Originally Posted by
skycyclepilot
I have a new Giant Defy 1, and have had trouble finding a comfortable saddle, finally settling on a Selle Royal Ellipse Athletic, because of the long, deep channel it has, which relieves pressure on my perineum. Even still, there was some pressure, so I changed the stem from a 110mm 8° to a 90mm 25°, which brought the handlebar up a fraction and back a little over an inch. This results in a slightly more upright riding position.
The more upright position is more comfortable, but on a fast downhill run today, when moving off the drops and back to the hoods, the front end seemed a bit more squirrelly. I cannot imagine the bike coming out from under me at 35 MPH! And I noticed that, when I look down, I can see the front axle just barely ahead of the handlebar. Is it just me, or could the stem change have made my bike unstable enough to be unsafe?
When I test rode a Defy Advanced, they took some basic measurements and put on a longer stem because the M/L bike they had in the store needed it to fit me. I noticed that the handling felt odd. After that I test road a L Defy (not Advanced) that they had, and the handling went back to being extremely nice and not odd at all.
I wonder if the Defy is more susceptible to the handling changing because of stem length than other bikes are. That's how it seemed to me.