I need some advice. I'm 5'4" with a 32" inseam and currently am riding an
'88 or '89 Alpine Monitor Pass MTB I'm guessing it's 'a 19" frame. My road
bike is a 17" Specialized Sirrus approximately the same vintage. The road
bike is fairly comforatble as to reach from the saddle to the handlebars
and I feel that most of my weight is solidly on my rump. However, the
mountian bike sadly is not the same story since I bought it I never have
been able to fully dial it in. I find it okay over short distances (1 to 5
miles) but longer than that I feel that I have too much weight on my hands.
In fact the weight on my hands is appearent when I first get on the bike;
however, I'm not sure how to correct it. I'm pretty sure my saddle
position is okay for peddling efficency and bike handling. I've tried
running the saddle forward on it rails, but doing so puts me out of optimal
positioning for pedalling and makes bike handling "whippy". I have noticed
that after riding around 5 miles or so, that if I rest my fingertips and
thumbs on the bars it shifts my weight back onto the saddle and it feels
okay. My question is this: Should I consider raising the bars or should I
look for a shorter stem? I know the bigger frame isn't helping much and
it's probably too long for my torso, but I can straddle it okay so I know
the frame fits within limits. What would be the effect on feel and
handling if I raised the handlebars? I know another possibility is to
replace the stem; however, this mountain bike is of the vintage that used a
cantilever brake on the front and used the stem as a cable stay which is not
very common anymore. All advice on this matter is greatly appreciated.
John
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