Originally Posted by
pizza_pal
Ok, this explains it - I only finger tightened the top facing nut. Fortunately the TCR is ubiquitous enough that it shouldn't be any trouble finding the right hardware.
Finger tight? In other words, it wasn't tight.
I ride bikes that are too big because my dad (who is probably in denial about being short) was always repeating some old thing from the 70s about a slightly larger frame being better than a too small frame. I would be better off on a frame with a little less effective top tube length than the small TCR but it's close enough to my fit coordinates, and I have stubby arms so I would be on a short stem regardless of the frame.
I know where that comes from and actually adhere to it myself. Although "bigger" doesn't necessarily mean "too big". And an 80 mm stem is on the short side for sure, but not grossly short, if that's what it takes. Especially if your proportions are odd (you said short arms). I really doubt it affects handling in any meaningful way to anyone but the most sensitive and discerning. People get too hung up on what thngs like stem length "should be". Yea, there's reasons for conventional wisdom on stuff like that, but the reason they make different stems is for people with different proportions.
I can ride a typical 52cm top tube bike or a 54. I have found that I like the 54 with a shorter stem because it's easier to get the handlebars up where I want them, and the overall bikes just feel better to me. But "shorter" in my case means a 90 or 100 mm stem vs a 100 - 110 mm stem. So not really "short". And "standover" works for both, for what that's worth.
It sounds like you're on a budget, mostly a used frame market, and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. But you might want to try to find the opportunity to try a size smaller top tube frame with a correspondingly longer stem just to see how it feels. You might find that you like it better or you might find that you like the larger frame with the shorter stem better. That would give you some guidance as you move through the used bike market.