Will a 15mm Stem Make a Difference?

[@dustybikes86]

excited to see what you think after riding it for a bit!

[@kris8165]

I'm on the bicycles my entire life (couple of decades now 😅) and for the last 10 years, every bike feels too long to me... I tried sizing down, handlebars with rise, bigger sweep, adjusting my saddle, nothing works if I ride more than 1 hour! My road bike (single speed/fixed gear) fits me better! Modern mtb's are simply not comfortable for my body! I'll try out that super short stem,if I can find one cheaply...On the bike 7 days per week,365 days per year! No car! Never owned any motorized vehicle! Well... Interesting and informative video 🙂 Greetings from Kris from Croatia 😎

[@betenoirproductions6062]

Hi Kris, search Aerozinebike XNC 10 Stem. 👍

[@W0lfytzu]

Very nice! I had no idea that a 15mm stem even existed. Nice and well explained. Thank you! I would even try to run it reversed, meaning -15mm. Just a suggestion.

[@Ryland_28]

Oooh. I bought my first bike a couple years ago, based on 'suggested' frame size rather than geometry. Turns out that the reach is a bit long and the stack a bit low. But I didn't know better at the time. I ended up getting a FUNN equalizer stem and 40mm riser bars, which has been great, but this stem looks like it could potentially hit the sweet spot. Thanks for sharing your experience.

[@hananas2]

As soon as I rode a bike with a really short stem I knew I didn't like long stems at all. Had a city bike with a quill stem and a handlebar with so much backsweep that your hands were effectively behind the steering axis, and even that in my opinion was a lot more fun to corner with than a long stem. Looking forward to getting a newer MTB so I can put a shorter stem on it without being too close to the bars.

[@tettazwo9865]

This is valuable, thank you!

[@hammertime7740]

Never Heard of a 15 stem. Could make a larger bike fit properly!

[@ShadLife]

Yes. That or if someone wants a longer front center while maintaining the same effective reach.

[@LaurentiusTriarius]

For extreme cases I present you the reverse trial stem! A 5 yrs old can now fit your average Enduro! 😂 Seriously you can make anything fit when I was young we jumped 26" ladies bikes that were way too big for us. At least the low down tube preserved our nuts 😅

[@samstrolia]

I just swapped my 70mm (originally 100mm before that) out for a 32mm Turbine R stem. My bike is a 23" XXL Trek Procaliber and I have found this to be more comfortable to move my weight around on now. Somehow quite noticeable, but I guess that does make some sense since it's nearly 4 centemeters less reaching forward/weight forward.

[@ShadLife]

This is true. A Pro Caliber is an XC race bike so they likely have a shorter top tube and put a longer stem on it. XC bikes tend to lean you too far forward in my opinion, but that's what many of the racers like. Think road biking.

[@johnbrowning2077]

Reminds me of the old Azonic Hammer Stem

[@STLMTB]

Will it? of course, will it be good? that my friend is up to you and your riding style.

[@ShadLife]

It's not like my current setup is bad. This is just fun experimenting that might come to something or it might not.

[@STLMTB]

@ShadLife I went feom 50 to 40, then 35mm on a full squish 29'r and what a massive difference in control. I actually went back to the 50mm just for testing and I felt like I was trying to steer a pontoon boat. I love 35mm

[@ShadLife]

@@STLMTB Yep, 35 is pretty sweet.

[@tedwingate]

Looking forward to hearing your opinions on this one. Is it a wash on the RAD measurement with the raise/shortening of the stem? It seems like it forces you to cut your steerer to lower the stem with the integrated top cap.

[@ShadLife]

I won't cut my steerer. At least not yet.

[@mazescopak405]

I'm pretty sure it will create over steering, depending on the terrain it could benefit or hinder handling. It's probably good for smoother terrain.

[@ShadLife]

It actually rides on rough terrain better. Initially it felt too easy to oversteer, but I got used to it rather quickly.

[@danielstormy3660]

On my Trek Top fuel 2022 XL size (im 188cm-6,2 in usa measuring) i removed stock 45mm stem and put 100m stem, dont get why is that obsession with short stems. For me riding with short stem was weird, bike turning was too much fast reactive and my legs were too close to handlebars.

[@ShadLife]

It depends on the type of riding you do. With a longer (100mm) stem it puts your body and weight forward closer and over the front wheel. This is fine while seated and pedalling, but once you stand to ride more technical stuff, especially downhill, a longer stem makes it much harder to get your weight back where it needs to be. When jumping a longer stem also can cause you to be too far forward and cause you to nosedive. The obsession with short stems is because frames have gotten longer and it puts the front wheel out in front where it should be. If the bars are too close with a shorter stem, then you need a longer frame, not a longer stem. This is how BMX bikes have been sized since the late 80s. They size them by top tube length which makes way more sense than putting a different sized stem on it.

[@Vasyapetrov666]

Never try adjust reach with seat setback, for short rides anything work really, but on something longer than 20km you will suffer (or no, but who knows)

[@winterwatson6437]

yeah, seat adjustments are for how one’s body relates to the pedals, not the bars

[@ShadLife]

That's a good point. For longer rides you want the seat set up in relationship to the pedals and at the correct height when all the way up (dropper).

[@The_Blessed_Cowboy]

I rode my HT Mtb with a race face duce xc 100mm stem for 15 years. I preferred being forced into a leaning position when it came to riding blacktop. On the trail I rode everything that guys with enduro's were riding. I've recently switched to a 50mm raceface atlas and I'm not really noticing that much of a difference in my trail riding/road riding. However I did push my saddle as far back as is goes to compensate for the shorter stem. Perhaps I was just accustomed to riding the longer stem and I wanted that same riding exp?! I built my HT to ride a mixture of blacktop and moderately complex trail, back in 2006 before there were Hybrids and goofy gravel bikes!

[@ShadLife]

Keep in mind, putting a shorter stem on a bike with a shorter top tube will definitely not feel right. Modern bikes have longer top tubes (or reach) and thus a shorter stem allows the bike to still fit properly without sliding the seat back.

[@godfellas483]

Frames should be longer and taller...give the people what they want...regular people don't want a competition spec bike. They want a comfortable stable ride. Todays "compact" frame geometry doesnt suit me.

[@ShadLife]

Compact frame geometry? Bikes today are certainly not compact. They keep getting longer and highy stack height (taller). Compact frame geometry was 80s, 90s and most of the 2000s.

[@chadodickson9333]

@@ShadLife I agree.

[@ronfroese5718]

Analogue cycles 0 offset stems

[@ShadLife]

Ah, so there are others out there! A 0 offset would put your hands behind the steering axis when accounting for handlebar sweep. But it looks like another one similar to this one is available.

[@winterwatson6437]

i run the creemee and love it. city bars also put your hands behind the steering axis. arbitrary rules are arbitrary-try things out at see what works for you!

[@xzcion]

Steering axis of the head tube, yes. Steering axis of the contact patch, probably not on a mountain bike with a high trail number?