Shorter Stem - My Experience

[cd365]

After 9 months off my bike due to a calf problem (I'm still waiting for my NHS hospital referral, I went private in the end) when I got back on my bike I had a relapse, serious pain in my calf again. I gave it a couple of weeks and tried again and decided that maybe I was over-stretching a bit. I've had the bike for a few years and always seemed fine before.

After a bit of research I decided to try a shorter stem, so I went from a 100mm stem to 60mm stem. I have now been riding that for a while and have had no recurrence of my calf problem. One of the problems that I read about on here of moving to a shorter stem was the bike being a bit more twitchy, I can honestly say that I haven't noticed. I can still ride no-handed uphill.

So in my experience if you want to try a shorter stem, give it a go, it might not be what you want in the end but it is worth trying. For me it has had the desired effect.

 

[cd365]

How would stem length relate to riding no hands?

Because people said the bike could be more twitchy. I used riding no-hands to test if it was.

 

[vickster]

Why do you think it helped the calf problem? What did your private consult diagnose out of interest?

 

[Levo-Lon]

Twitchy with a shorter stem applies to inputs you make..
but if it solves your pain its not an issue..
i run a 80mm stem as the 100mm just caused me shoulder pain.

 

[cd365]

The common perception that a shorter stem increases twitchyness is because a given amount of hand movement leads to a greater amount of rotation of the forks than with a long stem. Hands off, it is going to be no different.

I'd noticed no difference hands on so tried hands off as well. Thought it worth mentioning.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

Shorter stem twitchiness is exacerbated on wide bars. Me? I like a longer than "normal" top tube and nice short stem. On drop barred tarmac bikes I ride on the tops most of the time and I've never encountered the twitchy. On a wide barred mtb with shortie stem? Oh yes.

 

[Yellow Saddle]

The common perception that a shorter stem increases twitchyness is because a given amount of hand movement leads to a greater amount of rotation of the forks than with a long stem. Hands off, it is going to be no different.

It will be different. The bars and front wheel flop around more with a longer stem than with a shorter one.

 

[derrick]

I dropped from a 100 to a 90, it did feel very twitchy to start with, but after a few miles i got used to it, now it feels fine.