XC around the peaks usually, and without any particular thought I've moved my stem and bars from bike to bike, rides and handles fine but am I missing out on even better handling?
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Any recommendations?
Yes.
What's the bike?
Personally I would especially for the downs but it's quite a personal thing.
As for recommendations - 70mm stem and Easton Havoc 750 might be a good start.
I've gone from 90/710 to 70/740 to 50/750 over a couple of years.
Why not try a 730mm stem and 95mm bars?
+1 sweaman, currently on 70mmm haven and 750 havoc bars having slowly got wider and shorter (previous iteration was 90/710). I'm skinny enough to have reduced road bar width from standard 420 to 400, so wide MTB bar isn't dependent on build.
95mm, can you even buy stems that long now?
sweaman2 - Member
What's the bike?Personally I would especially for the downs but it's quite a personal thing.
As for recommendations - 70mm stem and Easton Havoc 750 might be a good start.
Its an SC Blur.
Any thoughts on 20 vs 30 rise?
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/easton-havoc-riser-bar/rp-prod63250
@crash test monkey, any pics? quite tempted to buy something today.
70mm is sounding like a good first move, 50mm probably a bit too much of a jump.
60mm minimum length IMO, preferably 50mm.
Will somebody lend you a short stem to try?
Don't go too short straight away as you could easily end up too cramped.
@jimjam 😆
@chakaping i've got another bike I can move it too if its really bad 😆
Anything worth considering over these Thomsons
@chestrockwell, do climb a lot so 60 or 70mm on the shortlist.
Definitely try 70mm with the 730mm bars first.
Going down a side in stem, and keeping the bars the same will make it feel twitchy and short, as you're happy with how it feels now.
I'd go 750 and 70, no one can say they don't like that combo. Second hand, very cheap and see how it feels. You could send up wasting money as you hate it, or want a shorter stem.
Wider bars will open the cockpit up, fit bars, then if necessary, tweek reach with stem.
Wide bars on on a long stem won't necessarily make the bike twitchy, went from 660 x 90 to 710 x 90, the steering is less sensitive than it was with 660 bars.
Not always sure what people mean when they say twitchy, can mean different things to different folks, I usually take it to mean nervous or sensitive. Can't see how wider bars would increase sensitivity or make the bike any more nervous.
I've done trials with 45, 60, 70, 80, 90 mm stems and different bar width combos.
Both the frames I have, I cannot go any shorter than 70 mm stem (70 for one 80 the other) as I am close to the top of the height recommendation for the frame size, in between sizes I suppose. At 45 mm, one bike the bars nearly hit my knees on sharp turns and it felt like I was sat on the handlebar, unseated peddling I was hanging over the front wheel, a very unstable and unpleasant feeling I can assure you.
So the moral of the story if your frame is already small for you, like when people get a 16 instead of an 18, a longer stem might be necessary to give suitable reach. If the riding position is already stretched i.e. the frame/stem combo is a bit too big for you (common with older XC bikes with 100-110 stems), you will be able to get away with a shorter stem. As said try 60-70 mm, it seems to be the sweet spot on a lot of older XC geo frames that are not already on the small side.
Obviously the shorter the stem the wider the bar needs to be to keep a similar steering speed. Good luck 🙂
Not always sure what people mean when they say twitchy, can mean different things to different folks, I usually take it to mean nervous or sensitive. Can't see how wider bars would increase sensitivity or make the bike any more nervous.
You misread my post. I said dropping the stem length and keeping the bars the same will make the bike twitchy. Less leverage.
If the OP fancies a trial, I've got a 70mm Raceface Turbine stem and some brand new Specialized 750mm bars in my spares for little money.
Less leverage
Agreed...same width bars with shorter stem will give less leverage, but on the flip side more sensitive to steering input.
Apologies, didnt read your post properly.
@dirtydog I do find on cat 3 climbs, I sometimes find myself holding the very end of the handle bars with a couple of fingers, and just spinning away. The steering definitely feels a little slower when doing this. Not sure whether this would help or hinder the descents as hard to try when pointing down, definitely need to try it out with a bigger bar.
@chestercopperpot thanks, 6 foot 2' so long arms and legs and toptube is short even with an XL frame, knee clearance ok at moment though. Cemented the idea for me trying 70/750 though!
Sent you a mail Rickon. 🙂