Quote Originally Posted by KnottedYet View Post
Rode Flossie for my work commute today. New headset and stem!

Headset: didn't even notice it (that's a good thing!) Bike steered like butter.

Stem: Wow! I can use the drops! I almost feel too close to the bars when I'm up on the hoods, but I figure that's a good thing as I really prefer to be in the drops. Was nice to be able to use both, and my back and neck felt very different. No problem steering, so the shorter reach really didn't change the function, just the fit. Very happy with the new stem.
That's GREAT, Knot! Isn't it wonderful when a change on your bike make things better? Your bike is SO BEAUTIFUL and WONDERFUL....so incredibly special. It's so good that you appreciate it so well. Lock that baby up good- she's a "drooler".

My Ramouillet came with a 9mm stem (we had asked for a 7, but they forgot and it's a 5 hour drive to get there and back). That stem I rode for a couple of months and I just could not get my weight back off my hands and balanced no matter what we did. So we positioned my saddle mid-rail again and put a 5mm stem on it. My weight was suddenly totally balanced, weight off my hands, I could suddenly use the drops (like you are now experiencing) and life was great. I rode another few months. As my core muscles improved, I found the "cockpit" statred seeming more cramped to me. Weird. Also, I began to stand up hills more often and my knees were bumping into the bar-end shifters. As I became a better rider I began to notice it was harder to hold a straight line- lots of extraneous correcting that I hadn't noticed with the old 9 stem.
So this past week we changed yet again, this time to a compromise 7mm stem. Hoped to improve steering stability, eliminate knee bumping into shifters, and hopefully not have too long a reach that it would put weight onto my hands again.
It worked! The 7mm stem seems just right. Steering is better, more room for my knees when standing, no feeling of reach being too long, no feeling of being unbalanced. YAY! I hope this is what you are now feeling too.
The only little adjustment now is that while I ride, I keep feeling I need to scoot back on the back edge of my saddle...so I am going to move my saddle from its current mid-rail position to a 1/2 cm back, to give me that room my body seems to want to adjust its center of gravity.

Now all that's left is retaping, twining, and shellacking that side of the bars again. I'll ride for another week or two first to make SURE I don't need to do any more tweaking.