"The figure is measured by placing a 200lb weight at the end of a nearly-flex-free solid steel handlebar and measuring the amount of flex at its end." So, if you used a normal handlebar in this test, you'd see that nearly all of the deflection occurs within the handlebar and stem. Therefore, in the overvall scheme of things a change in steerer stiffness makes negligible difference. There's an expression that we use in the engineering world, "Two tenths of f**k all". That's the amount of differnece this will make in the real world. We're not stupid Mr Giant! Tapered head tubes look better, I'm happy to agree with that. Why don't they just be honest and sell it to us on that basis!