Bar height via stem spacers, do you play about ?

[weeksy]

Just curious as to how much people fiddle with bikes… Today i’ve just dropped my bars 10mm with 2 5mm spacers moved to the top… More just out of curiosity than anything else, just wondering if other people do things like this or just ride it as it is and leave things.

[lostboy]

Yep. Especially on new bikes or if I change something significant like forks. Like to be able to get weight through the front tyre when I want to. I will often play with different stem lengths when I've altered stack height - especially on the road bike (I know you're focusing on MTBs here) as that makes a big difference.

[DefTrap]

Yes because I'm tall and bikes are never really big enough.

[Ditchfinder]

Yep my bar height has to vary with the amount of overhang my gut has - fatter I am the higher the bars

[lostboy]

Yes because I'm tall and bikes are never really big enough.

That's one of the reasons I do it quite a bit when setting the bike up.

I'm 6'4" and when setting my latest road bike up the first thought was "grab the biggest frame" (always works!) and it was very wrong. I now ride a 60cm frame with a longer seat post to get the height but the shorter top tube and lower stack height/stem angle mean that the reach is perfect. All because a lot of my height is in my legs so a 62cm frame would have been too long with the standard stem and I'd have ended up sat much more upright - less efficient etc.

On the MTBs I ride a larger frame (XL on both the Transition and the Cotic), shorter stack and stem to get the front end lower, the reach right and balance of weight over the front tyre as well as being able to get back over the seatpost on a steep technical descent.

[Ditchfinder]

Nearly ran out of steerer on the 26er so might have to order a pair of these

[formula400]

I bought a longer stem for mine. and moved the cleats on my shoes

[DefTrap]

I've got a mahoosive frame from a vintage 80s road bike, fits quite well (no headstock spacers as it's old skool quill).
By comparison the 'xl' frame on my modern road bike is much smaller, the designs have changed over the years.

[Mr Moofo]

I have been - mainly with stem length and spacers ...
I have dropped the bars down, which I prefer for feel / getting weight on the front - but it really F***s up my neck. I can hardly move it tonight ....
But oddly it feels fine on the bike!

[weeksy]

I have been - mainly with stem length and spacers ...
I have dropped the bars down, which I prefer for feel / getting weight on the front - but it really F***s up my neck. I can hardly move it tonight ....
But oddly it feels fine on the bike!

That's interesting as that's a concern for me if I lower mine.

[lostboy]

I have been - mainly with stem length and spacers ...
I have dropped the bars down, which I prefer for feel / getting weight on the front - but it really F***s up my neck. I can hardly move it tonight ....
But oddly it feels fine on the bike!

Only takes a ride or two for the muscles to get used to it.

[Mr Moofo]

I have been - mainly with stem length and spacers ...
I have dropped the bars down, which I prefer for feel / getting weight on the front - but it really F***s up my neck. I can hardly move it tonight ....
But oddly it feels fine on the bike!

Only takes a ride or two for the muscles to get used to it.

In theory - my issue is the jarring as I hit thing . I think it is a skeletal rather than muscle thing. I nope have very little movement side to side - but it may not just be MTB

[Mr. Dazzle]

As I've said before, we made the frames which Team GB used in Rio and I was the technical lead on them (got one on my wall). We also ended up picking up a load of the little detail bits for handlebars, seats etc. a couple of months before Rio.

You'll probably not surprised to learn that Olympic athletes are properly picky about set-up. Wiggins is a nightmare apparently, although they told me that Chris Hoy would ride basically anything

We ended up making spacer shims so that they could adjust everything in 0.5mm increments, the shims also doubled as ballast to get them up to the minimum 6.8kg total bike weight. Their seats even have 'before and after new pants' shims because they feel the difference in compression of their underwear. Or at least they claim they do, how much of it is real and how much is pro athlete prima donnaism is hard to know!

BTW Wiggo has bigger and higher handlebars than all the other athletes 'cause he's over a certain height and the rules permit it. You can really see it in this pic, look how the black 'wing' handlebar is higher up for him.