My Giant Trance came with 680mm bars and 90mm stem. At 5 11" I'm at the upper end of the frame size (M) and the bars seemed a bit restrictive, so I switched to 725mm bars and 70mm stem. The bike handled a lot better but I had bad lower back pain as a result, which I put down to being too hunched over with the shorter stem on.
I've now gone back to the 90mm stem but kept the 725mm bars on, and the back pain has gone away. But I really miss the responsive steering of the shorter stem when turning at speed. Are there any adjustments I can do to my cockpit setup with the shorter stem to try and make the fit work? I'm thinking things like removing spacers, saddle forward or back etc? Many thanks.
Try saddle back first.
With setup either find a good shop/mate who can help you or get out the tools and start trying things.
Possible answer you don't like is your bike is too small and you should be on a large.
Try shoving seat back, should be fine especially with a 90 mm stem on 😯
second the seat position. my personal preference (and yours may be different) would be to avoid compromising handling when standing which is how you should ride all the good bits anyway
Agree wi 'slowrider' if you prefer the DH side of riding.
i'd first move the saddle back a bit. Then if still not right drop the stem a touch if you can and see how it feels.
Up the bar width again, get some 800's on it and then you can put the 70mm stem back on.
Thanks all, will try the seat back on it's rails first and tweak from there. From looking on google it seems wider bars necessitate a shorter stem as opening the arms pushes the chest forward so the stem needs to be shorter to maintain the same reach. Does that sound right? With that in mind, could the cause of my lower back pain just have been my body getting used to the new setup? It was when climbing I felt it mainly, it felt great when descending while out of the saddle.
I was in much the same boat. At 5'10 my med Trance was fine till I went 750 / 70mm. I moved the seat back just 6 or 7mm and ( maybe oddly) also tilted it forward maybe a degree or two. From there I could comfortably add another 6mm to my seatpost height for climbing / on the flat, all is well now. I've also gone dropper post, which means I can move about more easily and shift weight better descending, which probably works more back muscles than previously, so maybe it's a bit of on the bike physio too ?
Thanks all, putting the seat back on it's rails and tilting the nose down a touch has solved my problem.