How to Choose Correct Stem Length (Bike Fitter explains) 

With this vid I've found out my reach is both too short and too long depending on how tired I am 😂

Masterclass. Can you discuss how you balance stem length and handlebar height?

This content is hands down the best for addressing all things bike fit. Thank you so much for sharing the knowledge.

Best stem length video on the web! Thank you for posting!!

Spot on - especially the part of being in a split zone. The front end of my road bike feels long on endurance rides and short on punchy crit style rides when I'm tucking in an aero position more often. Compromise is the best word used here.

Always great listening to Neill. Interesting to hear him talk of the stem feeling too short during harder efforts, and a bit long during endurance rides. I have thought this quite often, but thought it was all in my head! Cheers guys.

And weve not even discussed stem angle! Excellent video!

What makes this all super tricky is that the more you ride the more flexible you get. so if you're comfortable bending your back more throughout the season, it gives you that much more room to play with in the front-end. I started this season on a 100mm stem with 10mm stack. now i'm on 110 with 0 stack on the same bike, handlebar, brake levers etc. All cause I rode a lot more this season and got noticeably flexier

The drop between saddle height and handle bar height is also very important. And stem angle... On n 90mm stem the height is about 1cm difference between a 0° and a 6° stem. Height massively impacts reach. Reach = stem length

Been doing bike fit for many years..Excellent content as always. Bar width and lever position on bars big factor too. Often folk don’t need shorter stem,just levers pulling back..big fan of ‘compact’ style of bar also….YES,always must get seat position right first! Thank you .

My minimum stem length is when my knees hit the handlebar when standing out of the saddle 😂

Great video! I think it's important that Neil is still a fast rider himself so he can relate the real world situations. The reach confusion when you ride hard and aero is so true. When I ride at the aero position, I constantly suspect I might need a longer reach, but while riding easy, it feels OK or even a little bit too long if optimal comfort is considered. When going hard the pedal force basically offset most of the "weight" on the hands and the crouch, that means a down tilt saddle and a forward position on the "rivet" is even more "comfortable" than an 150w cruise on an upright level saddle. That means a different fit. For someone who barely ride at that effort level he will never get it, not to say give relatable fitting advice. It's more than just angle measurements.

I got a handlebar with shorter reach (earlier bend). The section where you talked about how the fit can differ depending on how hard you are working is so spot on. Z4/5 felt perfect on my bike but Z2 was quite uncomfortable. I changed the handlebar so that my majority of hours (Z2) feels better.

The thing i noticed the most when my reach was too short was rounding my upper back (essentially reducing my torso length, downside is that it hurts after awhile...)

Great video!! and thank you for bringing up the integrated bar/stem! Was waiting for that part…

I find the rounding of the shoulders often happens when the hips are too upright making the spine curve. Since switching saddles to Selle Boost S3 I find I can roll forward more, flattening the back, and relaxing the shoulders. Fixing the back end fixed the front end for me.

I'm 170cm with an axle to saddle of 870mm, my "Ape Index" has me at 170cm too so normal arm length, just a really short body. The "S" bike I have came with an 80mm stem but I've just swapped it out for a 60mm one and the difference is night and day- can actually sit nicely on the hoods (40cm bars) and in the drops too now. Next step now is to get used to being in the drops for longer periods and slowly start to reduce the spacers etc at the front until I find a workable limit to my flexibility(lack of lol). Only downside is the bike looks fugly with a small stem, the Garmin out front mount detracts a bit from that though!

I already like this video ❤ just for the most expensive handlebar sample ever to be used for explanation purposes! 😂

I installed a 20mm longer stem and things felt so much more relaxed.

The real question : Who needs an integrated cockpit if they are not racing ? And I'd go 1 further, "professionally" !

Interesting as always, I just wish you would refer also to the examples shown during the talk. E.g. the guy in this video leaning forward onto the top of the bars - is that actually good or bad? To me he looks exhausted like at the end of a time trial of hard interval sessiion and not a good example for bike fit. Would be great to get pictures like that explained.

Double thumbs up if I could. Thanks for sharing this information.

