I know what it means, I know why your supposed to. Asthetically, I think it looks waaaay "Gooder". I didn't flip my step (thomsen elite 4x 10 degree) because it felt comfortable with my sprinting as well as climbing. Im in Oregon and do a lot of hill climbs, but I also ride in draft lines on the flats and such. I flipped my stem today and.....this is gonna take some getting used to! I'm pretty flexible but this drops me more than I was expecting.

When you flipped your stem, did it take some getting used to and then you loved it? Or did you flip it, give it a chance and then flip it back?

are there any drawbacks to flipping your stem if you do a lot of climbing?

If it's performance rather than looks that you care about you should lower your bars 5mm or at most 10mm at a time.

actually yes. brought the drop bars closer in and gave a slight rise. I don't believe it looks as well, however I had to do it due to arthritis. took about 2 rides to get use to it, otherwise no problems

Back in my day, there was no such thing as a flipped stem.


+1 Either add spacers under the stem that you just flipped, or keep it unflipped and use fewer spacers under it. Get used to that, then go lower.

i flipped mine and it immediately felt better........ I've since lowered my bars one spacer too. i want to lower them again in the next week or so.

Keep your stem flipped up while gradually lowering the stem by moving spacers from below it to above it. When you've lowered your flipped up stem to the point where the saddle-to-bar drop is the same as it would be if you flipped your stem and moved a few spacers below it, then you can "flip it" and be in pretty much the same position you've already gotten used to.

Personally, I did it all using basic geometry to figure out how many spacers I'd have to move to make it all equivalent. If math isn't your thing, trial and error (while using a ruler) will work, it will just take longer.

Flipping it down makes the reach longer as well - if you want to be lower but not longer, you might need a shorter stem, or you might do better to just move it down the spacer stack, as others have said. This makes the reach longer as well, but not as dramatically.

If it's just about looks... well, just take the picture, post it in the "What road bike do you have" thread, then flip it back to where it's comfortable.

...oh, and the word you are looking for is "better"

no no....its GOODER! ......it goes; ok, good, better, best, GOODER, GOODERIFIC, PIMPTASTIC!

I think a bike with a stack of spacers and a stem flipped down looks really dorky. Remove the spacers first (some manufacturers recommend leaving one spacer). Only flip the stem down after you've run out of spacers.

Not as dorky as a flipped-up stem, which just screams "I haven't got good enough flexibility to ride this bike". At least with the stem down and some more spacers it looks like the traditional quill stems which were parallel to the ground.

Sounds like a performance oriented rider and in such cases, flipping the stem (LOWER) will bring out the best in your performance - sprinting or centuries. I ride with a 4 inch drop, would simply not be able to do 100 miles with a level seat-post. Raising the bars is OK for comfort, especially if you already have back problems, but let's not kid ourselves and combine this with higher performance targets.

There are other factors beyond flexibility. If given the choice between a flipped up stem, or a larger frame, I think the flipped up stem is probably more ideal.

I agree. It says poser. And it's heavier.

I'm assuming you compensated but since you probably didn't you should really take a look https://alex.phred.org/stemchart/Default.aspx at that to see what flipping your stem actually did to your fit. That's why it feels so quirky.

..very nice, thanks.

made some other adjustments last night and went on a ride where I also found myself making minor adjustments and after I found the right seat post height again, it felt great. going on a 60 mile ride ...right now. hope it feels as good when I get home!

Um...no. Flipping the stem is more of a joke on here than anything else. Stem position has to do with the geometry of the bike relative to the proportion of the rider including his fitness and flexibility. I am long legged and ride with a shortish head tube for my leg length and therefore ride with my stem flipped up.
If anybody thinks that stem down is good for everybody they are wrong.

The guy that raced the bike below in the TdF could easily drop anybody on this forum with slammed/inverted stem and 6" of drop.
Handlebar height has to match the rider's capability and stem position is just a means to putting the bars in the best place for a given rider.
A 75 year old guy who used to be a top racer may now prefer his handlebar level to his saddle. Bar height and reach is unique to each rider.

IMO the obsession with "flipped" and "slammed" stems is just posturing. (And some joking.)

Your bike needs to fit you, period.. You need to put your stem in a spot that works for your riding style and flexibility (which, by the way, doesn't change). If that happens to be flipped down and slammed, more power to you. If that happens to be flipped up and with a few spacers, so what? You're not going to perform better if your position is uncomfortable or unsuitable.

Get a fit and put your stem in the optimal spot for you.

He was confronted with 2 choices, flip step OR up the meds..., should have flipped stem.

You need to get that approved by the grammar dorks in the "brake melting thread."

I agree. My stem is flipped down, because I need the length, but with spacers, to get the bars up higher. This is how my bike fits me best. Nothing to do with looking cool, it just fits this way - like a quill stem geometry-wise.

EDIT: Removed bad information.

for a 120mm stem at 6 degrees, flipping changes it by 25mm. I used basic trigonometry to figure it out. I'd like to flip my stem back up and get rid of excess spacer/steerer but I don't have 25mm of spacer below the stem to lose.

This is just plain ass wrong. Why would you make a claim like this which you obviously haven't verified in any way?

The shallower your angle is (like on a small cyclocross frame), the more reach will be affected by flipping. The steeper it is (like on a tall road race bike), the less reach will be affected.

But just for sake of numbers, lets do the math for a shallow 71.5 head tube all the way to a steep 73.5 headtube (numbers are for a 120mm 6 degree stem):

shallow:
flipped: 120*cos12.5 = 117.16 not flipped: 120*cos24.5 = 109.20mm (diff is 7.96mm)

steep:
flipped: 120*cos10.5 = 118.00 not flipped: 120*cos22.5 = 110.87mm (diff is 7.13mm)

So you might say for all typical bikes, flipping a 120mm 6 degree stem will give you a 7 to 8 mm reach difference. That's pretty damn significant.

Yup! I got about half a centimeter by flipping my 100mm stem down, which helps. The spacers I need under the stem to raise the bars enough to not hurt my back reduced my reach, and the extra 5mm or so increased it back again. Math is cool!