Shorter stem?

COVEC

I am looking for some advice on selecting a shorter stem.

The one that came on my bike is 10cm and i find myself fairly comfortable when riding with my hands placed at the corners of the bars(where they turn 90 degrees to face the front). It feels like a bit of a stretch to ride fully on the hoods. I am fairly new to the road bike so it may be just me settling in to the new position, my questions are:

1. Do I need to get a shorter stem or wait a bit yet?
2. If a shorter stem is in order, how short do I go?
3. Is this a good stem and suitable? CLICKY thinking of the 70mm

Cheers COVEC

redddraggon

Personally I wouldn't go shorter than a 90mm stem, I'm not sure how a 70mm would handle.

However it's only £20, and it might be worth giving it a go to see if it works for you.

alfablue

I think a shorter stem is the obvious answer (though your seat may tolerate going a bit further forward, though this also affects pedalling dynamics).

I reckon a shorter stem would affect handling by making the steering slightly quicker, but I wouldn't expect a problem. Before you buy one, perhaps try flipping your current stem so the bars are higher, and maybe rotate the bars slightly upwards so there is a horizontal bit as they lead to the hoods (may already be like that). This will reduce the stretch a little.

I reckon a good LBS may let you road test a few different stems before buying, and / or let you come back and swap for another, though of course web prices will be cheaper.

Raceface is a well respected brand, won't be their lightest, but that is probably not a concern. Note that stems have different degrees of rise, so take that into account when making your selection.

nmcgann

If you are new to road biking I'd hang on just a little and see if you adapt to the position.

Neil

N0bodyOfTheGoat

Just checking the potential obvious...

Have you tried moving the saddle fore-aft position, so that it is closer to the handlebars?

Have you tried lowering your seat post, so that the saddle top is the same height off the ground as the hoods area of your bike's handlebars? This may be impractical and cause knee problems, but I found that I had a similar reach problem which was solved by lowering the post. Like many, I had gradually raised the post for pedal power, but I discovered that I had gone too high!

gkerr4

if your hands a comfy on the corners, but not the hoods then it is your bars that need changing - not the stem!

the difference in "reach" measurement varies greatly between diferent bars - i had a Giant OCR which had the longest reach bars ever and a quick change to some cinelli vai bars made a massive dfference.

try to find the geometry of your bars on the internet - if they have a large reach measurement - say >100mm then changing them to a set with 70-80mm reach will make a bigger difference to the hood position, have less of a detrimental effect on handling and still be as comfy as the corners over changing your stem!

COVEC

Cheers,

I flipped the stem and that made the reach to the hoods quite a bit better, I cracked a nice 25 miles today(Damn the wind was enough to make me cry). I will stick at it like it is for a few more rides to see if I loosen up a bit and get comfy.
Interesting point about the bars, it makes absolute sense and I never thought of it that way :oops:

COVEC

gkerr4

well - until I looked into it - I thought bars were bars were bars - but they are all different!! - worth a look anyway.

weeve

Sure you know all this but try not to put seat too far forward...(knees should be plumb with the crank ends or behind..check out cycle fits online etc)....or saddle too low....that latter is one sure way to trash the knees if you ride hard/a lot.

As mentioned stems to 90mm shouldnt change steering but again if fast/on big descents etc dont go much shorter..best to flip/change angle like youve done. If you have space for more spacers under the stem then raising up the bars (to the fork limit) can also help

Plenty of riding and your arms/wrists/back will get stronger so unless you have a way too big frame it'll soon feel better. If not the handlebars the last option as have been mentioned....before swapping frames!.

chrisba

I have just changed my stem from 100mm to 80mm, and haven't really noticed any difference to the handling. More comfortable though.

Decathlon had one at about £14.

Easy job if, like mine, your fork steerer has a little lock ring below the spacers to keep the bearings in place once the stem is removed. Probably not to hard even without.

keebo

My first road bike [Cannondale R400] was too big for me and I definitely felt very stretched. I swapped the standard stem for a 70mm version - much comfier and no big effect on steering/handling. I would try it if I were you.

Hudster

Just to add, that the stem you linked to is for oversized bars. Do you know if your bars are of this type? Just worth checking before if you do actually decide to buy something.

If I was in your position and going to get a new stem, then I'd go 90mm rather than 70mm. 10mm can make quite a difference.

But as you already have done, always play around with the height of the bars first as this is free.

COVEC

I think the bars are oversized :shock: The bike is a Giant SCR C4 so if anyone knows for sure please do tell(will save me getting a tape out and attempting some geometry calculations). At the moment I am fairly happy with the flipped stem scenario but my bike seems a bit skittery, could this be because the bars are now around the same height as the saddle??

I am fairly sure the saddle is positioned correctly for both height and fore/aft. I might try to get a mate to take some pictures for the BikeRadar faithful to critique.

Cheers
COVEC