You answered your own question....it depends is the correct answer.

Having said that, try the longer stem, see what your thoughts are....make adjustments from there. Ultimately you might need to get more frame reach under you so you can get the reach you need without putting too much weight on the front wheel and sketching the handling out. It's all a learning process. You are learning and adapting to a better position and maybe that position needs a frame w/ more reach.

As with most people, new bikes aren't something I have the ability to constantly purchase. Plus I just got a new road bike in September. I'd rather keep my wife than have the better fit, haha.

I kind of knew going into the question that it's a big "it depends" thing. But I also know that sitting on a trainer with the fitter isn't going to give me road feel. And riding around in the parking lot for a few minutes isn't necessarily going to allow me time to really decide.

Assuming both your bikes use normal stems (i.e. no super bike proprietary stuff) I would honestly suggest getting a couple stems, you have a 90, so get a 100mm and a 110mm....that should suffice for most people with relatively well fitting tri/road bikes (I'm going to get lambasted for that....if you really want a wide envelope take it out another 10mm to 80-120). Learn to switch them out yourself (it's not hard), and experiment with them. Part of the reason that it depends is that it is possible that your 'tolerable' handling is another persons 'oh my god I'm going to die'.

p.s. I hate to say this, as I love my LBS, but stems are usually obscenely priced at the LBS unless you are in good enough with them to rummage through their take off pile. For nice stems at a reasonable price try https://fairwheelbikes.com/...oy-uno-stealth-stem/ (I have no affiliation).

I actually need to get the steerer/head tube cut and the bike is due for a tune up (free at my LBS). So figured I'd do that at the same time. I agree the pricing might be bad, but he's saved me around 2500 on bike purchases in the last two years, so as long as it's not absolutely absurd, I don't mind buying through them. I typically would just buy myself, but am hoping he may do something like letting me try it out for a trial period too.

Just try it. I've got a 120 on my 51cm P2SL, and although the handling isn't great, I'm not going to die. I actually need a longer stem - 130mm neg 17. Ideally it would probably be a 140, but no one makes them that I can tell.

my suggestion, since your bars are adjustable, would be to add 20mm to your stem length and then re-adjust your pads and extensions accordingly. Gives you a bit more leeway.

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2 thoughts.

Background. I've been in this, off and on, for a long time so I have a feel for how I like the bike to fit. Yet, my last triathlon phase was a decade ago so now that I'm coming back, a lot has changed about my bike fit. Different bike and the aggressive position that worked in my 40s is now less idea so recently I had to figure out my bike fit again kinda from scratch.

1) Consider an adjustable stem. I ended up buying a lot of cheap stems on ebay as played around with fit. It was very useful to get a couple cheap adjustable stems. Heavy as a tank but their adjustability allowed for super convenient tweaking of position.

2) As you play with fit, keep in mind that you can play with the length of your tri bars and also the location of your pads on your arms. Long tri bars, obviously, move your hands forward, and it's the location of your hands, imo, that really drive the show because they determine where your elbows will end up. Your pads could sit at mid-forearm or you pads could sit under our elbows. By playing with those 2 variables, you might find several inches of adaptability w/o every touching your stem. Most tri bars are standardized at 22mm, so depending on what you have, you could swap the tri bars while leaving base bars and pads alone, should you be interested in experimenting.

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The zipp sprint comes in a 140mm -12....at a cost.

I think Pyranha nailed this. Going from 90 to 100 is not going to change the handling that much. Give it a try. I used run a 120 on a large Transition. That was scary on downhill switchbacks.

To Jason - I think 3T makes 140 stems. I know I saw 140s somewhere the other day. I'll PM if I find them again.

Hi,

I am in a similar situation to you and have just gone from a 90 to 110 stem.

If I am honest, my short test ride revealed little (if any) change to the bikes handling. Maybe more will be revealed on fast descents or big cross winds etc.

Point to note : due to how the angles work out, changes in stem length and reduction of spacers don't always work out quite how you would expect.

For example I have gone from a 90 to a 110 6 degree rise stem (same type / make / angle) AND removed 15mm of spacers which resulted in :

• 22.91 mm more reach (a bit more than simple stem length).
• 6.13 mm more drop (a lot less than the 15mm of spacers that were removed).

All based on a 72 degree head angle.

WD :-)

I don't know what year your B12 is (bought new or used?), but if it is 2012 or older, be aware that the steerer tube is 1" which limits your choice of stems.

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http://problemsolversbike.com/...r_tube_shims_-_25242

WD :-)

Fairly good replies so far. The only thing I would add is to weigh your weight distribution on the bike. You will need a second person to help, but here's the process:

Get a total weight for your bike and you.

Put your front wheel on a scale and your back wheel on something of equal height. Get the most stable weight number you can being as still as possible.

Repeat with the back wheel on the scale and your front wheel on something of equal height.

There's not a magic number/ratio, but once you're getting more weight on the front wheel than the back on level ground handling can start to become "sketchy" for some.

I'm a midpack cat 3 cyclocross racer and slightly less competitive mt bike racer and had difficulty handling a tri bike with a 130 stem while it's my preferred length on a road bike. Everybody is different and there will be people on this forum that insist a long stem on a tri bike is no big deal and some that feel like they're riding over the front axle on a 90mm stem. The weight distribution test is fairly quick, free and should give you a good idea of how a bike will handle.

