I have never been extremely happy with the ride on my Tarmac. After the first season I switched the saddle and that helped a little. The next season I switch the saddle again - this time to a Sella Anatomica, still not right. I ride this bike a lot and I have come to the conclusion I might be a little too stretched out on it. I finally measured the seat post center (at the saddle) to the center of the bars at the stem and compared this to my Simoncini - which is very comfortable. The Simoncini reach is about 66cm, the Tarmac total reach is 2cm longer (68cm) and the stem is 1cm longer. The bar height below the saddle is about the same - within my ability to measure it. Note - the Tarmac is really only uncomfortable after about 40 miles of riding.

Now here are the questions:
1) What would be the symptoms of a little too long a reach?
2) Any suggestions on new stems?
3) Any other thoughts on the subject?

Right now I am leaning towards replacing my 100mm stem with an 80mm stem but stems are not cheap and I want to make sure I get this right. I think an 80mm 10 degree down stem will put the bars at about the same height as they are now. I sure would like to be able to ride this bike comfortably on a metric.