Hey Bikeforums! This is my first post on a new account. My old account was attached to a deprecated email address and I have no recollection of the password, so here I am!

I'm currently in the process of building a 1992 Miyata Seven21 road bike for my wife to celebrate our 10-year wedding anniversary. I built her a bike when we were dating and thought it would be a fun project to do a decade later.

I found a 48cm frame/fork locally for a great deal. It's been an interesting challenge in using parts bin parts, buying used at our community shop, and figuring out what needs to be new (chain, brake pads, etc.)

The bike came stemless, at first I used a 100mm reach quill stem with stupid mustache bars. While it looked cool, it was way too long and not functional. I needed to find compact bars with a short reach for my wife's hands. In order to use moderns bars, I needed a modern stem and a quill adapter. The only stem lengths I have sitting around are 100mm and 90mm. The 90mm is still too long. I can't find the information on stock stem length for this 90s for the 48cm frame size. I'm thinking of using a 70mm, but I'm worried the bike will feel twitchy. Any thoughts?


TL;DR How short of a stem is too short to use on a small road bike like this. I don't want it to feel twitchy.

I doubt it will twitchy. Try a 50.

If you were to put a shorter stem on your bike, you might think at first it is more twitchy. However by the time your ride is over, you might be use to it. After several more rides, you might wonder why you even thought it was twitchy.