How does the stem length change the handling on a hardtail?
For example, if a bike came with 100mm stem and you swapped it for a 60mm, what effect would this have on the way the bike handles?
Likewise if you went from say, a short 60mm stem to a 100mm how does this effect the handling too.
Got a old no-name frame, which the handling feels very twitchy, the front wheel feels like it wants to wash out on bends all the time, would dropping a longer stem make any difference?
A shorter stem speeds up the steering. This can be counteracted with a wider bar.
Short stem, narrow bar = really twitchy
Long stem, wide bar = ocean liner twitchy.
You want to be somewhere in the middle. Though I suspect the washing out may be head angle related...
You need to listen to this
Stem length makes a big difference on how the bike feels but what you are describing sounds like either a steep head angle or poor riding position with weight to far back?
long stems look really shit