Shorter Stem to Compensate Longer Reach Handle Bar?

[udinesedphm]

hi,

I'd just fitted ControlTech Carbon Comp handlebar 80mm reach, which is about 30/25cm Reach increase from my old handle bar....currrently using 100mm Stem....

So would getting a shorter Stem e.g 70mm or 80mm fix the problem...

now i had to move my Saddle forward a bit..to get a better feel

 

[MR_Sarcastic]

Never move the saddle around to make up for a too short, or too long stem.

A bar with an 80mm reach is not that large. What kind of bar did you have before?

Bars can often be cheaper than stems (but not carbon bars)

 

[dsut4392]

hi,

I'd just fitted ControlTech Carbon Comp handlebar 80mm reach, which is about 30/25cm Reach increase from my old handle bar....currrently using 100mm Stem....

So would getting a shorter Stem e.g 70mm or 80mm fix the problem...

Yes.10 characters

 

[Master50]

Next bike needs a shorter top tube which can often be accomplished by getting a smaller frame size and a longer seatpost. If you need to push your seat forward and shorten the stem to 70 or 80 the bike is too big along the top tube. You might be a person with a short torso and long legs and you bought that bike based on standover height or inseam length alone?
As for the shorter stem? Yes that will work but it will affect the balance of the bike by opushing your CG back a little and shortening the stem affects handling. Neither of these are severe but they accumulate with the other things.
I will say I have a bias against bikes with shorter than 10cm stems.

 

[dsut4392]

Next bike needs a shorter top tube which can often be accomplished by getting a smaller frame size and a longer seatpost. If you need to push your seat forward and shorten the stem to 70 or 80 the bike is too big along the top tube. You might be a person with a short torso and long legs and you bought that bike based on standover height or inseam length alone?
As for the shorter stem? Yes that will work but it will affect the balance of the bike by opushing your CG back a little and shortening the stem affects handling. Neither of these are severe but they accumulate with the other things.
I will say I have a bias against bikes with shorter than 10cm stems.

You're likely right about the tt being too long. Alternatively it's possible the OP had his seat too far back to start with, the bars too low, and is really inflexible
The shorter stem will affect the balance and handling, true, but the effect (while riding on the hoods and in the drops) will be returning the balance and and handling to what they used to be with the old bars. I.e. weight distribution over the bike, and distance from the steerer axis to the front of the bars will be just what the OP used to have with his/her old bars. Riding on the tops of course is a different story, handling will be affected by the shorter stem.

 

[ustabe]

I once installed a longer stem to compensate for a shorter reach handlebar, so going in the other direction should be a no-brainer.

Measure your bars carefully before buying, though. I never heard of a bar that had 80 mm reach and was 25-30 cm longer than the other one. That would put the old one at -220 to -215 mm reach.