Originally Posted by
DrIsotope
Long stems will also affect handling, so should the guys running 140 and 160 stems be worried as well?
I've run 80, 90, 100, 110, and 120 stems on the same frame to accommodate different handlebars, as well as fine tune the reach. I've never noticed any handling differences.
I think the handlebar size issue is interesting. It seems a lot of people (probably including me!) get very concerned about stem length e.g.: "10cm is fine but 8cm will affect handling" whilst handlebar reach can easily vary from 7 to 13 cm and it rarely gets mentioned. I bet everyone on this forum can tell you what stem length they are running but I wonder how many know what their handlebar reach is?