Handlebar Height and Position

[MacB]

Having taken a keen interest in this matter and various stem options I was wondering what peoples views are on certain aspects. I've also been playing on this calculator Joe pointed me to:-

http://alex.phred.org/stemchart/Default.aspx

a truly excellent resource, once I'd got my head round it

Through trial and error I've found that there is a limited range of saddle height and setback(saddle nose to centre of BB vertically) that I can operate with. Most fittings seem to agree that these are hard and fast parameters and you should work forward from here for full bike fit.

Again most fitting advice seems to agree that, unless you're full on racing, there's a limit to how far below saddle level you want the bars, 2 inches max is often mentioned. There's also no shortage of opinion indicating that comfort doesn't really begin until bars are level with saddle or higher. Yet when I look at bikes themselves this can be difficult to achieve. Due to dimensions, angles and length of steerer tubes the vast majority of stems on offer won't do it. There are riser stems, mainly maxing out at a 40 degree rise, but a lot seem to be zero to a max of 10 degrees. A lot of the riser options also seem to be older technology, ie 2 bolt design and mtb orientated.

My concerns are around how much is too much and in which direction? This is respect of bike handling, especially steering. Is there an optimum position for bars, or hand positions, in relation to the front wheel? Lots of wooly questions as usual, have read through Sheldon but seems a bit scarce of this matter.

 

[Joe]

Glad it was useful!
I think handlebar position is definitely one of personal choice.

I don't know much about riser stems etc but with regard to handling I think outside of crazy short stems you get used to it pretty quickly. As a rule shorter and higher = twitchier, longer and lower = more stable. However, wider bars are generally a bit more stable so if you are running butterflys you can probably get away with shorter stem than if you were running narrow drop bars.

Also, whilst some consider saddle setback fixed for all bikes I think you can adjust it for the style of riding. TT riders use minimal setback for example.

Check out http://www.peterwhitecycles.com/fitting.htm for good advice imo.

 

[MacB]

thanks Joe, I'd read Peter Whites article and was very useful, I was more looking for any serious no-no's or links to the science behind the geometry. I'd rather not talk myself into a setup that's likely to produce dire results

I'd originally setup the butterflies based on near hands positions and controls, with the sides being the stretched out option, hence the 130mm stems, the forward section was basically unused. But by moving the controls to the forward section, something I'd been told was impossible, it really changes the dynamics. It's 14cm between the two, plus you can add another 1cm as the angle broadens out. So I've effectively moved my cockpit forward by 15cm. The sides are now a rearward position and my stretched out option is via inboard barends.

Looking at that calculator I can switch from a 130mm stem at 20deg rise to a 90mm stem at 40deg rise and reduce reach by 55mm and only impact height by 4mm. I have spacers above and below the stem to further tweaking is easy. It's slowly starting to make sense.