After last weekend's rides I decided to was time to flip the stem. After a short mileage hill climbing session Tuesday night and a 68 mile jaunt on Saturday I've flipped it back. I knew I would be a little more stretched out and probably a little sore with the new position, but my back and neck haven't hurt like that in a long time. Guess flipping it isn't always the answer to a question that hasn't been asked.

Also usually takes more than 1 ride to get used to a new position.

No doubt. I'm sure that over time I could adapt to the position, but my bike is pretty dialed in with the 6 degree stem. I'm not sure I'm really gaining anything trying to adapt my body to the new position.

How much lower are your bars after flipping the stem? If you just flipped the stem without movingn spacers from top to bottom, that could be a huge change depending on the angle of the stem. If you want to get to a lower position, start by manipulating spacers (if you have any) to get lower gradually over time. You should be able to flip it at some point and not have much of a difference in bar height. If someone has cut the fork short, the spacer thing might not be possible.

Congratulations. Your bike setup should be 100% based on what is comfortable to you. The opinions of the typical BF tossers who tell you to flip it should not factor into the equation.

I flipped my stem and couldn't tell the difference.
Does it matter that I have a 0-degree stem?

Nobody says that, after flipping the stem downwards for the BF-approved White Garage Door photo, you have to leave it that way.

unflipped stem with spacers riding in the drops 95% > flipped 0-5 mm spacer riding on the hoods 95%

Comfort > looks

i love this thread. It is giving the finger to the BF style officienados. Take that! Pow!

I've done the same. I've decided that flipping hurts me and deflipping makes the hurt go away. And I left it flipped for several weeks.

Currently, unflipped, my saddle to bar drop is right under 4". I'm low enough, and I'm comfortable. It works. I don't foresee changing it.

Flipping a 6 degree stem drops the bars by about 2cm and makes the stem nearly 10mm longer. That's too much change to do at once, at least for most people. If you would have used one size shorter stem and/or been able to put 10mm more spacer under the stem, then it would not be such an extreme change. The other option is a 90 degree stem.

I've switched from a 9cm drop to an 11cm all at once, but I did not increase the stem length significantly. That worked for me, even at age 54 (three years ago).

using all available hand positions > *