Hi, I am a newb, please bear with me.

I am in the middle of piecing together my bike. I am going with a Ritchey stem with a cut Reynold Ouzo fork. The bike already had some spacers and with the stem that came with the frame, fits flush with the top cap. Now that I am going with the Ritchey stem (shorter stack height), there are gaps. In particular, when I mount the Ritchey stem on the steer tube, the top cap is sticking way above the top of the steer tube:



As you can see, if I screw the top cap down, I get ~1cm gap to the top of the stem


If I screw the top cap down on the steerer and then move the stem up to the top cap, I get a ~2cm gap for spacers (which I would get more spacers for):


Removing the top cap, I see that only one of the stem bolts is actually clamping on the headtube. The headtube is about 1cm below the top of the stem

Another angle:

My question is, do I move the stem all the way up to the top cap and leave only one stem bolt clamping down on the headtube? Or can I use a 1cm spacer between the stem and the top cap to fill the gap, and essence have the top stem bolt clamp onto the top cap? Is this correct? Or am I screwed?
Thanks
-jeff

Use spacers between stem and top cap. The top of the stem should be about 3mm above the top of the steerer tube -- not flush with the streerer tube nor so high that one of the stem bolts is above the top of the tube. The 3mm gap allows the top cap to serve its main purpose, which is to press the headset together to remove play yet allow bearing to move freely (bearing preload). Without the gap, the cap would bottom out on the steerer tube and, consequently, would not be able to apply enough pressure to remove the play in the headset. Also, be sure to dial in the top cap before you tighten the stem bolts because, again, tight stem bolts would prevent the top cap from applying downward pressure. If you decide the bars are too low, you can move spacer from above the stem to below it to raise the stem up (as long as you maintain the 3mm gap between steerer and top of stem.)

What is material is the steer tube?
What kind of top cap is that?
Is that a star nut in there?

+1 on the add spacers above the stem , for the top cap to compress .

Or get a thicker one to put underneath,

stem or spacer above the stem has to be 5mm longer than the steerer,

in order to make the headset pre-load work, you need room to compress
into, before bottoming out on the top of the steerer.

To Dos: Okay, that makes more sense, by moving my stem further down (to allow the 3mm spacer) this would enable the top stem bolt to clamp to the steer tube. If I go this route, I will be using a 5mm spacers between the stem and top cap, since the gap is ~10mm right now. If you look at the second and third picture, those have the top cap tighten down.

To mmmdonuts: It's a Reynold Ouzo Carbon steer tube, with the Reynold Ouzo top cap. There is a star nut in the steer tube.

-Jeff

If you have a 1 cm gap, you need about 13mms of spacers because you do not want the top of stem to be flush with the top of the steerer. They make spacers in a variety of widths so you should be able to mix and match to get the right stack height.

looks like you can move the compression wedge lower

How do I do that? The allen bolt for the compression plug is already tight.

-Jeff

And
so that muddys the picture. ..

In 'short' the stem + the stack of spacers, has to be greater than the length of the steerer tube by 3+mm
whether some spacers are above and some below . all below or all above the stem doesn't matter

You can buy Carbon Fiber spacers , aluminum ones ..or I got some Cane creek interlok
spacers , they're polycarbonate injection Molded plastic. stack together like Legos.

loosen the allen bolt

Hi Jeff - the situation isn`t terribly complicated, but its about more than spacers to take up room. However you handle this is going to affect the height of the bars and thus the `fit of the bike, so suggest you consider the `fit` as being the thing that will drive your strategy.

The steering tube on that front fork was cut to fit that other steering stem. You may or may not want to cut it down further. It depends. Ideally the spacers BELOW the steering tube should be no more than 1.5 x the stem diameter. After that, an angled stem is normally used to increase handlebar height. There is, however, no issue leaving spacers above the steering stem since once the bearing preload is set, the steering stem will lock in the preload. So even if eventually you want to shorten it - there`s no rush.

But looking at your photos gives me the impression that your steering stem is angled downwards. If you flip it over it will angle upwards and increase the handlebar height with fewer spacers under it.

If thats a carbon steering tube, then thats not a star washer being used inside it - it should be a compression plug, and it won`t be an issue to remove if and when you do decide to shorten the steering tube.

But I`d really suggest you call a few places and see who`s been trained on fitting bikes to riders. You want to confirm that the length and angle of that steering stem is going to put the bars where you want them. Although you can flip the stem and add/remove spacers, there really isn`t a lot you can do except fine tune with a threadless steering stem. So you want to confirm you have a good setup to start off with. And you need at least one spacer anyway just to test drive.

Everything else is pretty easy. Suggest you let a shop do any cutting -- the fork will have to come off the bike if you decide to shorten the steering tube.

DING DING DING DING!!!!

I took reptilezed advice and gave it a good yank, and sure enough, the compression plug loosened. Initially I was hesitant because I wasn't sure if it had seized, but it is now loosened. I managed to push the compression plug lower thereby closing the gap between the top of stem and the top cap. I added a 5mm spacer (for a total of 15mm) underneath the stem and left no spacers above; this accounts for the +3mm of stem height above the steerer. The extra 5mm rise of the stem, thereby the handlebar, will be addressed when I go back to the LBS.

To Burton, thank you for your reply. It is a carbon steer tube, so yes it was a compression plug. I don't plan on cutting the tube just yet until I get the fit down pad, and have spacers available at my disposal.

Question:
I know the stem bolts are tightened after the top cap is screwed down. When tightening the top cap, does it have to be tight or loosely tighten onto the stem in my case.

You guys are great, I was afraid I was going to get reamed for this newb question.
-Jeff

once you tighten the stem around the fork's steerer tube the top caps job is done,
until the next time you loosen the stem ..

the headset adjustment pre load is compressing the whole stack including the loosened stem.


I bought a ' Locking spacer' from QBP, it goes directly on top of the steerer directly above the headset. it has a small pinch bolt.

with a integrated headset , There is lots of loose parts, so that thing keeps them together
while I fuss with all the spacers and etc. above it..

A start nut could be an issue in a CF steerer but a compression plug allows what you just did.

To finish it off you tighten the top cap enough to preload the headset but not so much that it binds. Then you tighten the stem bolts to hold that preload at which point the top cap is no longer holding anything. You can snug up the top cap last so it doesn't get loose (the top cap).

You tighten the top cap until there is no play in the headset but bearing still move freely. To check for play, just squeeze brakes and rock bike back and forth; if you can see movement betweet bottom of the headset stack and the headset cup, tighten cap a bit more.

oops mmmdonuts posted already; sorry for repeat