Shortening reach.

General Help
1

The reach on my wife’s bike is too long. Currently she has a 90mm Cinelli quill stem and Cinelli Giro d’Italia bars. She has Campagnolo Veloce ergo shifters. Her physio who did a bike fit this morning says she needs a shorter stem because she’s reaching too much, he also moved her seat back a touch, so this increased the reach.

I’m thinking of a 60mm or 70mm stem and some compact drops (Soma HWY 1’s) to bring the shifters back. Will compact bars make a huge difference, or will a shorter stem be enough?

FWIW, getting a smaller frame is out if the question. I asked her today.

2

Also, will a short stem fuck up the handling too much?

3

Do you know the reach on the bars she has now? I’ve got some shallow drop Eastons that are only 75mm reach, I like 'em. Otherwise you might look for a handelbar with some sweep, like the Bontrager Ergo (I think that’s what they’re called) or Nitto Noodle.

4

If she rides mostly on the tops then bars won’t change much at all.
How much did he move her back or how much shorter are you chasing?
Regardless I would go high way ones as you can lift the hoods up to level with the tops and this will also shorten it up, how wide are her current bars? Going narrower will also sit you up and take pressure of your back

5

According to Velobase.com, the reach is 82.5mm, but another site says 75mm.

The Soma HWY 1 bars are 75mm reach, but obviously the compact shape will bring the shifters further up the bars.

6

I’m not sure how far he moved her seat (I haven’t seen her bike yet), but I’m assuming 5-10mm.

From what she told me, her stem is about 20mm too long. Her current bars are 38cm or 40cm wide.

I’ve noticed when she rides she rides on the ramps not on the hoods and even then she’s stretching.

EDIT: She never rides in the drops.

7

The correct answer is buy a new bike, but seeing as you can’t go down that road…

GdI are ~75/78/82mm reach / 110/130/142mm drop. Depending on who you ask.

HWY ONE are 75mm reach / 130mm drop. But the shape is better suited to ergopower levers. It’ll be hard to find anything below 75mm reach, perhaps some Bontrager WSDs in 70mm, but they’ll be 31.8mm. (Is the existing Cinelli stem old 26.4 or new 26.0)

Going sub 80mm stem (on what I’m assuming is already a smallish frame) is getting into wonky handling territory.

What width are the current bars? If 42cm or so, try 36-38cm, that will decrease the reach from saddle to levers also. Plus if you do go shorter on the stem, the narrower bars will help reduce twitchyness.

Then buy a new bike.

8

Noodles are still hella long compared to compacts, unless Mrs JLN is currently using bars with ridiculous reach noodles probably won’t do too much

http://ruedatropical.com/2009/03/road-drop-bar-geometry/

9

What are those crazy bars that Snowflake likes… ITM Keros? They sweep back too.

10

Current stem and bars are 26.0mm (they’re the reissue Cinelli bars and stem from Wiggle). As I said, not 100% sure on width of the bars, but it’s no wider than 40cm c-t-c.

Frame is 53cm square.

11

Hold on… never uses the drops?

Problem solved. Get campy flat bar shifters and ditch the drops altogether. win win.

12

I’ll give you her number and you can convince her to do that. :wink: I already tried.

13

Handlebars with the physical properties of the aluminium actually written on them (HB= brinell hardness, break load=UTS, elongation 7-8%) Amazeballs

14

What about town bars with bar ends?
But seriously a new frame but even then 700c usually have a min tt of 52.
How about a few months of Pilates ?

15

And 3T Morphe are similar too.

JLN,
I can help you out if you think either of these bars will help. I’ve only got ~42 c-c though.

16

Solution is simple: Get a new wife.

17

Thanks Snowflake, but I think I’ll just bite the bullet and get the HWY 1’s in 40cm and maybe a 70 or 80mm stem. Hopefully that will bring the reach back a few cm’s.

18

Considered it.

19

Some people can’t be helped.

20

I know where you can get some NOS 3T Morphe in 42 end-to-end, so probalby 40 c-c.