Originally Posted by
AtomicCactus
Without seeing you on your bike, that'd be my first guess! I'm by no means a fit expert, but I was fitted on my bike by some guy who went to the Specialized Univeristy of fitting-ology so I guess I can be fairly confident my frame size is good for me. However, my fit dude was about my height, and he says he can ride a 58 cm or 60 cm frame no problem. But then, he wasn't proportioned like me. I also have longer arms, just a little fyi.
Yeah, lowering the stem effectively makes it longer (so I've been told). My stem was raised from -8 deg to +8 deg to effectively shorten it. Fit dude was hesitant in shortening the stem because: 1) probably didn't want to swap it out, and 2) said shorter stems result in poorer steering. You could also move your saddle forward but then that'll affect other things.
Anyhow, do you find yourself craning your neck while riding? What position is it in and where are you mostly looking?
My guy came from the Specialized University as well. However, he only watched me ride around the parking lot.
I originally had the stem at the stock 8 degree rise (12 deg stem - 4 deg collar/shim) but I raised it to 16 degrees (12 deg stem + 4 deg collar/shim) which feels a lot better. I only did a 15 or so mile ride on it and it seemed okay. Previously with the 8 degree rise I had to force myself to look ahead and not down. I'm going to try to do a 60 mile ride tomorrow so I'll be able to see if I get any neck/back pain over prolonged periods with the new higher rise stem setup.
I'm just wondering if raising the stem is the correct thing to do. It seems like the problem is that the stem is too long and the "band-aid" solution is to raise the stem when I should really be shortening it?