Hi fellas,

I'm a beginner cyclist, and a several-months lurker here on Bikeforums, and have thus far appreciated reading the more seasoned perspectives (opinions) shared here by many of y'all.

I've recently purchased my first road bike, a french 90's road racing bike made of steel, and have taken it out for rides a handful of times : no longer than an hour of riding at a time.

As this is my first road bike, with no prior sizing knowledge, I decided to go by the sizing guidelines provided by Rivendell Cycles (correct me if i'm wrong, this may be called French Fit).

When I ride my bike, I feel that my arms are quite stretched out when resting on the hoods, and after some fatigue threshold, I exert somewhat of a pressure on my wrist in order to keep a strong hold. Possibly related, I'm also getting those infamous saddle sores even after riding for just 30 minutes.

It seems that the reach could be too long for me, so I have done the two easy adjustments of: setting saddle setback to push the saddle forward , quill stem exposed to maximal level, and yet I still feel it's not 100% dialed in.

The stem is 120mm of length with 100m exposed out the head tube.

As per Rivendell's recommendations, to complete the bike fitting, the reach should be compensated for, by using appropriate stem dimensions.

However, I am beginning to get a little skeptical about this, and so would like to hear your input...

Could swapping the stem with a 100mm length one improve my comfort on the bike? Is it common to dial up stem measurements upon new bike purchases?