Das profezzional :Yeah, i'll drop it for the serious stuff.

Nice. That sucker is all sorts of carbon mayhem.

Why do you say that? If it fits the rider it's fine for the riding that bike was intended for.

I opine that, in general, bikes sold for racing purposes (road or mountain,) are sold with stems that are far too long. In fact, as an employeeeee of a bike shop, I would much prefer it that bikes were sold without stems, and that it be up to the shop and the customer to find the right length. Of course, this is essentially impossible, but still, I think most riders would be happier with a different stem.

Furthermore, it is not so much the size of a rider, but his desires. Which kind of rhymes. His priorities. His hopes, dreams, and wishes. If our Scott-framed friend above were to desire a ride with a touch less whip, he could shorten his stem by 20, 30, or, from the looks of it, even 40 millimeters, and would thereby be blessed with better tracking, at the expense of a bit of the bike's agility. If he were to put, say, a 50mm downhill stem on the bike, it would be a poor fit no doubt, but reducing the length by a couple of centimeters would only change his riding position, likely for the better, but would give his venerable carbon beast a little more trail-worthiness.

I am also a fan of riser bars, but perhaps they have no place on that bike.

I have a tendancy to change the length of the stem depending on the riding that i'm doing.

If for example I am just hopping on my bike to ride 2 miles to my Bros house (as I had before the aforemetioned pic was taken) then I have the saddle quite high, no bumps, no roots nothing of any note except a kerb or two to negotiate. I find the raised saddle more comfortable when just comuting from A to B.

When we are "properly" riding tho', on tha trails and through the woods, I drop it right down in order to give me that extra bit of stability and control.

Its what you find comfortable at the end of the day.



God bless quick release

^

for clarification.....

the stem they are referring to is the part that clamps on your steerer tube and handle bar.

I beleive you are referring to your seatpost.

And, to Daz professional, what are you talking about? How do you know how he even fits the bike? you want to clamp a DH stem on a bike with a 72 degree HT angle? The bike was designed to handle just fine with a longer stem.

doh, must read before replying.

I do have a tioga cube on my kona, Only with a riser tho, not a flat bar. I'm nearly 30 it would kill me.

Another pic

My Kona

My other Scott.

The missus is pestering me to sell "at least one"

Reread the post, numbnuts. And bike companies usually carry about seven size setups for a bike, sometimes as few as four. Out of the fiffillion riders in the world, those seven (or four,) probably don't fit any of them perfectly, or even well at all. Just satisfactorily. If it ain't custom, it's "designed" to be sort of somewhat a little close to the fit of the average rider for a given size range. If that isn't good enough for you, and it probably isn't if you've got a Scott, there are adjustments to be made.

By the way, Mr. W, you have entirely too many nice bikes. Do you eat dog food off cardboard plates?

LOL, I eat dirt quite alot.

yes sir, mr. bikeshop employee.

...reading......

Well, I did, and I still don't understand why this comment makes any sense.

As far as I can tell, it must be based on your many years of bike fitting experience and/or your years competing on the norba circuit.

Please, expound on your feelings that XC race bikes should all sport short stems (generally speaking) and the pros and cons of using nubby stems on bikes not designed for them?

They would if I had it.

Remember? Note the 50mm downhill stem/poor fit part. I don't race by ze way, and if you can't take knowledge dropped by some punk 17 year-old SOB, ask Mountain Bike Action (the magazine.) They ran an article about this very subject not one month past by.

As for the sketch-city, while I am not John Edward (of Crossing Over fame,) I can see that, if Mr. W has neither orangutan arms nor Jedi reflexes, that bike will feel stretched out and whippy. If it's dedicated to XC, with no thought of anything even a little more technical, then hey, Mr. W might like the ride just fine. But I lean very favorably towards the fit provided by a shorter stem (I dropped from 110mm to 90mm on my XtC, removed the spacers, and added riser bars,) and even if Mr. W (or any other hypothetical rider) does not harbor that tendency in general, he still may appreciate a couple of centimeters dropped from the stem of the bike in question.

...more bikes?

Edit:
Same.

Embrace simplicity.
Put others first.
Desire little.

This sounds like taoism to me. and i like. that shot tid bit of philosophy can explain why i ride bikes. except the desire little part. i am currently desiring xt cranks, thomson seat post, xt cassette, new tires and tubes. that and dinner. after i get those i will desire less untill i want new wheels.

Live in a good place.
Keep your mind deep.
Treat others well.
Stand by your word.
Do the right thing.
Work when it is time.
Only do not contend,
And you will do no wrong.

The tao is deep. Mr W, you have a very awesome scott bicycle. It is very attrative. Now go get that girl dirty!

Next person who says to follow Mountain Bike Action's advice is getting a 48 hour ban.

IF he was to follow MTB action's advice they would have him put a dual crown on the bike.

Agreed. I only mention MTBA as a means of reinforcing the virtue of proper stem sizing.

If that's not good enough, at least it's not Bicycling.

15" Specialized Stumpjumper
Suntour superb pro thumbshifters
42/32 rings
Rigid Hardrock fork

https://www.geocities.com/rms220/mtndt.jpg

sorry its not the best picture

Mr W: Turn your bikes around! I wanna see the drivetrain goodies, not a fricken pedal arm!

And yes, I have tried to take it offroad, it sucks.

Its called the art of seduction. You don't reveal it all straight away.

Tallbikes suck!

Don't be asking to show off goodies. You'll get Flak all excited.