Those super-short 31.8mm clamp stems were originally intended for mountainbike use. The leverage and effective steering angles aren't as much of an issue when you have a wide, flat bar.

But seriously, I'm not going to sit here and say that bike is 'wrong'. If it works for you, ride the hell out of it.

Plenty of folks here will say it's wrong....

I would not go that far but still stand by my prior posting that doing this is a serious red flag for a sizing problem and is going to be a compromise.

I agree that it is a red flag but may be correct.

My wife is 5'8" and runs an 80mm stem with a 55cm top tube. If we dropped to a better fitting 53-54cm top tube the seat tube and head tube would be too short. As pictured the stem is all the way up. She is a prime candidate for a WSD frame (all legs) but wanted vintage steel:

http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/k...m/DSC01126.jpg

Because some of us need bikes with long seat tubes and short top tubes, and they are not available. Add to that the need or desire to have a bar height near the same height as the saddle only compounds the problem. The answer to your question is that people can only buy the bikes in available sizes. Stems, bars, seat posts are made in a variety of sizes to get these canned-sized bikes closer to the custom size the rider needs. Put simply, NO bike fits very many riders; the rest of us make adjustments.

http://i668.photobucket.com/albums/v...g?t=1268018374

This guy from the Scattante thread uses a short stem too

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...ur-Scattante-*

If she had a modern short/shallow bar on there, she would most likely need a 100mm stem and nobody would think anything was wrong with it. On the other hand, is she had modern Shimano STI levers, she would probably need an even shorter stem.
People often forget to account for differences in reach for various handlebar and brake hood designs.

That doesn't surprise me on a tiny frame. A 60cm is different. He probably bought the smallest size they have.

I could do that. :p

+1; I figure that I'd need to change to either a shorter stem or a bar with less reach if I went with SRAM (or 6700/7900) instead of the 7800 shifters I have now.

Holy Snow White, Batman...that is a dwarfish frame :eek:

I feel like people here that are saying they have long legs and a short upper body just need to go down an additional frame size and then buy a longer seat post if the stock seat post needs to be raised above the minimum insert.

Maybe, but they'd need to check the head tube length so that they don't end up with huge saddle-to-bar drop, too.

not only that, but for 700c bikes, frame sizes smaller than 21"/53cm are not actually smaller. The steeper STA only makes it worse for people with longer legs, because they'll have to buy a special seatpost with extra long setback.

Basically, the top tube does not get any shorter than 21.5"/54.5cm

Not always possible.

Correct. My wifes bike has a fairly tall stem at the min. insert mark and still has a healthy saddle to bar drop for a new cyclist.


More seatpost and more stem would be a worse fit than the short stem.


I would question a short stem with very little rise on any frame over 53cm. In that case a different frame may be better. In my wifes case a wsd frame or touring frame would be better but it was what she wanted, it was cheap, and she is a casual cyclist.

It is hard to appreciate the issue unless you are there. As I mentioned above I ride a 63 cm frame (center to top of seat tube), 60 cm top tube, with a 45 mm stem. My position is very comfortable ( right now I am riding about 9 cm seat to bar drop. If I went down in frame size to 62, 61, and even some 60's I would likely reduce top tube length by 1 or 2 cm at most. So now I can ride a 55 or 65 cm stem with the same position - big deal. At 61 or 60 frame size the head tube length starts to be a problem. There are a few frames that take another cm or 2 out of the top tube but they are not common. So unless I go custom I will be(happily) riding a short stem.

How many miles are you riding? What percentage do you ride in the drops? Reagrdless of set up if you dont ride in the drops you wont be comfortable in the drops. Make a conscious effort to spend a percentage of your rides in the drops and see if you dont develop the flexibility to use them comfortably. It will take some time.

I agree with that, something anyone can get use to with time.

Correct.

Also, another thing to keep in mind is that some bikes need a shorter stem to speed up steering.
Take for example, most XS and S size bikes. Many of them have 71 deg head tube angles. This prevents toe overlap and allows the top tube to be shorter.
The slacker head angle (71 vs 73-74 on a regular sized bike) will slow down the steering. Thus to speed it up the steering, a shorter stem is needed.

The shorter stem also works well because it allows an even shorter reach to the handlebars.

I would seriously doubt the knowledge of every fitter you have talked to, if none of them found your saddle tilt to be a problem.