Bicycle Mechanics - stem adjustment advice

Hey all.

I was wonder how much affect would a 130mm stem differ from a 110mm. I have heard that a longer stem would reduce mobility. Both stems are 25 degrees, I think. For sure they are the same degree whether it's 25 or not.

Anybody have an opinion on this subject. Thanks.

Your steering wouldn't be as crisp or snappy-it would feel "slowed down" a bit from what you are used to. This can be a good thing or a bad thing depending on what you like. You also need to take into consideration the fact that you are switching to a longer stem. This will stretch you out more over the bike and could lead to some problems with fit or comfort unless you have tried a bike with the 130 stem and like the positioning better. I would worry more about this than anything at first.

-Moab

Yeah, I have considered the stretching out thing already and that's probably why I am trying the new stem. As far as the steering, I also heard that cutting the bars will improve the mobility. Considering my bars are still 26" and I usually keep my hands in about an inch in from the end I am thinking about cutting 1" off each side.

It would slow your steering up. I have just changed from a 135mm to 100mm and it has quicken the steering up considerably. Tight twisting single track is not such an arm wrestle now.

I switched from 130 to 110 with similar rises and not only is the steering quicker, the bike geometry improved. It made it much easier to get my weight further back on the bike and the steering is much more responsive as well. While it improved the technical handling of the bike, I don't feel that I have as much leverage to really hammer on the smoother sections (I find myself using the bar ends to stretch out a little bit more for that).

Thanks all. The help was helpful. Here's what I ended up with. I tried the 130 for a couple of weeks and decided to go back to 110. I also took an inch of each side of the bars. It feels better this way.