Nitto stems for $100? I guess that is what the current exchange rate is doing to prices.

I have one bike that is too small: 54 when it should be 56. When I first built up my Trek 560, I was using a standard rise, Shimano 600 quill stem with a set of Nitto Randonneur drops. At the time I had I had some neck problems — but nothing like Randy — chronic muscle tension was all. Still, I was always craning up to see the road, and I was fearing my drop bar days were over.

Solution: I ordered a Nitto Technomic stem with nearly no reach to it at all. This shortened up the cockpit. I moved the seat forward to be sure that my knees were over the pedal spindles. The result — I can still apply the correct, proportional, tripartite weight distribution between the saddle, bars and pedals, and their is no stress on my neck. The difference is that I am in a much less aggressive posture. In urban traffic it is a positive boon.

Technomic stems with their long rise come in a very extensive section of reaches — here in Japan anyway. The one that I have on the Trek is so short that I cannot walk the bike with my usual grasp on the reach — it's like 20 mm or something. Like a shopping bike. The bike is to small for me as I said ... I'm 5' 9". But a 6' friend rode the machine for 25-30 Km or so last week with me on the Vitus, and he had no discomfort at all. Technomics are great. They are a solution for a lots of stuff that might be wrong with fit and posture. Just choose the correct reach.

I also have a Technomic on my Simplon 56. But it has a 54 TT. Because of the larger frame size and its specific geometry, I use much less rise in the stem and it is a model with a much longer reach. On my Vitus 979 I have a standard Cellini 1R (?) for days when I feel in fighting mode and am not going to be battling crowds of taxis and hordes of dangerous schoolgirl cyclists [charingko].

Oh ... I should add that I normally ride in the horns.

Randy — I really recommend this. It may be offensive to some people when they see a stem towering above the crown set, but this setup can be applied to any vintage bike. It is effective and relieves a lot of stress, but the drops are still there for the 10 or 15 minutes that you may fight a wind in your face.

Sorry — all the pics of the Trek are with the 600 stem.

PS — PM sent to you ... Randy