how short a stem is too short?

[madscot13]

lph, I'm thinking of doing the same thing. my stem is 90 mm right now and I was wondering if I should do 70 and a short reach handlebar or if that would be too much and 80 mm would be better...

[Andrea]

I used to ride with a 70mm on my first bike. I didn't have a problem with handling, although I did have to pay attention to what I was doing a little more because the steering was very "responsive" to twitches and whatnot

[Ana]

I had to have my stem shortened to make my fit better but my LBS said as a guideline, you should stay within 20mm of whatever your stock was... I switched from 85 to a 65 They also said that the handling might get a little more twitchy as the stem gets shorter, and cautioned me about the handling at higher speeds. I don't go that fast or far (no more than 18 mph or 30 miles) so I'm not too concerned. If I build up my strength, I might have to change my stem again or something but we'll see.

I haven't taken my bike out since the change so I've only been on the trainer but I'm so happy about my fit that I haven't really given it any thought

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

My original bike came with a 9mm stem. Reach way too long. I changed it for a 5mm and rode that for months. That helped the reach, but my steering was noticably wobbly, especially when climbing hills. I was correcting my front wheel like all the time, which was extremely annoying and somewhat unsafe when climbing narrow hills in traffic.
So I changed again for a 7mm, and that seemed to be a good compromise.
Lots of people will say a 7 is too short. It 'is' too short, but it's a good place between too-long and too-short for me. The steering is no longer wobbly, and the reach is better than the old 9mm.

[HillSlugger]

My race bike has a 60cm stem with a 30 degree rise that effectively makes it even shorter. I don't have any problem with the handling on this bike, but it's the only stem I've used on it.

[madscot13]

we should set up recycling system for stems that don't seem to fit because everyone seems to switch them at least twice. it would be like the way Brook saddles seem to fly around the forum. imagine it, for the cost of shipping and some small price we could try out stems until we found one we liked instead of paying $40 each time. Even if it wasn't the prettiest stem we could replace it with one that was nicer and sent that one on its merry way.

think I'll have a 90mm quill stem finding a new home in a few months, just got to find the right size...

[HillSlugger]

I have a 100mm stem I can send out. Not sure of the angle off hand.