Requiem

Hey, folks. Hope you'll forgive me for being a newb to this, but I have a question about my Diamondback Sorrento I got from my brother for cheap. I got a tune up and had the derailleur replaced. After riding it a couple times, I noticed that on the roads the handlebars were too low causing my back some discomfort. However, on trails I didn't notice this as much if at all. I looked into it, and unfortunately there's no simple solution to quickly raise the handlebars to a more comfortable position for road riding. I suppose the term for the system I have is a threadless stem... I did some googling (yes, it's a word!) and saw some people discussing adjusting adjustable stems... will these work well in giving me more height, and will it stand up to both road and trail use? If so, how do I figure out which one will work for my bike?

Also, will I potentially have to get longer brake cables and how much of a pain in the arse would this be to do myself?


Thanks for tolerating my idiot questions, guys.


Here are some pictures of the setup...

Requiem

jeese... no one for some help for the new guy? Oh well... bump I guess.

JiveTurkey

Next time, put a question like this in Mechanics.

Since there are no spacers above the stem, the current stem can't be raised. It also looks like the stem comes straight out from the steerer or angles up slightly, which means it can't be flipped to raise the bars, either.

Here are some options:
- Higher angle stem
- Higher rise handlebars
- Stem raiser https://www.amazon.com/STEM-RAISER-DE.../dp/B001D025OA
- Some combo of the above

Raising the bars may make the cable housings too short. They look like they're about as short as they can go now, so it's likely.

Here's a handy tool to compare how various stems will affect handlebar height: https://alex.phred.org/stemchart/Default.aspx

scyclops

I'd avoid adjustable stems if I were you - most of them have a little bit of "give" to them, even when you tighten the **** out of them. And in any case they won't give you that big of a range of adjustment.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but it sounds like you haven't been riding a lot prior to getting this bike (?). If that's the case then give yourself some time to get used to a more aggressive riding posture. As you may already suspect, an upright position is not good for offroad riding where control of the bike is more critical.
If you still want the bars higher I'd go with a higher rise fixed stem, and try to strike a compromise between on and offroad purposes. Cables shouldn't be an issue unless you're going more than an inch or so higher.
FWIW, I'm a middle aged guy with a really bad back, but I ride a lot (on and offroad) and the top of my saddle is roughly level with the top of the bars, and I'm very comfortable that way.

Requiem

Thanks for the help guys, I'll be sure to post this in the other appropriate forum as well. Also, I literally just got into biking.... so the little info I know is from the internet