D
Dave Wilson
Guest
My buddy and I have been happily riding our WalMart dual suspension mountain bikes on the local
single tracks for the past couple months. They work well enough. But I'm 6'4" so I feel a little
cramped. I looked on eBay and I won a 150mm stem and put it on my bike to replace the really short
stem on there. I rode it up and down the street and it felt fine.
I took it out on trail today and everything worked great until the first downhill where I touched
the front brake and went right over the handlebars. I did it four or five more times after that, but
that was the only one I wasn't really expecting. Plus the front was was trying to tuck in everytime
I turned the handlebars. It would slide sideways really easily. And finally the steering was really
touchy. I was constantly overcorrecting.
I'm trying to understand the dynamics of how a longer stem turned my normal bike into an
evil-handling thing that tried to kill me. I can see how moving my weight forward caused me to go
over the handlebars much easier. And that might explain why the front wheel would slide easily. But
I thought the longer stem would make the steering slower, since the bar ends would have to travel
through a larger-diameter circle. If anyone can explain this, or point me to a source that does, I
would appreciate it.
Anyway, I put the old stem right back on tonight. Who wants a 150mm Control Tech stem ? I can't
figure out what use it could be to anyone.
thanks, Dave Wilson West Palm Beach email is actually: dlwilson roundAthing davewilson period cc
single tracks for the past couple months. They work well enough. But I'm 6'4" so I feel a little
cramped. I looked on eBay and I won a 150mm stem and put it on my bike to replace the really short
stem on there. I rode it up and down the street and it felt fine.
I took it out on trail today and everything worked great until the first downhill where I touched
the front brake and went right over the handlebars. I did it four or five more times after that, but
that was the only one I wasn't really expecting. Plus the front was was trying to tuck in everytime
I turned the handlebars. It would slide sideways really easily. And finally the steering was really
touchy. I was constantly overcorrecting.
I'm trying to understand the dynamics of how a longer stem turned my normal bike into an
evil-handling thing that tried to kill me. I can see how moving my weight forward caused me to go
over the handlebars much easier. And that might explain why the front wheel would slide easily. But
I thought the longer stem would make the steering slower, since the bar ends would have to travel
through a larger-diameter circle. If anyone can explain this, or point me to a source that does, I
would appreciate it.
Anyway, I put the old stem right back on tonight. Who wants a 150mm Control Tech stem ? I can't
figure out what use it could be to anyone.
thanks, Dave Wilson West Palm Beach email is actually: dlwilson roundAthing davewilson period cc