Having followed the trend for shorter stems on the more extreme side of XC bike riding I ended up riding a 70mm stem on my 21″ P7. The steering feel was better that the 100mm I took off but left me too cramped so I fitted a 90 that I used for about 6 months. On a whim I tried a 110mm on my last ride. I was very supprised to find that it actually felt better, allowing me to get much more weight over the front and really stuff it into loose corners and berms. I suppose the stem length really should increase as a percentage of the frame size, anyway, its staying on and I’m going to think twice about following the trends of the short arse majority again.

aye, 90-110mm for me at 6’4″ – but then, I’m XC mince biased.
Haven’t TT’s on many modern bikes got longer to run with shorter stems.

Top tubes have indeed got longer. I noticed that the 2011 Kona range XL frames have 26″ effective top tubes. Thats 1 1/2″ longer than mine! Bet I’ll not be able to test ride one though.

150mm FTW!

I’ve a 22″ (XXL?) Kona King, which feels just right with a 100mm stem and layback post.

I’m just shy of 6″6 and run a 50mm stem on my xc rig (Trek scratch) just as i do on my dh bike. I rode with a 90mm for a while but could never trust throwing the bike about with it on

I use 110mm to 150mm stems on all my bikes as they feel cramped otherwise.I’m 6ft4 and long of limb

Yup. 110mm on my Charge Duster. It came with 110mm, I took it off and slapped on a 90mm. Had awful back ache. Put the 110mm back on and a layback post and its perfect now. 6 ft 2 and on a large frame.
The top tube on the Charge is short though. Guess it came with a 110mm in the first place for a reason. 😳

6ft 3″, ride a large Cannondale Prophet. 70mm stem with 750mm bars, used to run a longer stem, but going shorter stem with wider bars seemed to even things out and I really like it.

I’m running between 90-110mm on my bikes but they are all 29ers with big frames and long TT’s. When i rode my older 26″ bikes i always had 120-130mm.

Much happier fit wise now i’m on 29ers.

6’3 with stupidly long arms and legs. I’m now riding a 19″ sinister ridge with a 90mm stem and 400mm layback post. Took it out for a spin last night and it felt pretty good. Don’t think I could get away with much shorter, as much as I would like a 70mm.

WTF are people hung up on trends and numbers? ‘would like’ a 70mm? Nonsense. What fits, fits. Anything else is just daft.

By the way – taller people – if you got the frame the right size instead of that silly small ‘chuckable’ one, you could have a shorter stem and not need a long one and a layback to make it fit.

I run a short stem for fit. But as my hamstring slacken I wonder if I should try one a bit longer…..

2m here, have had a range of 130 to 50 stems on the same bike over the years (a Zaskar measuring 23″ C-T, top tube 24.5.

A few years ago decided to reduce the stem length to see what it felt like. 90mm – ok, 70mm better, 50mm – better still.

Kept with 50mm for a few years when it was my only bike. Now got a Pitch with a 90mm stem, anything else feels too short.
The Zaskar has gone back up to 90 to match the feel of the Pitch, and as it’s mainly used for commuting / kids rides and feels much more stable with a baby seat on the back.

OP, did you change the bar width at all? At 6’4″ I find I can get on with a 50 mm stem as long as it has 720 mm + bars (on a silly hardtail). More XC bike is 90 mm stem and 680 bars. This is partly due to the position I want on the different bikes (more relaxed on the LT hardtail, but stretch out a bit for XC).

I have pretty wide shoulders, which also influences the bar choice.

By the way – taller people – if you got the frame the right size instead of that silly small ‘chuckable’ one, you could have a shorter stem and not need a long one and a layback to make it fit.

That’s not a fair comment many manufacturers don’t cater for the really tall. I ride steel and apart from Konas over priced Explosif can’t think of another steel hardtail in a 22inch, most stop at 20 and they are barely big enough with a 400mm seat pin

You should try a 21″ Inbred 29er for a big steel bike. Mine fits me a lot better than the 22″ Kona Hoss which is sitting unloved and unridden in the shed. And that’s with stupidly long 39/40″ inside leg and orangutan 7′ armspan.

