Road Cycling Essentials

Shamrock · 5 Sep 2013 at 10:26

thepeteh said:
I've never paid more than £15 for a stem!

That's fair enough, but some of us are bike tarts.

uniQ · 5 Sep 2013 at 10:30

How cheap? I wouldn't mind trying a 90mm on the Ti.

Shamrock · 5 Sep 2013 at 10:38

Is £15 + postage reasonable?

This is of course subject to the 80mm stem not causing me to crash in a horrific way due to twitchy handling!

chanjy · 5 Sep 2013 at 10:41

I'm an 80mm user as my arms are short

Moved from 100mm on the Tarmac to 80mm on the Domane, you get used to it!

Shamrock · 5 Sep 2013 at 10:43

Yeah from what I've read it's not as bad as people make out and you soon adapt.

I think it will improve my comfort quite a bit by reducing the reach slightly.

platypus · 5 Sep 2013 at 10:51

I've been thinking about shortening my stem recently actually. Since moving my handlebars down I feel like I'm reaching more (obviously).

uniQ · 5 Sep 2013 at 10:53

Shamrock said:
Is £15 + postage reasonable?

This is of course subject to the 80mm stem not causing me to crash in a horrific way due to twitchy handling!

Sounds good. Send me a Trust email when ready

Saundie · 5 Sep 2013 at 10:57

I went from a 110mm stem to a 90mm stem, I can't say I've noticed a difference in how the bike handles. It's a lot more comfortable, however. Combined with rotating the handlebar slightly, I'm now able to ride on the drops almost all the time.

platypus · 5 Sep 2013 at 11:06

chanjy said:
I'm an 80mm user as my arms are short

Moved from 100mm on the Tarmac to 80mm on the Domane, you get used to it!

I never used to think my arms were short, but I think I am. The Rapha jackets for example are a perfect fit in every way, except being about an inch to long on the arms. It's weird.

platypus · 5 Sep 2013 at 11:06

thepeteh said:
I've never paid more than £15 for a stem!

Yeah I've spent up to £30 before but even I think more than that is silly money really.

The FSA OS-99 is £120 and 122g for example, compared to the Deda Zero1 which is 133g and...£18.99 (100mm size). I cannot understand how 11 grams is worth £100.

Shamrock · 5 Sep 2013 at 11:07

But you buy Rapha clothing which is silly money!

thepeteh · 5 Sep 2013 at 11:07

I ride 110mm so that I can get aero on my gay tri bars

thepeteh · 5 Sep 2013 at 11:08

And I think I'm definetly a bike tart but spending silly moneys on stems... no thanks!

Got the fast wheels on the shiv now!

platypus · 5 Sep 2013 at 11:13

Shamrock said:
But you buy Rapha clothing which is silly money!

This is true!

However, there is a noticeable difference between clothing manufacturers such as Rapha, Castelli and Assos (my three of choice) and cheaper ones. Whereas - convince me the FSA is worth £100 - yes 566.6666666666667% more for eleven grams?!

platypus · 5 Sep 2013 at 11:15

@thepeteh I just can't bring myself to like that bike. Don't get me wrong, I'm very jealous, my tri bike is a crappy old Specialized. That tube is just ugly.

thepeteh · 5 Sep 2013 at 11:23

Screw you!

Nah, I'm not bothered how it looks in all honesty. I bought it for speed only. However to me it looks nice enough anyway and goes like stink - the important bit! It actually holds 750ml of fluid in there too.

[DOD]Asprilla · 5 Sep 2013 at 11:25

platypus said:
The FSA OS-99 is £120 and 122g

That's the FSA OS-99 CSI, which the carbon wrap one. The FSA OS-99 was fully aluminium, cost less than half the price and was 10g lighter.

They've discontinued it this year for some reason.....

FrenchTart · 5 Sep 2013 at 11:25

platypus said:
@thepeteh I just can't bring myself to like that bike. Don't get me wrong, I'm very jealous, my tri bike is a crappy old Specialized. That tube is just ugly.

I'm not sure that's strong enough a word. "Fugly" may be more apt.

I'm sure it's super fast though.

[DOD]Asprilla · 5 Sep 2013 at 11:26

thepeteh said:
And I think I'm definetly a bike tart but spending silly moneys on stems... no thanks!

Got the fast wheels on the shiv now!

That sure is pretty, but you better have the motor to make that go as fast as it looks!

Shamrock · 5 Sep 2013 at 11:30

I agree that an expensive stem adds zero performance gain, but I refuse to have any stem other than the 3T ARX Stealth to go with my 3T bars.