Shorter stem affecting weight distribution?

dry664

I'm planning on switching from a 90mm to a 50 or 60mm stem on my Whyte 801 but im concerned about my weight distribution switching drastically. Can anyone with experience of switching to a much shorter stem comment? Thx

nicklouse

yes your weight moves back. making climbing harder.

dry664

Would losing a headset spacer or 2 do much to counter?

1mancity2

dry664 wrote:

Would losing a headset spacer or 2 do much to counter?

That will move you lower, try the stem first.

I went from 100mm to 70mm and tbh I can climb all the same hills as before the front wheel does get a bit light now and again but never out of control.

nicklouse

dry664 wrote:

Would losing a headset spacer or 2 do much to counter?

wider bars bring you forward.

Northwind

Nothing to stop you keeping your centre of gravity in much the same location, just needs a change of riding stance- your stem is only one part of the big picture. But it'll probably change your most natural position.

Blind Danny Johnson

I switched from 100mm to 50mm and love it. I also got wider bars, 660mm to 725mm, at the same time. Climbs have always been a necessary evil for me so I can't say I've noticed them getting any worse but descents are a lot more fun now as turning has become sharper and the whole bike more responsive.

justwan naride

My hardtail came with a 100mm stem and 620mm bars. I changed the stem to 80mm as I felt I was stretching too much. Overall handling improved. Recently started venturing into more demanding technical singletrack which put me in the process of sharpening my skills, but also required a few changes to the bike setup. So 700mm bars, 50mm stem for me now. Height is the same as before. Also changed front tyre from 2.1 to 2.3.

Downhill improved a lot, control on the rough/loose/rocky again is a lot better, I'm free to use more body language to weight/unweight either wheel. Turning also got better (more leverage?).
Climbing is marginally worse, adjusting my stance easilly makes up for it. Mind that I do like climbing and often take on steep stuff for the challenge of it. However, the tradeoff in control is definately worth it.
The only downside is the wider bars hitting trees in the narrowest parts of the trail the first few times, but now I'm used to the extra width and I'm able to avoid hits.

Ro88o

I went from a 90mm stem to a 50mm stem for a number of reasons, i was feeling a little stretched because im only 5ft 6' on a medium frame and i wanted to make the steering more responsive - especially on dnhills.

It felt a little too much at first so i moved the seat back 10mm on the rails and fitted new bars +25mm width, now im happy with the setup.
A lot of it is personal preference, i soon got used to the new positions although it does feel a bit light on the front on climbs but body position and arm strength pays dividends, i find technical climbs are actually easier now.

mattyg2004

I went to a shorter stem as I was erm well "having trouble getting it up"...Stop it

It felt really weird at first but now I'm getting used to it and don't think I could go back.

gezebo

dry664 wrote:

I'm planning on switching from a 90mm to a 50 or 60mm stem on my Whyte 801 but im concerned about my weight distribution switching drastically. Can anyone with experience of switching to a much shorter stem comment? Thx

Is there a reason for your decision to change?

dry664

Mainly just trying to shorten my cockpit a little. Was feeling a little stretched out and like the sound of more direct steering and easier to get the front end off the ground.
I ordered a Sunline 50mm AM stem from CRC and it arrived today. I've fitted it and will be giving it a spin on Thursday

jsync

dry664 wrote:

Mainly just trying to shorten my cockpit a little. Was feeling a little stretched out and like the sound of more direct steering and easier to get the front end off the ground.
I ordered a Sunline 50mm AM stem from CRC and it arrived today. I've fitted it and will be giving it a spin on Thursday

Keep us posted, am interested in doing this too.

dry664

Been 'working from home' today, but frustratingly rather busy! Was hoping to get out for a spin at lunch but no luck. Will have to be Saturday afternoon.

delcol

i went from a 90mm stem and 680 bars to a 50mm and 730 bars on the santacruz also lowered the stem by swaping a spacer from below to above stem.. i made the change in whistler back in 09 to make the heckler more bikepark friendly,, it worked i never looked back..

i then did the same on my hardtail with a sunline v1 and 710mm bars.. and prefared it.. to the 90mm stem 685mm bars..

dry664

took the bike on my normal route today. Its 13 miles of a real mix, mainly xc but with some dh, some very technical trails a big hill to climb and around 3 miles on road. I was expecting the road section and the hill to be much harder. in reality I didn't feel as comfortable putting max power down with the shorter stem but I don't think it affected performance, just that it felt a bit odd.
The bike didn't feel too light in the nose on the steep sections of uphill either, in fact it made it much easier to shift my weight around to get traction. Steering felt much more direct on dh and technical trails are so much easier - I've lost a lot of that slow speed twitch you get from a long stem which takes away confidence. Bottom line for me and the kind of riding I do is that the shorter stem is a no brainer.