Originally Posted by
cxwrench
No, the way a bike handles, or turns, is controlled by the head tube angle and fork offset. I'm sure you've heard of 'trail', that is what defines how a bike handles. You're not changing either of those when a stem is changed. What does change is the perception of what it takes to make the bike lean, and thus turn. Narrow bars and/or short stems take less movement at the hands to achieve the same rotational movement of the fork. That seems less stable/quicker but the bike is still make the same turn. It has not turned any faster because the trail has remained constant.
Uh, no.
Head angle and trail are PART of what makes up .how a bike handles.
Handling is an interactive process and setup of bars and stem affect how your inputs are translated into bike lean and steering orientation. It also affect the feedback you get from the bike.
If the handing SEEMS twitchy or slow, die to stem and bar changes, then it IS twitchy or slow.
You seem to be wanting to re-define what handling means.
To talk about “handling“ without talking about how the bike interacts with the rider who is doing the handling is utterly pointless.