What stems offer a “horizontal” rise? I’m looking for a stem for my road bike that does not rise up, but I don’t know what degree (84?, 86?) I should be looking for. Thanks for the help!
Simple trig. The answer lies in your head tube angle. What bike?
Most head tubes are ~73 degree’s from horizontal. If you look up the specs for your frame, you can find out exactly. Assuming a head tube angle of 73, if you get a stem that has 73 degrees of angle, you should end up horizontal. Just a note, some people measure the angle from perpendicular to the steer tube. In this case, the stem you want with -17 degrees from perpendicular.
Thanks, guys. The head tube angle of my bike is 73.5, so I guess I’m looking for about a 17 degree negative rise? Most of the stems I’ve seen have a 6 degree negative rise. Any brand suggestions?
Tonnes of options in -17…Ritchey, 3T, Oval, amongst many others. Just find one with the right clamp size(s)…
Okay, getting a little confused. A lot of the stems I’m looking at are 82 or 84 degree stems. How do I convert that number to negative 17? What’s the formula? This explains why I’m a lawyer, not a scientist 
Thanks.
82 = 90 degrees minus 8 (or 98 degrees if flipped up…but that’s gay)
84 = 90 - 6
So you’re looking for a 73 degree stem, or a -17 in other words…not as abundant as 84 or even 80 degree options, but still plenty out there.
yeah, horizontal (-17) is trending a little old-school these days, kinda like non-sloping top tubes on road bikes. +/-6 or +/-10 is more common. If I had to pick a single brand as the best all-around choice (bang for buck, and full range of sizes - rise, length, and clamp diam), it’d be Ritchey.
there is only one company that makes stems that you should buy :), thompson. and they have stems that are +/-17, they also take the math out of it for you 
Hey Corin,
What do you like about Thomson stems over other brands?
Thanks.
That X2 looks sweet, BTW.
they’re light (lighter than most carbon options), they’ll never break (last a lifetime), and they are reasonably priced (a little googling will bring down that MSRP).
I feel the same way about their seatposts. I am somewhat biased as I have their stems on all my road and MTBs, where I had a choice.