backwards stem?
 

Are there any issues with mounting your stem backwards such taht the handlebars are mounted on the biker side of the stem vs the front wheel side?
I have heard that it will result in bad steering... any comments?

I have a 0degree stem so i figure i would loose about 1" top tube length (its a cruiser so losing that length would probably make me more upright).

It's less than ideal but, if the extension is very short, manageable. A better solution would be to find bars that swept back more, such as the classic North Road bend, which if combined with an ultra-short stem (facing forward) would do a better job getting you the position you want.

The current Rivendell Reader has an article on this and they say it handles normally. http://shade.keeptrees.com/publicati...e%2042/#page10

It's not something I would do, but I see no real problem with it. As long as you're just using the bike to cruise around at low speeds. Having the bars that far back might make your handling odd.

I think the real question is: do you want them further back, or do you just want them higher?

I've tried it, and I'm going to have to disagree with Grant on this one. May have just been my bike and my stem, but it was nearly impossible to ride.

Fuzz, did you turn the whole fork around or just the stem and bars? Just turning the stem around will make the bars feel a bit odd but it won't make the bike unridable.

Or if you have a longer stem it would sure make it feel odd. A lot of recumbant riders have to deal with this because the steering is so far out infront of them. They call it "tiller steering" because they end up moving the bars more side to side instead of just turning them. It takes a while to get used to it from what is printed about it.

It was a longer stem, and come to think of it, it was paired with swept back handlebars. All things considered, my hands were probably a good foot behind the head tube. The bike wasn't exactly unridable, I did ride it for about a week, but the tiller effect was so pronounced that it was a major effort to get the bike to follow a straight line. Any slight twitch sent me reeling in one direction or another.

And not to mention, the handlebars would hit me in the knee.

Come to think of it, it was probably a by-product of my particular set up more than anything else. Apparently threadless stems make me do stupid things.

It's used on some under the seat steered SWB recumbents.