me and my bike

hey guys. just got a new salsa whammy flat bar. its 780 mm and i feel really stretched forward and pressure on the wrist.also climbing has become super twitchy. i like the levrage from the longer bars but its hard to keep the front wheel from wandering uphill. do i have to shorten my stem. im running a 85mm right now as before when my bars were 670mm.should i drop to 65 mm .thanks

pablosnazzy

yes you should shorten the stem.

without seeing you on a bike or knowing any measurements, i would say try a 50mm

ed 

+1

If you widen your stance (grip), you decrease the length of your reach. This will move you further over the front. Shortening the stem should bring ya back.

I've ran as long as 90mm stem on my Komodo. I prefer 35mm, but I can't find one that will work for me...so I'm on a 50mm. Love the 50 for sure, but would go even shorter if I could.

me and my bike

will the bike still climb as good with the shorter stem

JonathanGennick 

Sure. Just work on your technique. Lean forward a bit if the climb gets steep and you need more weight on the front tire. Apply some body-English. You are the boss of the bike. Make it do what you want.

Keep in mind that a shorter stem with higher-rise bars often makes descending a whole lot more fun. You can more easily shift your weight back on the bike in order to clear obstacles on the downhill.

Edit: That you went to a flat bar is concerning. Usually one wants to raise the bar when shortening the stem. Long and low. Short and high. IMHO.

pablosnazzy

it will climb better and you will have more control overall. and you will be more comfortable.

JonathanGennick 

Never mind

yyz

Same thing here, but it seems like I am climbing very well and riding aero position. I think I also should shorten the stem a bit.

me and my bike

Hey guys so i still havent pulled the triger on the shorter stem because i wanted to try it out a little longer before spending money. Now whenever i ride i get bad wrist pain. Spoke to the lbs mechainc and he said to try riding with finger across the levers on flats to reduce pain before either shortning the bar or stem. Which do you guys think it is. To long bars or to long stem.

Thor29

What bar were you using before? The Whammy has 11 degrees of sweep, maybe that isn't right for your wrists. Are you using lock on grips? If so, you could remove the end caps and slide everything towards the stem a little bit at a time to see how width affects your wrists. And finally, if you are feeling stretched out, then that will make your wrists hurt because you are leaning forward and putting more weight on your wrists. That would indicate that a shorter stem is needed. There are some pretty cheap stems out there for $20-30 so it shouldn't be all that hard to try it out before throwing down for a Thomson or any other fancy stem.

me and my bike

thanks man. i like the moving the breaks in idea, never thought of that . Im going to try that and see what happens. Do you think a riser bar would help?

Clem von Jones

If your front wheel wanders on climbs you need to lower your bars using a negative rise stem or reduce the travel of your fork with an internal spacer or increase sag. It's pointless to have a mtb that fights you whilst climbing mountains.