Originally Posted by
Tom Bombadil
...Let's use the sizes they designate as Medium, which are roughly equivalent, which would be their 20" FX vs their 56cm Pilot.
The 20" FX has an effective top tube length of 56.8". The 56cm Pilot has an effective top tube length of 55.0".
So if one would convert an FX to a drop bar, and use the same stem length on both, then the hand position for the FX conversation would be 1.8" further out than on the Pilot road bike. That's quite a difference. Much more stretched out.
A hybrid frame is designed for having the hand positions to be much closer to the head tube, so they use a longer top tube to account for it. Thus if you swap out the flat bar for a drop bar, it is going to move the hoods further out than they will be on a road bike frame. So you need to shorten the stem to adjust for that.
Oops, unit error, 1.8cm = less than 3/4", not almost two inches.
Shorten the stem or HTFU. Assuming the hybrid is designed to be ridden in a somewhat more upright position than a road bike, 1.8cm additional reach might be exactly what timstone wants. The fact he went to the trouble to make the change, maybe he was looking for a more aggressive position on his bike.