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edscoble
I've been ridin', a-fettlin' and a-learnin' with ScobsWell recently. I've done a lot of riding and learning a lot about comfort and efficiency (I think!).
That adjustable stem that ScobsWell inherited from the Dawes has a reach too far and too high to get me in that super-comfortable position where I can just go for miles and miles in. So, I've been 'sperrymenting.
I've taken the stems off my partners old bike and my all-weather grotty commuter (ScobsWell is for bestest evening and weekend rides) and tried each in turn in addition to a pair of bog-standard straight bars I'd got from somewhere.
These 2...
The Alloy SR from my commuter beast was OK but it put me low and it was a bit of a reach still to the bars...
I did a big London Loop like this last weekend and I was fast (for me). But about 45 miles in my shoulders started feeling the strain a bit. So, this weekend I fitted the black stem...
Ooo, now thats not bad, I'm 'up' a little bit and need to re-adjust the saddle angle as I noticed I slipped forward a bit when I was gunning it a bit in 'big-kid-zooming-mode' . About 14 miles into a ride I noticed the stem wobbling in the fork steerer, erks! It'd moved and loosened off a bit, putting my glasses on (yes, I'm that old) I noticed I'd set it a little above the Max height line, my bad. Setting it lower into the fork tube I'm just into the aching zone again 40+ miles into a ride but its better than the SR. So I think I need a stem like the black one but with maybe less reach and maybe a bit of a longer stem length to be able to play with the height a tad more.
What's the panels view on a stem like this? - > http://www.velosolo.co.uk/kalloyswan.html or this one? -> http://www.velosolo.co.uk/kalin.html
With a shorter reach does the steering get too twitchy? I tried a very short reach stem on that old Carrera bike I played with last summer and the effect was extreme, I can't fit it onto Scobswell as its 31.8mm and Scob's is a traditional 1". I'm wondering if ScobsWell would be mellower?