Hi,

I'm currently riding a 55cm road bike with a 120mm stem and drop bars. I'm 5'10 with a 32" inseam. My most comfortable position is on the top of the bars. If feels pretty comfortable if I place my hands just behind the brake hoods also - but if I ride on the brake hoods I feel too stretched out. Everything else on my bike is comfortable.

If I use Dave Mouton's stem sizing trick, I have a 3cm gap between my fingertips and the stem.

http://davesbikeblog.blogspot.com/20...rearm-and.html

So my question is if I measure the width of the grips on my brake hoods, its 4cm. Using Dave's method, I would guess my stem is between 2-3cm too long.

Any opinions on what I should do. I think maybe switching to a 100mm stem may be my first step (2cm). More specifically, I am wondering if people know what a 2, 3, 4 cm difference "feels like". Does a 2cm difference feel like a substantial change or does it feel like a more minor adjustment? If it only feels like a minor tweak, I may try a 90cm stem (3cm change).

Thanks in advance.