer to you...that seems quite minimal in difference and less of a process than purchasing a threadless stem plus 2 shims.
This bike is quite interesting either way though.
1. Because i am using a wide bar. 700mm. The easiest (ie cheapest and most common) way to achieve it is a 31.8mm bar. The longest generic 25.4mm bars i have seen is 680mm. I could use 22.2mm bars but they are usually much higher rise (ie different geometry and gets in the way of the cables).
2. Easy to swap stem. This was decided before i decided on the length.