I’m looking to get the bars a little higher, and perhaps a little bit closer on my Orange Five, but options are limited as a) I don’t want to change my nice wide carbon risers & b) I’ve only got space for four 5mm spacers on the steerer.

My (possibly numpty?) question regards the relationship between stem length and rise. I’m thinking that, as the rise increases, the effective length of the same sized stem will decrease slightly – is this right?

For example, I’m currently running an 80mm with 5 degree rise. If I go for an 80mm with 10 degree, will it be equivalent to a 75mm 5 degree?

I’m guessing that the ‘real World’ differences in the example are going to be barely noticeable, but it’s just a puzzle that I’d like to solve.

I’m sure there must be a way to properly work this out mathematically, but it’s beyond me at the mo.!

I’m sure there must be a way to properly work this out mathematically, but it’s beyond me at the mo.!

try Pythagoras.

I recently changed from a 10° 120mm stem to a 25° 80mm stem. that kept the height the same but dropped about 30/40mm in reach.

Have a look at this

Assuming 70 deg head angle:

a mm, b degree stem:

reach = a x (cosine 20+b)

rise = a x (sine 20+b)

Or..

http://www.brightspoke.com/t/bike-stem-calculator.html

😀

Thanks for the replies. I was about to get some post-lunch calculator action until I saw Andituk’s link – it’s absolutely brilliant, Cheers!

Has confirmed what I’d envisaged, but it’s good to see some figures to confirm – also helped avoid another expensive stem purchasing mistake!

Thanks again guys.