Frank Bibb wrote:
My 1981 Trek 610 is a little too large at 56cm and I have swtiched to a 50mm handlebar stem to compensate. However, it seems to make the steering a bit more sensitive than I like. While acknowleding that steering geometery is complex and handling is a subjective topic, does anyone have an opinion of how short a stem it "too" short? I need to balance the steering with the reach and buying new Nitto stems is getting expensive. ++++++++++++++++++++++ If you can beg, borrow, buy, or steal an adjustable stem, it makes this much easier. The vintage product of my era was the TTT model, which is great for stabbing knees. Earlier fans prefer the Major Taylor stems. Of course, neither is attractive if you're trying to work toward fitting the Nitto "Technomic" stem with the long shaft. FWIW, decades ago I made up an early adjustable stoker stem for tandems, just so we and friends could experiment.
harvey sachs
mcLean va.