Originally Posted by sirshane13
yo, I've heard a lot of people kind of bad-mouth 90 mm road stems. Some people think that you might be fit wrong on the bike if you require one. Anyone else share this sentiment?
There has been much disinformation spread about stem length. Size doesn't matter.
Seriously, I went to the source on this...Sheldon Brown and posted his response a while ago. He said the range of normalcy is 80-120mm with virtually no ill effect in this range. Having owned several bikes and experimented, I completely agree. For the population of cyclists like Mr. Brown, myself and others with long legs and shortish torso...a big bike with short stem is typically the ticket to keep saddle to bar drop manageable. I find I like a medium to short stem for handling....but believe it is because that is what I have grown used to. Others prefer a longer stem and I believe many are influenced by racers that ride a small frame with long stem for reach to optimize aerodynamics in replacement of comfort and want to emulate their heros.
HTH,
George