Originally Posted by
Fiery
All bikes feel different when you change stem length, but you get used to it. Also, a longer stem tends to feel odd when going slow, and gets better the faster you go. Short stems feel nice and sharp on the parking lot, but can get insecure once you are up to speed. All this, of course, is when speaking of bikes with standard road/race geometry.
I don't agree. I've changed the stem length on my other bikes, and either didn't even notice it or it made a tiny difference that I quickly acclimated to. The Defy was the only bike where I felt like the handling was significantly different with a different length stem.
It's an ancedotal note from one experience, but I was very noticeable to me, it wasn't noticeable on other bikes with different stem lengths. (What I liked about the Defy is that with the default stem length, the handling was really awesome).