Originally Posted by
ATPAH
If I'm raising the bars, however, I'll have less weight on the front wheel, at least when on the hoods, and I expect that would be exacerbated by moving my position back. Where is this trade-off felt - in cornering stability, in enhanced OTB potential?
Each rider has unique fit/style/trails, but I'd guess cornering stability will suffer first, not OTB potential. Move those grips up high enough, and you start losing that sense of what's going on with the front wheel, and lose the ability to adequately weight it in a natural, dynamic way. It's a terrible feeling. Wanna understeer off that edge? Nope. Getting balanced is key. Offroad, I like to have a little rearward bias, while maintaining the ability to weight (and unweight) the front intuitively/immediately.
I use
Stem Comparison Tool | yojimg.net + various stem lengths/angles and a bag of various size stem spacers (I swear 2mm makes a difference!) and test by trial and error until I'm "dialed." I like to move the grips up, up, up until... "wait, too far up, back down a bit.... OK, right there." Stem length complicates things, so trial/error is necessary, but after awhile, you get a sense of what you need. I can look at a frame geo table and start running stem/bars etc. possibilities through my brain.
I do all this with my saddle position in a predetermined position across all bikes, with some micro changes as needed. This simplifies things somewhat. I also find the stem calculator essential.
Sounds like you're on the right track. For a quality riser stem, my go-to is the Ritchey Pro 30*. I just picked up a 40* Bontrager Elite but haven't ridden it yet. Looks decent. Salsa makes a 25*. If you need a new bar, the Specialized Hover has 15mm of rise. Kinda cool looking IMO.