Stem sell research

forgive me if i ramble a bit here but damn it all i've been having a right mare with stem choice on my mutant genesis flyer. bought the bike about a year ago, set it up fixed and clipless from the get-go and went with a single crosstop lever. then i stripped and re-sprayed it, got some new bars, saddle and have ordered some new hubs to have a go at wheel building. i'm generally having a lot of fun learning more about bike maintenance and tweaking but...

the riding position's never been quite right on this bike. it's good. good enough for me to buy it in the first place but just not exactly right. i'm 5'11" but have pretty short legs for my height so i went for a 54cm frame rather than a 56. probs not the best choice in hindsight. i've always felt like i was putting slightly too much weight on my arms and that i was a little too stretched out even though i have to have the seatpost at full height to get the right leg extension.

the stock stem on a flyer is pretty flat and pretty long although for some reason the bike came set up with a really long steerer and a shitload of spacers under the stem to raise it up. i figured to solve my problem i wanted to bring the bars up a tad more and back towards me a bit so i got a cheap and cheerful short riser stem which fitted fine and as it had an unintrusive 2 bold faceplate meant i could snug the lever right up against it to make more space on my narrow-ish drops. but if anything it made the problem much worse. i felt like i was perched over the bars with way too much weight forward. it was like riding whilst trying to hold a press-up at the halfway point. tried movng the saddle about but to no real avail. my shoulders and hands hurt after 20 minutes on the bike. fail.

so last week i bought another longer riser stem and fitted that. or tried to. the bulky 4 bolt face plate meant that i couldn't get the brake anywhere near it as it impeded it's action. i can't really have it further away as hand space is at a premium on the top of the bars. fail.

so went back to the place where i got the stubby little riser and got another slightly longer riser also with a minimal 2 bolt face plate. i even remembered to buy another brake cable as the short one i'd cut for the stubby wouldn't reach now. i'd figured that much out from the previous riser failure. fitted the new one tonight and discovered that with all those spacers in there not only did it look really seriously goofy but it was way higher that it needed to be. like sit up and beg high. problem is if i take out even half of those spacers i've got a good inch of steerer poking up though the top of the stem. i experiment with adding the spacers above the stem just as an interim arrangement till i can do something more permanant but discover that the new stem is just slightly (like 1.5mm) slimmer than the previous 3 i've tried and as a result, even with all those spacers in (in any combination under or above the stem) the top cap won't grip the stem (or spacers). it just clamps straight onto the steerer providing no compacting force to the headset. i can't find anything to use as a washer and i have no tool to take any length off the steerer. fuckity fuck fuck fuck.

so after all that fucking about, 4 seperate stems, each requiring different length brake cables and a fair bit of faffing, i've just put the original stock one back on.

pain. in. the. arse.

sorry. i know that was boring, but i needed to vent a little.

anyone want to buy three cheap crap riser stems?

Edited version:

anyone want to buy three cheap crap riser stems?

no thanks.

Me and Corny were so helpful during your woes the other night. Sorry. He's not a man who knows one end of spanner to the other. And I was just drunk.

http://www.parktool.com/repair/readhowto.asp?id=111

sounds like you seat is too high ;)

thanks you've all been an enormous

sadly i think dogs is right tho. the basic root of the issue is that i need a bigger frame.

balls.

good to meet you the other day snowy. fear not, a large part of my woes were due to the fact that i was pissed too. next time i decide to dismantle a headset after 6 kronies someone please talk me out of it.

kthnksbye!

hey thanks RPM - i posted while waiting for that link to open. a hacksaw is definitely cheaper than a new frame. i may well give that a go. cheers.

EDIT: what about the top cap... errrr thing? y'know where vertical bolt that pulls the whole thing together anchors inside the steerer tube? is that permanently welded and immovable? it's not that far down in mine and will limit how much i can cut down the steerer.

^they are not welded or anything... they are called 'star-fangled nuts', and you can either bash the old one further down OR cut the top off and remove / re-use it.
I think you need risers and saddle backwards / down.
If you are putting too much weight on your hands already then cutting the steerer is not likely to be a solution IMO?!

Star-fangled nuts... Fucking A! thats got to be the best named bike part i know.

Prav is right, lowering the steerer will put more weight on your hands.
if your hands hurt you might be gripping on to hard? more padding, better grips and gloves?

Where in your shoulder do you get pain? maybe you have a large hard cornered object in your bag? you hands should be shoulder width apart and roll you shoulders back (this can be done by rotating your arms outwards so the bend in your arm is pointnig forward) and then head up.

Force a better position till it comes second nature.

but from the sounds of it Dale is right.

drop the saddle an inch, use your thighs and it will release a lot of pressure on your arms/hands

ah yes found this: http://www.parktool.com/repair/readhowto.asp?id=67

i know it seems perverse but the problem i've got is the riser stem i've found that gives a decent riding position is slimmer than the flat, stubby and other riser i tried so that the steerer protrudes above it. i know it seems paradoxical, but in order to raise the bars relative to the seat i need to cut the stem down.

i think what i'll do is: get another spacer to i can at least try riding with the riser stem properly clamped on. if that really does solve things (and doesn't look too goofy) i'll trim the steerer. it only needs a couple of mil taking off it so it really isn't too drastic.

if for whatever reason i decide to not go down that route i'll just have to drop the seat half an inch, put some gel stuff under the bartape, go back to gloves and HTFU (while looking for a new frame).

Thanks for the tips peeps. Much appreciated.

A.

or just try dropping the seat. get some spacers and don't cut steerer.

^Patience of a saint^

Star-fangled nuts... Fucking A! thats got to be the best named bike part i know.

Prav is right, lowering the steerer will put more weight on your hands.
if your hands hurt you might be gripping on to hard? more padding, better grips and gloves?

Where in your shoulder do you get pain? maybe you have a large hard cornered object in your bag? you hands should be shoulder width apart and roll you shoulders back (this can be done by rotating your arms outwards so the bend in your arm is pointnig forward) and then head up.

Force a better position till it comes second nature.

but from the sounds of it Dale is right.

thanks. i managed to to force a pretty good position with the original stem and bars so i'm sure can re-learn or adapt again. like you say, shoulders back, head up, back straight.

and yep star fangled nuts are the best named bit ever. shame there's no such tool as a star fangled spanner.

^Patience of a saint^

i'm going to try more spacers first. to be fair i have tried a lot of different solutions to this issue before considering butchery. i've tried four different stems!

i won't be hacking up anything soon anyway as if do decide that it's the only solution then i'll need to borrow a workbench with a vice and saw guide anyway.

move the saddle backwards a bit?

done that as far as it'll go. i picked up a few 2mm spacers at lunch time which should be enough to get that last riser to grip properly.

still think it's going to look molly tho.

i get the feeling the end result will be a compromise between form and function.