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@FatManOnAFixie
Latest discovery in my own personal world of cycling knowledge. Latest installment = Stems, aka "How to turn a comfy bike into an instrument of Torture".
A picture of three Stems.
I've been experimenting with various riding positions, I've noticed that as the weight is still slowly coming off AND I'm getting more flexible around the midriff that I can now 'reach' forward and grab the bars more comfortably that before on this bike. As I've said before its a very different riding position from the Dawes fixie in the other thread which I've kept as my 'control' bike whilst I experiment with this lump. Re-focus on them stems in the piccie above.... on the right is the original stem that came with the bike when it was about to go into the skip at work, in the middle is an adjustable stem, on the left is what I though was the answer to my position woes. I was wrong.
The original stem fitted with the 3 stem spacers to me feel's a bit too far forward, on a long (for me) run of say 50 miles my shoulders and wrists start to ache and my neck joins in too a short while after that. It actually takes the fun away from riding, thats summat I definitely don't want. So, a while back I bought the adjustable stem, after much fettling and riding I find that when its set like this...
...everything in the world is at one, the flowers wave their leaves at me as I zoom past, birds serenade me with their merry toons etc etc etc. BUT, there's always a but, there's a slight creaking sound when I use this stem which I guess is from the way they bolt together to make 'em adjustable. This worries me when I'm hanging on for dear life on more challenging parts (for me) of my rides. Is it safe to ride with this kind of adjustable stem 4evar or are they really only to be used for setting up bikes and finding comfy spots?
I thought I could further inprove my ride quality by bring the bars back to the steerer and celebrate my new found bendyness buying that little Uno stem, but no, the steering feels 'odd' and my knees feel too close to my hands even on a short run. I dun a wrong un there I feel.
In maximum hurt-mode using the original stem the Saddle/Bar position is this...
...but using the FatManFreindly-adjustable stem the position is this...
It doesn't look much, but the difference in comfort is amazing. Ideally I suppose they bestest way is to replicate the dimensions of the adjustable stem with a solid stem yeah?
Onwards! To comfort city.