Which stem?

[redjedi]

After finishing my drop bar conversion, and giving it a couple of weeks to get used to the new setup, I now realise that I need to adjust something, probably the stem.

This is my bike with the new bars

Since I took the picture I have rotated the bars up a bit, as I found the reach to the hoods to far and was giving me lower back pain after a couple of miles.
With the bars rotated a bit it is a lot more comfortable on my back but now my hands and fingers start to go numb quite quickly so I have to keep moving them around.
Also with the bars in this postion I can no longer use the drops comfortably.

So I think I need to change the stem, but should I go for just a shorter one (currently it's 110mm) or one with more of an angle, giving me more height at the same time?

I've found these

http://www.parker-international.co.uk/5395/BBB-HighRise-Stem.html

or should I go for an adjustable stem (which look a bit ugly)

http://www.parker-international.co.uk/3545/BBB-HighSix-Adjustable-Stem.html

I'm thinking I will go with the 110mm high rise stem, as that will give me some extra height and move the bars closer.

Any thoughts?

 

[redjedi]

Well I went for the ugly adjustable stem in the end.

I took a detour home last night and dropped into Putney Cycles (very highly recommended) and saw Simon who gave me lots of good advice.

Even though I was only getting a £20 stem, he some time to look at my riding position and set up the stem to the correct height. He also suggested I lower my seat a fraction.

I was also advised to move the levers back a bit (and re-tape), which I'll be doing at lunch.

It was much more comfortable, but this morning it was creaking a lot. So when I re-tape the bars I'll be applying lot's of grease to the bolts and also where the stem makes contact with the steerer and bars. Hopefully that will sort out the noise (fingers crossed).

Once again I can't recommended Putney Cycles highly enough, very friendly and knowledgeable.

 

[Globalti]

Great, isn't it when you meet someone who is prepared to give you the benefit of their experience?

Looks a nice bike although I'd be getting the hairdryer out to remove those ghastly orange and yellow Mavic decals from the rims. They clash with your frame colour! I have just bought the same wheels and I took 7 decals off each wheel leaving just one on the RH side of each, took 'em off the hubs too.

 

[Bodhbh]

It was much more comfortable, but this morning it was creaking a lot. So when I re-tape the bars I'll be applying lot's of grease to the bolts and also where the stem makes contact with the steerer and bars. Hopefully that will sort out the noise (fingers crossed).

I had one on my bike for a while and it did seem to creak a fair bit when pulling on the bars, even with everything greased and well tightened. They do seem quite useful till you get a comfy position sorted, however I swapped it out over winter for a normal stem which put the creaking to bed, and it was a heavy ol' thing.

 

[grhm]

I too had issues with my adjustable stem creaking - it needed grease reapplying between the adjustable parts ever week. Eventually I gave up and 'upgraded' to a non-adjustable one (happy that I knew what angle I liked).