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Old 03-08-09 | 09:59 PM
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Abacus
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Joined: Dec 2008
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From: Sydney, Australia

Bikes: 2003 Trek 520, 1996 Trek 370, 1996 Bianchi Osprey, too many others.

Originally Posted by NormanF
I haven't found an adjustable stem that gets a drop bar on a road bike up to where I want it. So I make do with an upswept Nitto Albatross bar and my back feels good.
Thanks, but the main problem isn't so much the height, it's more the length.

Before I run off and buy a stem, or five, I want to narrow down the range of stems I should be looking at.

My presumption is that seeing as the "primary" riding position of a drop bar bike is on the hoods, the total length from the seat post to the hoods for a given rider ought to approximate the total length from the seat post to the handlebars that the same rider would find comfortable on a flat bar bike.

Is this presumption right or wrong?

In my case, the flat bar bike seems about right with a combined ETT/stem length of 680mm.

Does this mean that the optimum ETT/stem/reach length of the 520 should be about the same?

Seeing as the 520 has an ETT of 555mm, and the Nitto bars have have a reach of 105mm, this would mean I would have to look around for a 20 or 30mm stem. Such a stem would clearly be too short, so I guess I would have to sell the bike and get somethig else.

Or am I missing something obvious?

Last edited by Abacus; 03-08-09 at 10:03 PM.
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