If you really remembered a discussion about this with timcupery, you'd remember he's a very tall rider, 6'5" I believe. I imagine he has a difficult time finding frames that fit properly, and does what he has to do to get comfortable. At 6'5", I doubt he's too concerned with a frame having too much standover height very often, in fact I'm sure he'd love to be able to regularly find stock frames that provide only an inch or two of top tube clearance so he could be more comfortable on the bike. I know he's got a huge Schwinn Traveler (27" seat tube?), so I know he understands the concept of a high standover height equalling a more comfortable riding position in terms of saddle-to-handlebar height. But at 6'5", unless a custom frame is considered, it's going to be somewhat difficult to find frames that fit well, especially if a comfortable saddle-to-handlebar relationship is desired. The bottom line is that he was following up on a thread to give more complete info on a product so that anyone else who might want or need a tall stem could be better informed-