Originally Posted by
phughes
I have never had any issue with short stems making steering unstable. The most it will do is feel different for a short time, as in less than a mile. I even like boxcar stems with zero length. It's a non-issue.
Shorter stems are more twitchy. Longer stems are more stable. That's usually a matter of preference and fit but for a bike with this style of front rack, twitchy on top of the problems you already have is the last thing you want. When someone says short stem in the context of a steering speed discussion, they usually mean 6-7cm being short vs 10-11cm being average vs 13+cm being long. Zero is frankly extreme.
https://velo.outsideonline.com/road/...-and-handling/
https://www.cyclingabout.com/steerin...teering-speed/