I need to shorten my reach a bit - just had a fit and working on configuring a second bike to match.
so on this other bike, I have an integrated handlebar with 110mm stem and the handlebar itself has 100mm reach. on my bike I was fit on, the stem is 110mm with a 76mm reach.
so I was thinking either get an integrated handlebar (which I like) with a 90mm stem? or get a 110mm stem and 76mm reach handlebar.
is there a difference in handling between shorter stem vs shorter reach handlebars?
my bike is already pretty responsive. is shortening 20mm going to be unwieldy? or is it maybe just time to move off this bike? (itâs a size 58).
thank you!!
p.s. I am going to ask the fitter also but usually get amazing feedback on here so I am more knowledgeable when I discuss with him.
In terms of hand placement it does not matter if you shorten the handlebar reach or the stem. A 90mm stem with 100mm reach handlebar would seem to look a bit weird though. Are you sure youâre not mixing this up with handlebar drop? Iâd double and tripple check before you buy and expensive cockpit. Maybe get a shorter stem with the shorter handlerbar reach first (can be cheap) just to check if the fit is good and then spend money on a cockpit
I prefer a longer reach handlebar and shorter stem as there is simply more room in the âhoodsâ area of the bars that way, which is where my hands are 90% of the time.
Iâm not sure where the trend of shorter-reach handlebars came fromâŚ
I can understand âcompactâ bars with a shallower drop, but shortening the reach doesnât seem to bring any benefits as far as I can tellâŚ
I canât say where it came from but itâs definitely become pretty common handlebars targeted towards gravel.
I noticed sql lab came out with a new handlebar for gravel and it surprised me listing a 90mm reach. Thr other interestinf aspect is thr bars have a front sweep rather than a seemingly more common backsweep.
yeah I was wondering that also about it looking (or more importantly feeling) funny. I would just imagine they would shorten the reach a touch with decreased stem length? perhaps that would make it way to expensive to make different sizes. double and triple checked.
itâs this handlebar in case anyone from the future searches this.
The stem length affects handling, the handlebar reach does not. In terms of âreachingâ the bar, it makes no difference if you go for a 90mm stem and 100mm reach bar or a 110mm stem and a 80mm reach bar. The sum of the reach numbers is still 190mm from the steerer tube, and the effective distance to the hood is the same.
However, a longer stem makes the bike handle more smoothly, and a shorter stem makes it more twitchy. For road bikes, anything over 130mm tends to feel awkward and sluggish, and anything below 80mm often feels very nervous. Most bikes are designed around a 90-120mm stem, so handling and geometry is optimised for a stem of that size. On road, going shorter is often much more noticeable than going longer in terms of stability and ride feel.
In your case, since your bike is a size 58, Iâd recommend a 110mm stem and shorter reach handlebars. Your bike is likely designed around a 110-120mm stem from the beginning, so going down to a 90mm will make it ride very poorly as soon as the speed increases.
I disagree. If a rider ends up with their hands in the same physical X/Y dimension in space relative to the saddle & wheels, the combo of Stem Length + Bar Reach is partly irrelevant*.
This assumes location considered at the hood grip or drop location, instead of bar top specifically since that is secondary use and not primary handling concerns.
As mentioned above, peripheral issues like use away from the hoods & drops can come into play as bars with different reach can offer different use in these other locations.
This is because the physics at play matter with respect to force application, not the âway you get thereâ in terms of stem to bar reach variation.
Long Stem + Short Bar can be equivalent to Short Stem + Long Bar.
Stem length and reach are possibly a consideration if your knees ever hit the bars when put of the saddle climbing.
Or similarly, how much of a difference in position do you want when you swap from hoods to bar tops. If you never/rarely ride on the bar tops then maybe it doesnât matter so much?
ok yeah great point. I donât hit now with 110 stem but never noticed how close I get. I do stand a lot and have longer legs. iâll pay attention to this. tyty
For clarity, I did not weigh in on your specific case because I donât have the time to give it proper attention.
Within the bounds of what I stated, I am correct AFAIK, per the following with numbers to add clarity. For a given bike and rider with only the two following deltas (assuming same bar drop curve shape regardless of reach delta):
Both of those will place the rider in the same exact position on the hoods and drops, which means the steering input and weight distribution will be identical between them. Handling will not differ in any practical way.
Super broadly speaking, using a stem within +/-10mm of the stock one supplied with a road bike is totally safe and expected. This can be morphed into bar selection WRT reach as well, but consideration must be paid if both the stem and bars are up for change. Cutting both short could lead to issues, just as both longer could be bad as well.
âDetails matterâ is my favorite phrase in the last couple years and this is a reason why. People tend to ignore or are unaware of bar reach as a value for adjustment deliberately or as a result of a component swap. But it can make a notable difference in fit and handling if extremes take place, so the whole picture must be seen for best application of any potential change.
Returning to the reply I made and the quote I highlighed:
The stem length affects handling, the handlebar reach does not.
If this was true, a person could keep the stem length unchanged and swap bars between a super short 68mm reach bar to an old school 100mm reach bar and think there would be no handling changeâŚ
But I assure you that just about anyone would notice the difference in fit and handling changes with a 32mm delta in final hood and drop position, purely from a handlebar reach difference.
I think the shorter reach is being driven by longer hoods on the shifters. Compare 9-speed Shimano to 11 or 12 speed, the reach is way longer. You make up for it by putting the place where theyâre clamped closer.
While your hands might be in the same place on the hoods or drops, it tends to put your hands further out a bit on the tops if youâre going to a short reach bar and compensating with stem length. It might not be a big deal for flatlanders, but if you climb a lot, thereâs a lot of time spent on the tops.
I think the short answer is that it doesnât matter that much. Iâve ridden my various road bikes with everything between 10cm and 13cm over the years and I canât say I ever felt a dramatic difference in handling one way or another. Steering might feel slightly different at first but youâll quickly adjust.
I agree it likely doesnât make a significant difference with significant being very subjective in this case. Not sure about road but for sure Iâve seen some videos of testing out mtb with progressively shorter stems and it got to be very short before they felt like it was super twitchy.
I wonder if itâs similar to gear ranges and/or cadence. Some people are very finicky about those things while others donât care.
Maybe if with crit racing people might be more sensivite to slight changes based on stem length. I donât know. For sure with gravel bikes I feel like shorter or longer stems donât impact handling much
Keep in mind the notable differences between Road & MTB WRT Head Tube Angle & Trail in particular. MTB has HTAâs slacker by 5* or more, and 150-200% the Trail figure. As such, Stem Length changes are muted when compared to Road bikes. Add in the delta that exist between handlebar widths that slow input/output as well. Essentially, I would not push that MTB stem length test further than itâs own context.
This x1000. Like anything else in this space, people differ such that some will be blind to these deltas while others are hyper aware of minor changes.
Similar to the Road/MTB comparison above, but closer since the geoâs are not different by as large of a delta. Gravel stuff with slacker HTA & longer Trail will reduce impact of stem/bar reach changes.
