Originally Posted by
photonick
I've always had a reach problem on my bike, felt too stretched out in the hoods. We put a 90mm stem on my bike and i used to move my seat forward which ended up hurting my body. Finally I've got the rest of the bike set up perfect and don't want to move my seat or cleats at all. I already have a short 90 mm stem so I don't want to go any shorter, I was curious, is it possible to short the reach on a bike by swapping handle bars? I've basically had 3 spacers under my stem and have started to do the painful process of lower the bars for a more aero position since i do mostly shorter fast paced rides as of lately and have noticed some pain in my hands between the thumb and pointer finger.
Lowering your bars might make the reach feel more stetched out. Aside from that, you can get a drop bar with a short reach. It takes some digging to find the specs of some brands. Aside from that, Campy hoods shorten the reach by a cm compared to Shimano, but I think that's more extreme than just getting an 80mm stem.
Are you short? If not, you might be on a frame that's a tad too large. Think about it. The reach is too far and you want the bars lower. A smaller frame would accomplish those, and be lighter weight too
