What degree of drop/rise do I need in a stem to have the stem run parallel to the ground with no spacers between the stem and the headset.
I flipped the stem I have now and it would runs close to parallel but the head tube on my Kilo slant backwards a little bit which prevents the look I want. So I think I need one that actually slants downwards to compensate for the slant in the head tube.
Any recommendations short of an adjustable stem? Alu or carbon. It doesn’t matter to me.
If you buy a stem with a 5 degree (or whatever) stem rise - flip it over you should get the look you are after - but isn’t fit more important than look?
A 17 degree stem will be very close to flat- since your bike’s head tube is probably very close to 72 degrees, a 17 will get you very close to 90 degrees (ie flat)
But keep in mind what REALLY matters is not the look, its height and reach of the END of the stem (where the bar is). As you change stem slopes, you will need to get a different stem length, and use different amounts of spacers. In theory, any angle can be made to work by varying the spacers, but you can get some pretty silly spacer stacks that are quite unsafe.
You also need to get a longer stem if you go to a “flatter” setup, because it will intersect the steerer a bit further back- you need to work out the trigonometry for yourself though.
As was mentioned, it depends upon your bike’s head tube angle. It is likely about 73 degrees, so 17 degree down would be needed. Hard to find that though. Most are 84/6 degrees or so. The Visiontech stems are +/- 10 degrees. You could also go with a Ritchey Pro adjustable or Look ergostem to get whatever you want, but gain a LOT of weight and loose stiffness. I think Profile Design has some pretty crazy and unusual angled stems (but heavy) for cheap.
Easy. Ritchey Pro 73 degree (-17 flipped).
Specialized makes stems that have an insert that allows adjustability to 4 discrete angles from nearly flat (-16) to pretty high rise. Therefore adjustable but without the weight/durability disadvantage of a hinge.