reeeeeeaaaaaach...

[madscot13]

After I have adjusted my seat and my stem I have to admit it is sort of an awkward reach. I just feel like I shouldn't be leaning that far to be in my drops and I end up pulling back about .5-1" to rest my hands on my hoods. I was thinking of popping on the salsa short and shallow to remedy thr problem. Should I try a shorter stem? I do enjoy my bike ever so much but it is not women specific and I guess to make matters worse it is a touring bike. Any suggestions?>]

[SadieKate]

How long is your stem in centimeters? And what was the adjustment you made to it already?

And, um, what does it being a touring bike have to do with the fit?

[KnottedYet]

Yeah, what's with the touring bike? it should have you MORE upright (less reach d/t the top tube).

I'd be getting a shorter-reach stem before switching h'bars, unless the h'bars you have now are really driving you nuts. I have short-n-shallows, and really they didn't change the reach nearly as much as getting a 2cm less-reach stem did for me.

[madscot13]

Well don't touring bikes have longer top tubes? I just feel a bit stretched out. Maybe I should raise the stem even more, but at some point I think it looks ridiculous.

I raised the stem about 3 cm. How do I measure the length?

[SadieKate]

Stem length affects handling. You don't want to mess with that and take it out of the optimum range. If you're a smaller rider, a stem in the 85-100mm range is good.

There are so many other factors to fit that someone with long legs could easily have a long saddle to bar drop, no matter whether it is a touring bike or a racing bike. You can't just make an assumption.

[KnottedYet]

Well don't touring bikes have longer top tubes?

Nope. They have longer chainstays.

[SadieKate]

How do I measure the length?

Quill or threadless. I'm guessing quill from your descriptions.

[madscot13]

quill

[madscot13]

THe stem is even with the seat, do you think I should raise it more?

[SadieKate]

Scroll down the page. I'll keep looking for a pic of measuring a threaded or quill stem but this should get you started.

http://www.nashbar.com/tech/sizebike.cfm

I'm back. Finding of picture of that may be hopeless, but essentially stem length is measured from the center of the headset (the bolt on a quill stem) to the center of the bars and this can obviously vary from stem to stem.

[SadieKate]

THe stem is even with the seat, do you think I should raise it more?

No. Sounds great. Work on reach from here.

How tall are you, what size bike and how long is the stem?

[madscot13]

Using my fancy dancy measuring tape it looks like 90 mm.

[madscot13]

I am 5' 2" on tall days- read 5' 1". The bike is a 17" trek 520.

[KnottedYet]

I have a 90mm reach quill stem. Got my bars about an inch or 1 1/2 higher than my saddle. mmmmmMMMMMM good! (replaced a 120mm reach, and much shorter-height quill with a spiffy Nitto quill)

[SadieKate]

What's your top tube length? Go back to that article.