BiciPiccola

Hi all,

I've been riding for a little over a year and I'm extremely small at 4' 11.5" tall, 100 pounds. I'm currently riding a C'dale Synapse SL 1 47cm that I now realize is too big. So, I've decided on selling that and buying an Aegis Swift 43cm, which has a short 48cm TT and 650c wheels. To keep the handlebars as close as possible, I'm looking at an Oval Concepts 70mm (or it even comes in 60mm) carbon stem. From what I've read so far, short stems can cause handling problems... BUT since the bike is small will the short stem still cause twitchy handling? Thanks for any wisdom on this....

pathdoc

I'm short 5'5" and use an 80mm stem. I bet a 60mm would fit you fine.

Cue

No.

roadfix

A lot of people will tell you that a short stem will result in twitchy handling. It won't. You *may* feel a slight increase in responsiveness if you are going from long to short but after one ride you won't even notice a thing.

ptle

I've used a 65mm stem and a 110mm stem and an 80mm stem. I feel that the twitchy issue is not a big deal at all. I don't race though just road biking.

valygrl

I've got 70's on both my road bikes, no problem.

kc4ixi

I ride a 47cm Synapse SL 2 and am looking for a shorter stem as well. The 90mm that is on mine just seems about 15-20mm too long. BTW if you are going to sell your Synapse let me know. I am looking for one for my son.

firereign

I have a 120mm stem.

BiciPiccola

Wow, thanks for all the quick replies so far!

kc4ixi, I will let you know when I get the Synapse up for sale... I need to put the original Dura Ace crankset back on. I had switched it out for a Specialites TA with super short crankarms. The bike is 2007, is black and has about 1200 miles on it. Pretty bike...

stapfam

Stem length will not affect you too much and I doubt you would notice it. Bar width on the other hand and you would feel. I once rode a bike with 52cm wide bars and that was twitchy.(Custom bars for a rather large lad)

On the stem length- I ride a tandem and it did have a 120mm stem fitted. I changed this over to 80mm to get a shorter reach and did not notice the difference.

AnthonyG

I'm currently riding with a 50mm stem. Yes it can be a little twitchy but its noting you don't get used to. When cornering its a non issue its just on the straights you need to be a fraction more aware of how you push the bar but again, its nothing you don't get used to. I was using a 60mm stem for a while and it felt quite stable.

Anthony

UnsafeAlpine

I'm 6 feet and use a 70mm stem.

daintonj

Look at the stems mountain bikers use. 150mm is considered to be ridiculously long and 80-100mm is considered normal for most riders. I switched from 150mm to 80mm and immediately noticed an improvement in handling and position.

This will be different for road bike geometry but my MTB has a surprisingly steep head angle and the saddle to bar drop is lower than my road bike. I think the change will be similar to a road bike.

nikoncmk

I use a 80cm stem, but i got a fork with 2mm + rake to make up for the "twitchiness"

grolby

Indeed, a long stem is actually a liability on a MTB. Shorter stems are much preferred for descending singletrack. I think if you were to examine stem lengths along the continuum of MTB styles, from XC---->DH, you would notice a definite trend of decreasing stem length.

grolby

Actually, a fork with more rake will result in more responsive, twitchier handling, not less.

markwebb

A shorter stem really does compromise steering. I'd stay away from anyting shorter than 90. If you need something shorter than a 90, you need a bigger bike with longer TT.

UnsafeAlpine

huh? wouldn't that push the stem even further away thus requiring an even short stem?

Val23708

fail

PhilaRider

Don't know as much about MTB, but on a roadie, a longer stem helps with climbs. (your able to leverage pulling on the handlebars and the longer stem gets you leaning a little more forward)

arakhnidef

Being comfortable on a bike is the most important thing ever, I am one of the few people "blessed" with long femurs and a short torso, so my stems on both of my bikes are 50mm and the stack heights are 10-9cm,(from the top of the head-set to the center of the handlebars). And despite that, my torso angle is about 30-35 degrees.

Any handling differences that you feel from going to a shorter stem, you should get used to in less than a day's ride.

Unagidon

I'm 5'5" and ride a 70mm stem on a 51cm Look 555. Another thing to remember about shortening the reach is the handlebar. A short reach bar at 75mm is much shorter than the regular one's at 85-90mm.

AnthonyG

BiciPiccola,

Its good to hear your using shorter cranks and looking at a 650c wheeled bike, especially since I harp on about these things so often. I was curious about the Aegis Swift so I had a look at it on their website. Its a good looking bike and MUCH smaller than a 700c wheeled Canondale but I still don't think its going to fit you properly and at the price of a new one you would be MUCH better off going custom.

The wheelbase on the Swift is about 93cm which tells me it is genuinely smaller than 700c wheeled bikes but its still not as small as my custom 650c wheeled Hillbrick (Australian builder) which has a wheelbase of 89.5cm. Now the top tube length may sound short at 48cm but its still 48cm with a 75º seat tube angle which isn't that much smaller than what you already have. My custom frame has a top tube length of 49.5 cm which may not seem short on paper but thats with a seat tube angle of only 71º which makes a radical difference. My custom frame is significantly smaller than the Swift, specifically the reach is shorter and I think you are going to need something smaller than the Swift too.

Now this is all the more important since you are using shorter cranks. Out of curiosity what length cranks are you using. The shorter cranks means you need a far more relaxed seat tube angle than 75º. Maybe not the 71º that I'm using but much more relaxed nonetheless. When you have your legs positioned correctly for the short cranks then you will need to have the reach shortened to suit.

So for the price of a new Aegis Swift you would be MUCH better off going to a custom builder. Ideally, no essentially the builder will need to have a fitting rig to which they can attach your short cranks and work from there.

Anthony

Coyote2

I can hardly believe that you made this ridiculous claim in not one, but TWO threads, which suggests that this is not a typo. Fortunately, I think most people will immediately recognize this as bogus information.

grolby

It might be a typo, since it's word for word the same statement. Copy-and-paste, FTF (For The Fail)! Wrong AND lazy.