Hi all,

I’d like to know your stories wrt stem length. Currently got a 80mm which I’d like to change for a 35 – 50mm

Is anyone out of the mind that this is an error. It’s a hardtail 26″. What are the drawbacks of a short stem (if any?) My particular frame has a slightly longer than normal top tube too.

Depends on the bike….

I’ve got a 65mm stem on having previously had a 50mm, that’s with my 760mm bars. The bike originally came with 680mm bars and 90mm stem but that felt far too narrow and long

but as said above it depends on the bike and the rider, there’s no golden rule unfortunately you may need to experiment a bit

Between 110mm and 55mm depending on the bike and what bars I’m running.

sorry that’s not helpful.

One one bike it’s 90mm, on another it’s 80mm and on the other it’s 70mm
So as above ^^^ it depends on the bike..

Stories about stem length?! Eh!

90 on the MTB. 100 on the road bikes.

Judging by the bikes I have now, 100mm, or 90, or maybe 60 that occasionally gets changed to 50. All of them have been chopped and changed to find out if that was the right one for that bike, so go ahead and try a 50mm, but it might not be right.

50,60,90,100,110 and 120mm hth.

100mm road, 60mm MTB but I got told by my mates that my 60mm stem was SO long that my bike would be really improved by getting a shorter one. I haven’t bothered.

Totally depends on the bike. But 50mm on both of my mtbs.

Story? I’ll tell you a story all right.

I once had a longer stem that I swapped for a shorter stem.

Stories about stem length?! Eh!

Did you consider that English may not be the OP’s first language, Mr Tact?

In answer to the question…

I like 45mm, with a 750mm to 780mm bar. Assuming bike has a top tube that’s a tad longer than traditional, as described.

As others say it depends on the bike and reach but I run a 35mm stem on my main MTB.

I went from, 70mm medium frame to 45mm large frame
Works really well

70mm on both mtb’s, one with 750mm bars the other 740mm. 120mm on both road bikes even though I don’t think your asking that!

120mm with 640 bars, I dont have any problems weaving in and out of tight trees and bushes.

By name and by nature eh, xcretro?

😉

I think my sweet spot is 60mm

About this long.
HTH

Super, cheers folks. 40mm it is I think, get a second hand one . Thanks for posting

between 50mm & 110mm depending on the bike.
50mm on the #duro bike
90mm on the xc bike
100mm on the cx
110mm on the road bike.

What’s your ideal stem length?

27%

The one that came with the bike. I bought a bike that fitted me! 😆

I keep swapping between a 40mm and a 50mm, can’t decide which is best for me. Steve Peat and minaaaaar both run 60mm so that means 60mm must be best overall though.

Stevet1 – Member

I keep swapping between a 40mm and a 50mm, can’t decide which is best. Steve Peat and minaaaaar both run 60mm so that means 60mm much be best though.

I think they both do that because Santa Cruz don’t make a bike that fits them, tbh

I run a 130mm on my road bike, but that’s also because my body shape matches this dude

35mm on the MTB, shorter the better as I like the position it puts me in, I hate feeling like I’m over the front wheel on a MTB.
I like to be very much behind the forks.

XC HT 90mm flipped, XC FS 90mm flipped, Rigid Wonder 80mm not flipped and Road 100mm flipped

Lots of talk on here about stem length with regard to the “reach” it gives you, but nothing about how that shorter/longer stem affects how the steering changes in feel and speed ❓ .

I’ve found that too short a stem makes the steering much too light and twitchy for me, although you do get a bit more used to it after a while. It’s all a compromise between reach and steering feel. The fork offset makes a difference as well, so the ideal stem length for one bike may feel crap on another……….

about 50mm, maybe less, for me

@OP just scrounge a few off your mates or get cheapies off ebay, and try a few. It’s a process not a decision.

Was 50mm when it was fashionable but now it’s 35mm ‘coz I’m trendy.

& for the record, once and for all, stem length is about handling not fit. There is no one right ‘fit’ on a mountain bike there is a range.

Funny enough fitted a 50mm stem on my Titus FTM weekend after running a 120….and loving it..
Made the front a lot more chuckable.

I think I’ll be trying the wide handlebars next.

Trouble with this fine tuning that its addictive but once you’ve hit the sweet spot you get what people are
on about having the bike dialled in.

Still running a 120 mm stem on my Bontrager.

Anything else would be wrong. 😀

I’m running a 60mm on a Nomad, Renthal wide bars and it suits fine,

Always shorter than I think…

Depends on the vase.