Lowering handlebar stem on a road bike

DirkVoodoo

Hey all,

so I was out cycling yesterday with two friends, one of whom is a proper cyclist. He noted that my bike setup was wrong and suggested lowering my handlebar stem and raising my saddle. We would be about the same height, leg length, etc. and i noticed his bike frame was smaller than mine, confirming my suspicion that my bike shop had sized me up wrong and ordered too big a frame for me. It's grand enough, and I don't want to buy a new bike, so I think I will start with his advice.

Raising the saddle I can do, I'm not that much of a muppet. But I am not sure about the handlebars. They already seem as low as they can go but I will leave that up to your judgement. Any help would be greatly appreciated and sorry for the crappy picture, its one of the few I have. I can take a snap of the stem later on if needed.

Attachment not found.

EDIT: I think that my saddle may be lower now than it appears here, so don't worry about that too much.

kenmc

2 options.
1) there are probably spacers below the stem, above the headset which can be removed, dropping the stem height (note the spacers must be replaced above the stem for the AHead set to be correctly adjusted - unless you cut the stem to the correct height).
2) You could either flip the stem so it is angled downwards or get a shorter/different angled stem to replace it with.

Or of course you could do both of the above at the same time!

Morgan

You appear to have 3-4 spacers under your stem, you can put these above the stem to lower the bars.

Instructions here:
http://sheldonbrown.com/gloss_ha-i.html#headset

and here:
http://www.parktool.com/repair/readhowto.asp?id=65 (at the end)

niceonetom

what ken said.

i'd also point out that your handlebars seem to be angled quite far up which looks odd to me, and must raise your hands an inch or more when you're on the hoods. as a general rule, the bottom ends of the bars should be about horizontal (or the face of the plugs vertical if you get me). the hoods can be moved on the bar if this makes them feel too low, but you'll need new tape afterwards. experiment.

if the height of the saddle is lower than the bars i would guess that the frame is a bit big for you. a shorter stem would be in order.

Chips Lovell

I'd take a look at the saddle height first. It should be high enough so that you're fully extending your legs without locking them out on the down stroke. That way you'll get the most power transfer. A lot of people leave their saddle too low, mainly becase they feel they should be able to put their foot on the ground while still in the saddle. Instead, you should be getting out of the saddle to put your foot down.

As for the bars, yes you could drop them by removing some or all of the spacers and cutting the steerer tube. As Tom said too, your bars seemed to be angled a bit upwards, so rotating them down would get a better fit.

How much of a drop you should have between the saddle and the bars is kind of up to you. Guys who race often tend to have quite an agressive fit, with a big drop allowing for a more aerodynamic position. But if you look back even as late as the eighties, the pros had much less of a drop. It all depends on what you're comfortable with and how flexible you are.

DirkVoodoo

Thanks for the replies guys.

I should have mentioned that aside from my saddle being lower than in that pic, my handlebars were also adjusted to point more downwards.

I find the ride fine, especially for my commute. But as a more "event" oriented bike I feel like I'm losing out with an inefficient position. My mate commented that when we were climbing and I was out of the saddle, I was far too upright due to the bike.

Thanks again.

Hungrycol

el tonto wrote: »

I'd take a look at the saddle height first. It should be high enough so that you're fully extending your legs without locking them out on the down stroke. That way you'll get the most power transfer. A lot of people leave their saddle too low, mainly becase they feel they should be able to put their foot on the ground while still in the saddle. Instead, you should be getting out of the saddle to put your foot down.

As long as your hips don't wiggle while your peddaling, then it's too high.

DirkVoodoo wrote:

My mate commented that when we were climbing and I was out of the saddle

Nowt wrong with being out of the saddle on a climb.

beans

Stem-related query that isn't deserving of it's own thread;

I have a build at home, just requires a stem and I'm done. It needs a 1 inch quill-type stem, and I'm trying to guesstimate what kind of reach/angle I'll need.

Best I can think of is to buy a cheap, average stem and then work out what to buy in terms of quality parts later. Any better suggestions?

niceonetom

if you have another bike that you like the setup on, you could measure the horizontal distance from the tip of the saddle to the bar/stem intersection, and the drop, and then try to figure it out from there. if you don't have another bike to use as a template then guessing is all i can think of.

with a quill you have a bit of freedom up and down so length is more imprtant than angle i reckon.

Gavin

Could get one of those adjustable stems, dunno how good they are though.
http://cgi.ebay.ie/extra-long-adjustable-quill-handlebar-stem-for-bike_W0QQitemZ270230770218QQihZ017QQcategoryZ56194QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem