Originally Posted by
lawlessbeanr
A friend of mine bought a decent road bike from CL based on height alone, he's 5'7" and bought a 52cm frame with a 90mm stem and the reach is just slightly too long for him (He has freakishly short arms). He's been dealing with some numbness in fingers after rides and doesn't have a slight bend in the elbow like he should unless he puts his hands an inch or so behind the rubber hoods. Ideally everything else about the frame is perfect for him though (a 50cm frame would be too small for him).
With the bike being a small sized frame (52cm), how bad (if at all), would it be for him to drop down to either an 80mm or possibly 75mm stem? I won't advise him to go any lower than 75mm because I've read that there's a point where going too short can affect handling and twitchiness.
I agree he should probably try a shorter stem, but it's impossible to say how much shorter. 52 could be a frame size or two small for him based on leg length, but we don't know. But, I finally learned the truth that a centimeter is a mile when adjusting stem length. I wouldn't make a jump larger than 1 cm at a time.
I have made a lot of stem changes on my bikes, and really have not seen any significant changes in handling, until the stem gets 3 cm too long, like a 130 mm or so. I've also gone as small as 6 cm extension on one bike, and handling was not an issue. What has been of concern are changes in fit - scrunched back, too much reach, too tiring to stay on the hoods, and other issues.
But basically, my opinion is, get the comfort and fit right. The effect on handling is a lot smaller than those effects.