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As above, I suspect not too much, but I have a 40mm on my Aether 9 and recently rode a friend's Aeris 120 with 35mm and the steering felt much more direct. Now I know the geometry is very different, but I went from a 50mm to a 40mm on the wife's hard tail and that made huge difference.
Just wondering if 5mm will make a difference (and a new stem is shiny..)
I have a 40mm on my Aether 9 and recently rode a friend’s Aeris 120 with 35mm and the steering felt much more direct.
Did they have the same bars? Bar width, sweep, and rise also make a difference.
I would of said no a year ago but i put a 50mm stem to replace a 42.5 and i just couldn't get the bike to feel right , tried rolling the bars back but it just felt wrong . Back where i started now and the bike feels way better .
If you've got high rise bars you can roll them a fairly small amount to get that 5mm change to see how it feels.
Think I have a 35mm (for 31.6 bars) in the garage if you want to give it a try cheap?
I assume the head angle is steeper on the 120 too.
Will it make a difference? Yes.
Will you notice? Maybe a bit at first.
Will you notice it after the first big ride? Probably not.
Do you want permission to buy a shiny new stem? Seems very likely.
It can make quite a bit but it's one of those tipping points, when it's too short or too long it could be just enough to fix that, if it's already pretty much right then it probably won't feel that big.
Aside but, the little RSP Trail stem is cheap, light and really nice. Bit shiny is all
i’m not hugely familiar with the Bird range. are the wheels different sizes on the 2 bikes? that would make a difference to the feel of the steering.
that said, if you fancy a new stem for shiny reasons, trying a different length is a good reason to change.
not relevant to this conversation, but i’ve just remembered that i’m going to whistler on sunday.
edit: my point being, i’m bound to see something i fancy in one of the bike shops and i’m having trouble ignoring chromag stems when i see them
Just wondering if 5mm will make a difference
Your wife says it does.....
Sorry, childish but I couldn't resist.
Cheers.
I think there are quite a lot more factors than just the stem (wheel size etc.) I just remember that when I changed the stem on the wife's bike, it was a massive difference.
@flyingmonkeycorps - thanks, sadly I'm on 35mm.
I'll have a think and if I can find a cheap short stem I may give it a go.
I have a 40mm on my Aether 9 and recently rode a friend’s Aeris 120 with 35mm and the steering felt much more direct.
if its the 120 in its original short travel guise, its 2 degrees steeper, and with smaller wheels. thats going to give a more nimble feel with all else equal.
Would I notice? Yes. Would you? Dunno.
I noticed quite a difference going from 40 to 35mm on my last bike. But I made the change having ridden it for a bit and deciding that it just wanted to go in a straight line everywhere- 63.5 HA 1265 wheelbase etc. So I sort of knew I wanted it to steer quicker.
Current bike (aether9 like the op) is built with the same 35mm stem but it’s got 25mm less wheelbase and a 65 HA. So maybe a 40mm stem on this cockpit would feel fine also. Bars are 15mm narrower than old bike too which also changes the feel.
No harm in trying it…