so one thing to remember is when you go from a more narrow bar to a wider bar you are effectively lengthening your reach.. going from a 42cm bar to a 48cm bar is going to make your reach feel longer with the same length stem.. unless you have really wide shoulders, most fitters would steer you away from such a wide bar.. but some folks just like the feel of a wide bar, so whatever floats your boat on that.. but you would have to shorten the stem as you seem to have done.. and yes, shortening the stem length will also account for a longer bar reach (the length of the ramps).. but depending on the "era" of the bars, it will depend on where the levers were designed to be positioned, so you need to be careful with that.. most modern 31.8 bars will be designed to have the levers positioned similar to where you see any road bike on the floor of a bike shop, where an older bar (or a new bar trying to emulate an older design) might be designed to have the levers positioned much further down the front of the "hook".. that's one reason I really, really don't like older bars.. again, I would point you to the youtube guy I referenced in my other reply.. current bikes are designed for current bar and stem disigns, 1970s/early 80s bikes were designed for the older stuff.. the two just don't work that well together IMHO..
Chris On Tue, Sep 9, 2025 at 11:57 AM Jamie D. <[email protected]> wrote: > Wow, such excellent and insightful responses so far! I am definitely NOT > trying to put drop bars on a Clem though I'm sure someone has tried. It's > less about pain (which feels inevitable since I'm not in the best shape, > I'm working on that), it's more that I feel restless on the bars. I keep > trying different hand positions and they never feel quite right. I think > the biggest physical annoyance is feeling like have to constantly 'look up' > bringing my neck out of line with my back. > > For context, I am currently experimenting with a recently acquired 56cm > Quickbeam. I'm 5' 10.5" tall with a 85cm PBH and 74cm saddle height. I > tried the stock 42cm noodles with a 90cm stem bars level to the saddle and > these were too narrow and I felt like a was leaning too far forward. My > current setup is a 60mm 90-190 stem with these Blue Lug bars > <https://global.bluelug.com/nitto-all-road-bar-plus-black.html> in the > 480mm width. The hood position of the bar is currently around 4cm above the > sit bone level of the Brooks B17 saddle with the nose pointed up roughly 10 > degrees. My intention was to try and recreate my most comfortable drop bar > bike ever which was a Miyata Alumicross set up very close to this > <https://www.retrobike.co.uk/threads/miyata-alumicross-frame-4-sale-or-swap.68985/>. > The last time I rode this bike (I no longer have it) was at least a decade > ago and I definitely have less strength and flexibility than I did then. I > tried comparing the two on Bike Insights > <https://bikeinsights.com/compare?geometries=63a27f6272f35e001c299589,5c782245d5f6a500174c1ec8,> > and it seems like the short 60mm stem could work but obviously the 'Nitto > spread bar' that came on this bike is very different. > > In terms of reach, am I right in thinking that changing the stem length > can accommodate the longer or shorter reach of any given bar? Or are they > two different things that do not have the same effect on your position? > On Tuesday, September 9, 2025 at 10:03:07 AM UTC-4 [email protected] > wrote: > >> >>>> -- Be the Reason Others Succeed! -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/CAJ15Mhn-ayPD30X2CSgXHD%2B_dc4LRw0LMDn6VviwwSv3X5-v3A%40mail.gmail.com.