The worst part about getting fit with a shorter stem is that almost every guy you ride with will be like, "Hey, you need a longer stem."

Excellent explanation. If the stem is too short. Would it cause one to constantly try to move back on the seat.

I was tending to use the bend behind the hood for a long time, even though my stem and reach got shorter and shorter, to the point that I started hitting the bar with my knees in climbing. Until I saw a bike fitter saying grabbing the bars at the upper bend is an indication of too wide bars. Changed to 360 bars (from 400), and now it feels like the stem length can go out again.

My Dope 😎 Solution to top Short of a Stem is to buying shorter Cranks like 152MM.

This is gold and totally lines up with my experience as a cyclist and satisfies the rebel in me that couldn’t stand being a Specialized BG Fit Certified fitter. Another possible remedy to the stem “too short” situation is the Maes Parallel Bar at Rene Herse. Wondering what your thoughts are on that shape.

My struggle with bike fitting sessions is that my fit while sitting on a trainer for an hour or two is not what i care about. I care about the fit for when im all out up a hill, or going for a break, or trying not to get dropped. Im willing to ride with extended scapulas ounded shoulders 85% of the time if it makes the 15% better. This is why i have never ended up keeping the fit after a bike fitting session other than one that took care of some chronic knee pain.

Sage advice, as usual.

Would you change the reach by flipping a stem or just changing the angle of the stem? Ex: On a 0 degree stem now and as I've gotten a bit more comfortable, flexible, and had more core strength I want it a bit longer. I can do this by going up to a 120mm 0 deg but would a 110mm -6 deg stem be similar in terms of reach from saddle nose to hoods?

I have to run saddle further forward and longer stem, otherwise Im whacking the handlebar with my knees when climbing out the saddle, and this is using 165 cranks at 182cm tall.

Could lowering the cockit also help or would this be counter productive ?

Neil picking his nose for the thumbnail, on ya mate! 🤣

A piece of advice for anyone with some common sense here: Leave the integrated cockpits for the pros or buy one later on when you're 100% sure your position is correct. I see too many people buying integrated setups and it's a money trap. You can buy aluminium bar and stem combos for 50-60 bucks.

It would be awesome if you could do some XC fits as well.

What would pain between the shoulder blades on longer rides suggest? I assumed that I just need to adjust because the cockpit feels and looks okay, but now I'm not sure.

Hey Cam, Neil - can you please talk about Pro peleton fitting setups - short cranks, long stems, and zero offset seatposts. We know some of that is due to a compromise in frame sizes available to a whole team, however, and that it may not be a suitable fit for a longer weekend ride, but what else? Whats the advantage of a more forward seating position,

i try to setup thing myself over the years, with condition of low flexibility, my hand often numb and always want to place before the hood. however if I do put hand on the hood or drop, my hand and shoulder posture looks fine, still can reach it pretty ok but my upper body feel can't keep up that position for longer time.

thanks for the video ! could you also indicate what the situation is with the two riders displayed ? are the stems perfect for each of them ? just to have a reference. greetings from France

Compared to stock 400 mm wide handlebars on my bike, find myself needing a long stem on narrow 360 mm ones, for it to not feel cramped.

I just bought a bike with an intergrated cockpit. Waiting for some tools so I can get the cables out of the handlebars to mess around with the cockpit fit 😂

Thanks to integrated stems and internal hose/ wire routing, “swapping stems” isn’t so easy anymore and definitely not something that can be done quickly in a fit studio.

can you do a video about flat handlebars bikes

Very good stuff. I have found that the trend for the bar reach has gotten shorter so now my stem feels wrong, but getting a longer reach bar is getting harder. Is there a too long for a stem? I would need to go to 130 to feel great but worry that messes up the weight distribution.

What is the shortest stem I can install on my bike? Is 90mm or even 80mm still good for road handlebars? Doesn't this indicates the frame size too big for me if I want to switch to shorter than 100mm?

