I’ve been playing on my new Spesh Camber, which descends like an absolute demon so I’ve fitted some Easton Havoc bars to it. The current stem is an 80mm Thomson jobby, which feels a tad long so I plan to replace it with a shorter item.

Will I notice a drop of 10mm or should I go for broke and fit a 50mm stem instead? The bike is pretty long in the top tube, I’d probably go for the shorter option but I don’t want to ruin the handling.

Advice please!

60mm obviously.

They don’t do a 60mm Thomson…

Helpfully, I have a 60mm on mine 😉 Feels about right, I tried 50mm before and it felt a wee bit short, but I’ll give it another crack at some point.

Buy another brand then…

Hard one to answer – you may have to mess around with different lengths (oo-er) before you find the right one. Going from 80mm to 50mm may be a tad aggressive tho

55mm Haven – that’s what I did when I went to Havoc bars and the 70mm Thomson was too long. Which reminds me, have a 2nd one to put up in the classifieds.

Actually I think they do a Havoc stem in 60mm.

Hmm…I’ve a Thomson post so it’s collars n’ cuffs and all that…but fit is very important.

A 55mm Haven may well be the answer to my question.

yeah I am quite irritated having a Thomson post with a haven stem and havoc bars. But I figured when I get a dropper the Thomson will be gone…unless I get a Thomson dropper 😕

Who cares if the post and stem brand don’t match! Bikes are for riding, no? Or for staring at in the car park?

I’d go for 60mm something light, Ritchey etc.

Ive always used an alloy 80mm 6 degree rise/drop FSA stem on my XC bikes for years, absolutely sport on for me and weighs little more than many stems costing 5 times as much.

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