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I've read quite a few articles on various pros race bikes in the last few months and it seems the current trend to lower the front end is to run the stem sans topcap and so directly on to the headset bearing.
Doesn't this cause any problems? Is the topcap purely for aesthetics?
Well it doesn't effect the function of the headset but it stops crap falling in and around the bearing.
You're better off going with a negative stem if you really need the bars to be that low.
Doesn't matter if your a pro, just get a new one for next race
I expect they replace the bearing every race
i bet you could run a king for years without a top cap,
Really Gaz? No.
As mentioned above, they are pro's so will have everything changed and new for each race. I expect their training bike will have a top cap, but could be wrong.
I've seen this also and i'm surprised, as how much difference does it actually make?