Also have 29ers in a 22″ & 23″ size and they all fit me fine. I also run 740mm bars on them all and 100/100/90 stems.

Once i got away from 26″ wheeled bikes everything felt better, although i’m sure some people will have differing views on the whole 29er thing. The biggest problem as mentioned above is finding anywhere that has very large bikes in stock to try out (either 26er or 29er) as like it or not we are a very niche market.

WTF are people hung up on trends and numbers? ‘would like’ a 70mm? Nonsense. What fits, fits. Anything else is just daft.

Because stem length effects bike handling. I’m guessing you are an xc rider who isn’t bothered about jumping gaps and trying to pull manuals Having a shorter stem would fit better with my style of riding, I tried a 50mm and it was too cramped. 90 fits well, 70mm is in between the two so if I could run one it would be better for me. Makes sense?

If you look how far behind the front axle the bar clamp is on a bike with 140mm travel forks, a 140mm head tube and 25mm of spacers running a 110mm stem its not that different to a smaller bike with a 70mm stem. Therefore shouldn’t it be as effective in manuals and jumps. I don’t know the answer but I do know that I have been 5′ 8″ but a 5′ 8″ person has never been 6′ 5″ and as most bikes are designed by average sized riders for average sized riders I suppose most of what I read in the press doesn’t apply to me.

WTF are people hung up on trends and numbers? By the way – taller people – if you got the frame the right size instead of that silly small ‘chuckable’ one, you could have a shorter stem and not need a long one and a layback to make it fit.

WTF are people hung up on the concept of a “right” frame size? By the way – taller people – if you got a frame a nice ‘chuckable’ size instead of that silly has-two-postcodes-at-once oil tanker, you could have a medium-length stem and no seat layback, and keep your weight well forward for aggressive, fun handling.

😛

Yeah, you got it Bez. Its no good shortening the stem so much that you can’t push the front. The 110mm stem i fitted does make the steering feel way diferent but I do feel a lot more into the bke than I did before.

By the way I also got a in line seat post that was the reason I lengthened the stem in the first place.

Thing is, tall people normally have long arms. So by having a low front end you can achieve comfortable reach on a normal sized bike (having near-vertical arms gives you great suspension, too). But once in that position a shorter stem doesn’t work so well IMO – it’s better to steer more with the hips, and a bit more stem helps. Pulling your weight forward is a bonus for front end grip.

I’m always a bit baffled when I see long, tall bikes set up in proportion with small people’s bikes, with the bars almost level with the seat. Always think they must wash out horribly in corners and be a nightmare to work over bumps at speed. Wouldn’t work for me – but everyone rides differently.

That’s not a fair comment many manufacturers don’t cater for the really tall. I ride steel and apart from Konas over priced Explosif can’t think of another steel hardtail in a 22inch, most stop at 20 and they are barely big enough with a 400mm seat pin

It is a perfectly fair comment. Bikes are generally not made for the taller and shorter riders – they are made for something like the 80th percentile – ie 10th to 90th percentile of height. I am in the 99th percentile for height. I accept that bikes are generally not made for me, so I accept I can’t ride every brand or every bike, so I look harder to find the brand and model that fits me best, rather than just wanting a bike and forcing it to fit. My 23″ Sultan is as close to perfect as I’ve found and not one person has said anything other than it just looks right for me.

I tried a 50mm and it was too cramped. 90 fits well, 70mm is in between the two so if I could run one it would be better for me. Makes sense?

So get a bike with the top tube the right length so you can ride with a 50mm stem and get the fit you want? Seems to be fairly obvious to resolve. Other frames are available.

Bez – you are under 6′ aren’t you? I can tell.

I’m a sniff under 6’5″.