To the stem of the problem.

I blame Sir Chris. Or perhaps my Brother in Law. Possibly both. 

I bought a new bike. Shit, I sold my old bike. I loved that bike. My Specialized Allez. 16,000 miles ridden on that bike (please don't tell the new owner that, barely used really......), through all weathers, crashed it, got knocked off it (the new owner must NEVER know this), got KOM's, lost KOM's. Blood, sweat and tears. Best bike I've owned. 4 sets of wheels. Mental. It just kept on going, no matter what I threw at it. I hope its found a good home and is being taken care of. I think I took care of it. Possibly. Still love the look of that bike. 

Anyway, its not really a new bike. Its a 2014 bike but its never really been used. My brother bought it a couple of years ago from a mate leaving for Oz (likely story) so got a bargain. It's done bugger all in the way of mileage, 500 in 2 years, that's nothing, my Allez was a 2016 model, so in comparison, this bike has barely been used. The first owner didn't really use it either, sat it in a garage, dusted it off a bit on a sunny day, somewhere, sometime. 

Bikes are supposed to be ridden. I'm not a great mechanic though. I joked with my pal the other day that if I successfully change a chain and cassette, its 'Drinks all round', true story, you have to take the small victories. 

So My new bike, bargain, literally. Lovely thing. Full Carbon. I wasn't looking for it, wouldn't have bought it unless it came to me. Same pal I mentioned before, we chat a lot about bikes, ride in all conditions, so this bike isn't a year round commuter. He says 'Nick mate, 1 x 11 and discs, that's the future'. I try to explain to him that you'd run out of gears, 1 x 11 isn't fast enough on the road, then he reminds me I rode 2 winters worth of commutes on a single speed. Loved that bike too. He makes a valid point though. 1 x 11 and discs probably is the future, that with 35mm tyres too. 

So I wasn't looking for this bike, I wanted to embrace the future, was waiting for my cyclescheme voucher to end so I could get something more suited to British roads and seasons. Then boom. I sent my brother a text, silly offer, assumed I'd get told to p**s off, was a conversation starter really. He messaged me back 'add another hundred and it's yours'. Shit. That's a bloody bargain. MINE. 

So that book and Sir Chris. It was a gift, 'I've got a copy, its good, starts off basic but the training, stretches, drills, brilliant stuff' and it is bloody good, proper beginners to experts stuff, its all covered. Something bothered me though, not sure why. There is a section in the book about bike fit, as there should be in this type of book. A point is made about handlebar reach. It goes a little something like this.....'If you hold your handlebars on the drops, with straight arms then the hub of your front wheel should be visually obscured by the bars, if so, your reach is perfect.'

And that's all it took. It goes on to say if the hub is in front of the bars as you look down, the stem is too short and if the hub is visible behind the bars, the stem is too long but it really got me cause on my new bike, I could see the bloody hub. Never really thought about it before, If I'm honest. Never been uncomfortable, other than shit saddles, we've all been there but this is Sir Chris, telling me whats what, if its good enough for him I can't just ignore it.

Never had a bike fit, £150 I've always thought better spent. Never had issues with cleats or the like, been cycling all my life, so your knowledge of what you like and how to be comfortable on the bike kinda grows with you. Something new doesn't work quite as well as you'd hoped, you tweek it, you move that cleat to the left, you move the saddle forward 5mm, you raise the hoods you just make small incremental changes to suit, its part and parcel, but the hub, what?, never even paid attention to it. I can see it now, is in front of the bars, the more I ride this bike (590 miles to date) the more I see it. It's playing with me now. 

I've gotta be honest here, I lost bloody lunch breaks sweating to this cause, not just me but mates too, trying to get my previous stem/headset sat correctly, what a palaver. I don't have a garage, so if I want to tinker in winter, its at work in the freezing basement over a lunch break or in the kitchen at home at 9pm, wife isn't keen on the latter. Bloody Cannondale headsets, perhaps its because its a carbon steerer tube but its unnecessarily difficult to tighten. So obviously, as soon as I'd touched it, it was never right, always had play in it. So this clearly made the situation worse. Also, it kinda questions your ability to use tools, hanging off that bike we were, trying to push the stem down so there would be no play. No you tube video on stem tightening has fellas hanging off the bars to apply pressure!

I just can't seem to let this go. I've gotten no further in the book either, this one thing just won't leave me. I've googled it too many times to see what else is written about stem length and the correct reach. Never even crossed my mind before, now its keeping me awake at night. I do realise any change isn't mutually exclusive, change the stem, it could cause issues elsewhere. 

I have my saddle quite far forward, always seem to sit on the nose of it, if I make a conscious effort to ensure I'm sitting back, its almost gone, I can see it but only a smidge. Any adjustment I'd need to make would be small. 100mm stem on my bike. Most of my previous road bikes have been 110mm, not sure why this one is 100mm. This bike has barely been used though, so it's basically as was when bought, spec wise. The front end has all the spacers in the world, it feels very tall to ride. I've moved the stem about but can never seem to get rid of the play I caused by moving it in the first place.

Right, I need the steerer tube cut and I need a new stem. Lets do this. 

Check out the pic below, on the right is how I got the bike, like a Giraffe it was. In the middle is me playing with the spacers and flipping the stem, on the left is the new stem and 1.5cm taken off the steerer tube. 

As luck would have it, I managed to locate a Cannondale stem in 110mm, pretty much identical to what I already had but slightly longer. £12.95 on ebay. Came off a similar bike with someone who I'd guess had already read the same book ;)

I think I'm finally happy with the set up, well I have to be happy with the height, the steerer tube is cut but I now can't see the hub when I'm on the saddle, with my hands on the drops and my arms straight. Hooray!.

So If it's good enough for Sir Chris, it's good enough for me. Funny how the words of one of Britain's most decorated Olympians can affect your psyche.

Bars are too wide but that's a problem for another day.....