Stem raising question What's the max limit?

It depends on your fork. If the steerer tube is aluminum then I think there is no real limit on the stem height. There is a limit (I don't know what it is) if the steerer is carbon. You can get a number of quality stems in a 30 degree rise.

You're much better off raising the elbow pads/extensions with spacers than raising the stem. Just more aerodynamic.

Thanks for the reply.

I didn't want to cut my stem down so I would have to adjust spacers so they would sit up top.

As for raising armpads, I was thinking this would be less preferred due to having to add some weight for the spacers opposed to just raising on the stem with the wxisting hardware. Can you help me understand why is it for aero to raise on the armpads opposed to stem?

Raising the stem increases the frontal area, where has adding spacers under the elbow pads has a very small impact on frontal area. From a bike balance point of view, it is also desirable to have the aero bars lower (think about when you ride a road bike, you are more stable in the drops as that lowers your center of gravity) and then adjust the extensions to the right height.

A stem with a high rise will also shorten the reach.

In general, you want to use as few spacers under the stem as possible as that will give you the best front end stability.