All you need is a shim.

Buy a bunch of stems (they cost $20 - 25 each!). Swap them out, and see what you find most comfortable.

I did the same thing but the other way around. Had a 100mm stem, then bought, a 90, 80, 70, and 60. To be honest, no difference in handling.

I run a 120mm stem on my 48 new P2, never had a problem with handling.

When it comes to handling, armpad position is likely more important than stem length. Many bars, such as with the current Felt bayonet, allow you to move the armpads far aft and far forward independent of the stem location. So really it's impossible to ascertain, without looking at the bike and the cockpit setup, whether a stem change is going to have a net positive or negative effect.

All of that said, if you consider the armpad position relative to the steerer top of some of the integrated options you get results all over the map. Some are short, such as the Scott Plasma, and some are more traditional, such as the Boardman TTE. It makes me believe that manufacturers aren't worried so much about handling and most riders can lengthen and shorten the stem on their tri bike as they see fit with minimal negative consequences. For triathlon, and especially long course triathlon, handling just isn't a very important metric all things considered. It's a lot of straightaways and the occasional easy corner.

In sum, make whatever fit changes are necessary and feel confident.

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Trent Nix
Owned and operated Tri Shop
F.I.S.T. Advanced Certified Fitter | Retul Master Certified Fitter (back when those were things)

I currently have a 130mm stem on a medium QR Lucero, and if anything the handling improved when I went longer...

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Just for reference, this is where I am now. I can actually probably squeeze a little bit more reach out of the aero bars, but it's not really helping unless I move the arm pads up with it as I'm pretty much elbows on pad right now. Or at the very least as far forward on the pads as I'd like to be. And I'm leery about moving the pads much farther in front of the base bar. I'd rather just move the whole thing out with the longer stem. I actually like the idea of going up to say a 120mm and pulling the aero bars back a bit if needed.

You obviously have to consider the end of the bar and its distance from the pad, but otherwise I think it is 6 of one and a half dozen of the other. With a bar as adjustable as that, you can manipulate the position to make sure it is suitable and then change the stem as you wish from there.

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Trent Nix
Owned and operated Tri Shop
F.I.S.T. Advanced Certified Fitter | Retul Master Certified Fitter (back when those were things)

Hey Jason - I was poking around today and found the Colorado Cyclist has Time Monolink and ULTeam Ti stems on clearance. These are several years old, but were cool back in the day. They have 130 and 140 lengths in both. Still expensive, though.

It's the same for me! The longer the stem, the less I felt like I was going to lift a rear tire during hard braking. Also allowed my arm to relax a bit more during riding on the basebar. And cornering was a lot easier, felt a bit more like my road bike (which has a lot of reach as well).

So as all the guys before. It depends, but for me it was way more comfortable. Pad position stayed the same by the way, so almost no changes in handling there.

I'd agree with trentnix. A longer stem is an option but so is longer extensions. That's a Felt Bayonet 3 cockpit correct? If so you definitely have some scope to move the pads forward from where they are now. I asked Superdave (engineering manager or product manager at Felt until recently and was their spokesperson on on ST) about this a while back on the "New Felt IA" thread since I needed to extend my reach quite a bit. That bike uses the Bayonet 3 too. He confirmed the pads could be mounted with a bit of a gap between the bar clamps and the pad clamps. He gave a measurement but I don't recall it. You can probably find it easily enough if you search his post in the thread linked below. I'm pretty sure you can have at least 25mm between the two. That would give you as much pad movement as going from a 90mm to 115mm stem since your picture shows the clamps tight against each other. In my case a stem change wasn't an option (the IA stem isn't standard clamp height and the steerer is cut) so I had to get the length at the bars. I changed to longer extensions for €40 and then simply moved the arm pads forward. You can do either. There are only two real differences I can see between the two options:
1. Position of the handlebar and pursuits/bulhorns. These will move forwards with a stem change and stay put otherwise. How's their position? A longer stem will increase knee clearance and stretch you out more on the pursuits. May be desirable, may not!
2. Stiffness - longer extensions increase the cantilever distance from the aero-bar clamps. I think this is unlikely to be a practical issue. I'm using very long extensions and haven't had an issue with this.

Handling in the extensions will stay the same regardless of whether you gain the length with the stem or moving the pads on the bars. It's the relative positions of the pads and steerer, not the length of the stem itself that is relevant. The only reason the specific components would matter is if they introduced excessive flex. The handling on the pursuits will ONLY change if you change the stem. I would say pursuit handling is most important as that's where you'll be when taking any sharp corners.

http://forum.slowtwitch.com/forum/Slowtwitch_Forums_C1/Triathlon_Forum_F1/The_New_Felt_IA_-_IA_10%2C_14%2C_16_P5620633/?page=unread#unread

Between 50mm and 150mm the handling will be just fine.

3T makes a stem out to 150mm.

went up to a "long" 120mm stem. Felt really good in aero. Held it on the trainer for 45 minutes with zero shoulder/arm tiredness. Which has never been the case for me on the trainer. I'll admit I've been working on that since I've been on my road bike up until about 3 weeks ago, but last year I could go all day outside, but maybe 10 minutes on the trainer. Hoping this means it's just a better, natural fit.

It's a bit longer on the reach when on the base bars. But again, that's always been more comfortable outside compared to the trainer. So, I dont think it'll be an issue. I was too upright on the base bars before for sure.