Imagine this.

Imagine you are a student; imagine that you are working your way through school, imagine you don't have much money. Are you with me? Good. Somebody, lets say a friend, offers you his old bike at a really, really low price, practically free. Let's call him a good friend. Surly, you wouldn't pass up such an offer?

Stay with me please.

Now imagine, if you please, that you have a strange body shape, that your legs are long but your torso is fairly short. So, the bike almost fits, almost. Obviously, you're not going to go out and hunt for a bike that fits better, especially when you don't exactly have the means to do so. What to do, what to do?

So you go online, and search for a short stem to make the bike fit better. You cannot find one. So, let's say you go to bikeforums.net and ask for help in finding one. Still with me?

Then an individual, let's call this individual "operator." Well, he (can we call him a he?), without any idea at all about your specific situation or any other evidence to go on, makes a nonsensical and completely unhelpful reply. What do you do then?

Well, you call him an a*****e and a first class idiot.



Clearly the whole '10mm' thing was hyperbole.

Thanks coppertop4646