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As a follow-on conversation post-group ride in the pub last night, I'm interested in what combo Singletrackers are currently running / preferring.
The general 'wisdom' seems to be that people are moving away from small frame / long stem to longer frame / shorter stem for trail center stuff but I'm really surprised how many XC pootlers are running 50mm stems and wide bars.
top tube?
it's all about 'reach' now, Grandad.
for me, 460mm reach + 35mm stem seems to work well for general XXXc trail mincing.
(i'm 6'1"ish, but wit a short torso)
Main bike currently has a 24" top tube and I've just changed from a 50mm to a 40mm stem. Feels good, I can move my weight around the bike a little bit easier and the change to steering feel is great. I do wonder what the downside is as I look at the frames designed to run 35mm stems and in my size the top tubes are 25"+.
29'er FS XC bike has a flipped 90mm stem & 720mm wide bars.
29'er HT XC bike has a flipped 90mm stem and 700mm wide bars.
29'er rigid steel has 80mm stem and 730mm wide bars.
All with around a 600mm horizontal top tube too, they've all got layback posts on them as well
I'm 5'11" btw
620mm top tube, 120mm stem, 680mm bars.
Fashion be damned.
6ft and "enduro specific BMI".
6ft 1.
150mm stump evo
45mm stem
780mm bars
617mm effective top tube
442mm reach.
Feels spot on for me and for what i enjoy.
not massively into measurements but I'm 5'10", ride 16-17" bikes with 22.5" top tube and ~90mm stems (currently a small Alpine 160). On 710mm bars but finding myself right on the ends so might go wider.
I grew up riding when 120-130mm stems were the norm and the Raceface DH stem I once bought was 85mm, so anything less than ~90mm feels twitchy to me, fashion and theory be damned. I dont change stem length for riding type either, same set up whether chilterns or alps.
Reach is often claimed to be the be-all-end-all dimension to help sizing, but staring at it too hard can be the wrong thing to do:-
For example:-
1) Adding 10mm to headtube length, with a slack head angled bike shortens reach by 4mm (for the same front centre).
2) A hardtail at ride height will have an effective reach that's perhaps nearly 20mm longer than it is statically.