Caerus Posted February 22, 2012 Share How do you go about choosing the correct stem? I'm busy in the process of building up my new hardtail 26" bike, and require some advise on selecting the correct stem. This is being built up as a XC race bike. having normally just bought a complete bike off the shelf and going with the stem supplied I want to get this correct. Having recently been for a proper bike setup, I was advised for my old bike(26" GT hardtail) to move from a 90mm to a 100mm stem. The guy doing the setup did not really say there was anything else wrong with the stem(rise) besides the length for me. Now how do I go about selecting the correct new stem? I did a lot of reading online into this, but need some further advice please.Do I go carbon or Alu?Flat Stem or a with rise? The current stem has a 6 degree rise and others I've looked at have a 10 degree rise?Will there be a major difference in the setup between the two hardtails, from GT to Giant XTC Comp.I've been offered to come back free of charge to have a new setup done, should I wait till then to see what I will need?Many Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D Vader Posted February 22, 2012 Share Stem setup makes such a huge difference, its worth taking your time with this.There are a lot of personal preferences involved.Alu and or carbon do not in stems have much weight dif, more about flex in the stem, XC usually wants a less flexing stem for precise control under hard conditions.I like a 6 degree stem turned down so it has negative angle, to get you over the bars for better pull up steep climbs. Probably best to try and test a few options.My 2c Good luck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Minion Posted February 22, 2012 Share Do I go carbon or Alu?Flat Stem or a with rise? The current stem has a 6 degree rise and others I've looked at have a 10 degree rise?Will there be a major difference in the setup between the two hardtails, from GT to Giant XTC Comp.I've been offered to come back free of charge to have a new setup done, should I wait till then to see what I will need?1.) I'd say go for aluminium. Unless you start going for the really expensive stuff, carbon will not be lighter and the stiffness differences will be minimal, especially for 100mm stems.2.) In the range of 0° to 10°, stem rise does not have a significant effect on reach (there's a 1.5mm difference between 100mm flat and 10°). Whether or not you flip the stem depends entirely on what handlebar height you need and the length of your headtube. Provided you don't go to extreme numbers of spacers, it will not affect your handling at all (given the same bar height). For example, if you have a long head tube and you need to get the handlebars low, you'd use few spacers and point the stem down. If you needed more height, you'd use more spacers and flip the stem up.3.) I don't know much about MTB geometry. It would probably depend on the relative sizes and angles of the frame.4.) Unless you want a specific stem that is hard to get, I'd wait until the setup before making the final decision. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Fastbastard Mayhem Posted February 22, 2012 Share As Vader says, setup is key. The new bike WILL be different to the old, so before you commit to a new stem, go for a re-fit on the bike. Use your existing (GT) stem, and then do the measurements from there. No use buying a 100mm stem only to find out that on the new bike you actually need an 80mm stem. And yes, the different bikes will have different characteristics, therefore different parameters will apply. Different seat angles, head angles, tube lengths and so on... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caerus Posted February 22, 2012 Share Stem setup makes such a huge difference, its worth taking your time with this.There are a lot of personal preferences involved.Alu and or carbon do not in stems have much weight dif, more about flex in the stem, XC usually wants a less flexing stem for precise control under hard conditions.I like a 6 degree stem turned down so it has negative angle, to get you over the bars for better pull up steep climbs. Probably best to try and test a few options.My 2c Good luck Dagnamit, this is so confusing. So many choices, and one change makes such a difference. Do you go riser stem with flat bar, or flat stem and flat bar. Why would you invert it instead of just having a flat stem? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SeaBee Posted February 22, 2012 Share First call/email should be to the guy that did your fitting to get his input. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tombeej Posted February 22, 2012 Share Also take into account how a long stem vs. short stem will change the feel of your front end. Generally DH'ers prefer a short stem, and longer stem for XC/marathon. An older youtube vid about long vs. short: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0IQUHUrna0 Edited February 22, 2012 by tombeej Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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