Thanks guys, basically when I say the bars are unstable I mean two things:
- unstable as I am more stretched out and therefore can't keep as good control
- unstable when I roll the bike while holding the saddle - the bike never wants to go straight, on my road bike I can move it and turn quite easily on the hybrid it just goes to one side and never returns to the centre despite much leaning!

I figured that the shorter stem will mean more "responsiveness" and was at first a bit confused with my experience but I attribute it to the above.

Also I think that weight distribution is WAY too much on my hands at the moment as they always hurt, hopefully a shorter stem will allow me to move the weight back a bit.

Any recommendations on stem length or should I just get one that makes the fit match up with my road bike?

Thanks

Daven