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Best way to shorten...
 

Best way to shorten MTB reach?

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Stem for sure, it'll do what you want and it's not necessarily a compromise, you may well find you prefer it. Mostly with long bikes I fit the shortest stem I can.

Bar position gets interesting, and as ^^^ up there the words get messy, because you can change things with bars that make a bike feel less "reachey" without actually changing reach, or even what people tend to mean if you say "effective reach". I'm going to call it upper-body-stretchiness to avoid that, because there's so much body geometry as well as bike geometry involved.

Higher bars- whether from the bar itself or stem spacers- can feel less stretchy, frinstance, because your arms are the hypotenuse of the triangle. But they can also feel more stretchy, or exactly the same, because they can influence your riding position and encourage you to sit/stand back. Narrower bars likewise can have unexpected effects, they also reduce the mathematical stretchiness if you stay in the same pose but can cause you to move to compensate. (I always go body forward and rounder arms with shorter bars, ymmv)

But even just a more angled-back bar can feel surprisingly different, I have 9 degree bars that actually are offset so your hands are kept in the same position relative to the steerer compared to a less angled bar, but the change in wrist shape still makes them feel a little less stretchy, though they're not really, just because we have elbows.

TLDR fanny about with it. Bars and stems can be cheap and are usually pretty easy to sell. Turn stems upside down, roll bars forward and back, cut some cheap bars or move your grips around. Try different saddles if you can. Just because it doesn't make any sense doesn't mean it can't work, a change in the "wrong" direction could be the change you need even.


 
Posted : 14/11/2023 6:50 pm
kelvin and kelvin reacted
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If you want to try some different hand positions on the bars (width wise) try a pair of these, they are the longest grips I've ever had. You can easily move your hands an inch inboard and still be on the grips. Cheaper than experimenting trimming your bars

Screenshot_20231114_175422_Chrome


 
Posted : 14/11/2023 6:58 pm
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So many good posts. Lots of good advice.

Still try shifting your saddle forward when you try that shorter stem and higher bars.


 
Posted : 14/11/2023 7:38 pm
thols2 and thols2 reacted
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I had the "bike feels way too long" thing with my new frame and 50mm stem (especially as I came from an old geometry bike), 35mm stem sorted it for the most part and it doesn't feel so sluggish to ride now. I do still feel like I should have got the small with a 50mm stem though as it doesn't feel like I'm getting quite enough weight over the front wheel sometimes. Haven't ridden it enough to be sure though.

Didn't like the feeling of higher bars, the whole bike felt massive.


 
Posted : 14/11/2023 8:02 pm
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🤦


 
Posted : 14/11/2023 8:24 pm
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