Question: Angle of the stem with mid rise handle bars?

On Thu, 26 Apr 2007 18:48:12 -0400, "The Eye" <[email hidden]> may

have said:

I just modified a road bike to a sorta hybrid look, using a handle bar that
raised the grips about 4-6 inches.
The stem has a fairly steep angle down to the clamp for the handle bar. The
higher handle bars give the height I am after but the it looks a bit
awkward. Clearly the stem was chosen to work with a set of road bars.
It rides very nicely but could this sort of setup offer any problems with
handling, etc? Would it be worth to spend the extra and change the stem to
get the height and put a flatter set of handle bars on it or just use the
handle bars that have the rise?

Flatter bars offer more options in where to mount things like lights,
comps, etc. Other than that, and the style issue, there's no real
difference. Whether it's worth the expense is something that you'll
have to decide based on *your* needs and preferences.

--
My email address is antispammed; pull WEEDS if replying via e-mail.
Typoes are not a bug, they're a feature.
Words processed in a facility that contains nuts.

The Eye said:

I just modified a road bike to a sorta hybrid look, using a handle bar that
raised the grips about 4-6 inches.
The stem has a fairly steep angle down to the clamp for the handle bar. The
higher handle bars give the height I am after but the it looks a bit
awkward. Clearly the stem was chosen to work with a set of road bars.
It rides very nicely but could this sort of setup offer any problems with
handling, etc? Would it be worth to spend the extra and change the stem to
get the height and put a flatter set of handle bars on it or just use the
handle bars that have the rise?
Thanks very much.

Hello there.

It depends on how important the aesthetics are to you.

Is it a quill stem?

I have a road racing bike where the bars are a bit too low for me. I
was considering buying a 90 degree stem to replace the 70 degree stem
to bring the bars up to the height that I wanted. Your stem is
probably 70 degrees too. I did not like the look of the Profile 90
degree stem and the Nitto Pearl one was $69.95 US which was too steep
a price for me. I am considering a Radical adjustable stem ($24.95
Canadian) if I can not find some thing else suitable at the bicycle
recycling shop. That might worrk for you too. Or perhaps you can find
an mtb stem with the same diameter quill as your current stem but with
a rise to the stem section.

In my opinion rising stems look better on bicycles with sloping top
tubes than they do on bicycles with straight top tubes but that is
just my aesthetic perception. The most important thing is to get what
looks good to you and what you will be happy to ride.

Cheers from Peter