Redshift dual length stem will release after this vid.

i am on 90mm stem.. and there is no shorter one for my BMC Roadmachine. I have shorter arms. I guess I need another bike ^^ I always feel a bit too stretched out. So my hands are mostly not on the hoods, especially on longer rides.

I need a bike fit so bad it hurts. Because it hurts.

While you do make good points about posture on the bike arm length an torso does play a factor in stem length mate. Another issue you didn't address was flexibility and age older Riders tend to have less flexibility Mobility and are also shrinking at very fractional rates but nonetheless bones are still shrinking. Typically Riders over 50-60 years old need to revisit bike fit much more than somebody in their twenties and thirties. Bike fit should be dynamic, it should not be static. It should not be set it once and you're done. Stack height also plays a factor in stem length. It's a very in-depth and complex topic which cannot be covered in a 5 or 10 minute video let alone an hour. The bottom line is experimentation like you suggested

Interesting insights as always, but what do you do when you have chronic pain issues and the discomfort cues are confused or swamped by other issues? In my case I have moderate to severe pain _all the time_ in the abdomen, low back (all the way across) mid back, upper back, neck, shoulders, shoulder blades, rib cage (all the way round from sternum to side and back) biceps, triceps, hands and fingers, plus top of foot into the lower leg. I'm only supposed to do 15-20 minutes of exercise on non-consecutive days a few times per week, which is obviously as useless as it sounds :/

Doesnt the reach also depend on how much you can bring down your torso in aero position? I got a new bike and felt like the hoods are too far away. I then did lower my upper body which actually reduces the reach to the hoods. Would i need to shorten my stem/reach or is it ok to lowering the upper body to compensate as long as it feels comfortable? Really curious as my new bike is more on the racy end and i thought it actually is made for having your upper body lower to get fast.

I wonder if we should try it on several attempts on a regular fitness condition to ensure the fit?

I’m always wondering about the position from the saddle in the background I have also an smb nymber I tried this position on day after 500m my hands get numbness and my pelvis moves always forward ask u now the ride of this bike can ride 100k in one step? 👍🇦🇹✌️

As someone with short reach (long inseam to torso ratio) and raised saddle height of 1cm (due to shorter crank arms of 160), I constantly feel my road bikes are too long for me. Smaller bikes aren't the answer as they also have short headtube and I refuse to have plenty of spacers and a positive angle stem. That's just fugly. Instead of looking for stems shorter than 60-70mm, I'm now looking for a short reach bike to begin with. Start with an upright bike so the component changes would balance out the bike to a neutral position.

Im definitely too long in the hoods sat up and too short in the tuck 😅

I haven't trawled through the comments, but you can often pick up a stem cheaply on Gumtree, if you can't borrow one. Then, you can sell it later, if need be. Use the circular economy!

I just picked up a new bike, and i've noticed I naturally want to hold the bars an inch behind the hoods, Not sure if its just my new rider posture wanting to be more upright, or the reach is a bit too long. any way to tell the difference?

I feel my feet are too far foward. However the seat angle is the same as my other bike so is the saddle hight. I am wearing the samke shoses. The crank length is smaller at 165mm. The saddle looks thw same place. I feel I ride more on the nose of the saddle.

what kind of handlebar is neil holding in this video?

What is the brand of that white bike?

Those integrated-cockpit type bikes look to be quite expensive, so you really have to do a bike fit if you plan to buy one of them.

Hey what is this handlebar please ? I might be interested eheh

So, if you’re getting an integrated cockpit in any capacity - do. your. homework!

But I get tired in my triceps, and, feel like I'm having to long of a reach.

99% of people have their saddle too high and their stem too long

🐐

This is why i dont understand the modern fashion for short reach bars. With a longer reach, you can have both the relaxed position on the tops and the more stretched position on the hoods for faster paced stuff, plus an extra in between hand position on the bend. Also, hoods shouldn't necessarily be the default riding position.

How do you keep your wife from locking out her elbows no matter the stem length you try, she also bends her wrist backwards??

"Moderately pedantic but not extraordinarily pedantic" - 😂

According to my wife my stem is too short. She´s been riding for 20 years...

bike fit shouldn't be this complicated.