Love my commuter (fuji trackbike). However its a smidgen too small in the cockpit for longer rides, its a 58 but I’m right over the bars. A friend mentioned that lengthening the stem would solve my probs. Currently a 110 looking at 130. What would this do? Would it make my balance too far forward (stability i.e. going against what Im looking for) or better?

I think no matter what you do you will always be a little unstable 😆

🙄 That goes without saying 🙄

depends on the bars, if youve got track bars and are running on the drops all the time then how you have it is pretty much how it should be. If your being a feckanger and poncing around with your hands on the tops then i hope you crash and die!!!

….only kidding obviously. If your saddle is in the right place and you dont want to slide it back any, then throw a longer stem on and see how it feels. Steep head angle might make it a bit scary tho.

it’s a road bike hora of course you will be over the bars.
i bet if you were fitted properly you would end up with a totally different size bike and stem than you think you should be riding. and it would be the correct size/fit for you.
if your saddle is in the right place it shouldn’t be moved as it creates a shearing action at the knee joint.
the time/money spent on getting fitted is probably no different to faffing around trying different stems/bar height/bar widths.
go to your local roadie shop and ask for a fitting, i expect they will say the same thing to you as they did to me the first time i sat on the fitting bike, “so you’re a mountainbiker then?”

I’ve got a 120 on my road bike, it’s fine. 53cm frame is a bit small for me at 5’11 hence the long stem, but there you go.

its only got a 57cm top tube which is the basis of the problem, this is partly because its a track bike and the rider has usually a lower front position

most modern frames don’t go beyond 585/590 top tube (alledgedly due to tubing issues) I have an 853 gate (track frame) with a 61cm top tube but is old school geometry

The guideline ref stem length is to achieve a situation where, if you are riding in a relaxed position with hands on the hoods and look down to try and see the front hub, your view would be obscured by the handlebar.

This is easier to explain verbally than in writing!

In essence, the correct stem length is one where a straight line could be drawn through the axle, the bar and your eye.

So long as you have set-up your seatpost and saddle correctly for height and fore/aft, this method of judging stem length will ensure that you are comfortable and the bike is well balanced.

The guideline ref stem length is to achieve a situation where, if you are riding in a relaxed position with hands on the hoods and look down to try and see the front hub, your view would be obscured by the handlebar.

but this doesn’t take into account the frame size. i could obscure the hub with a 53cm effective tt and 130mm stem or a 57cm ETT and 90mm stem. both frames could be the wrong size for me because of other factors like leg/torso length lower back flexibility and the kind of bike iwas riding. my fixed has slightly different set-up to my geared bike because it is used for different kinds of riding.

all the armchair theory and saying i’m 6ft i ride xx cm frame xxxcm stem is no substitute for being fitted properly to your bike. we are all different shapes and sizes