Long stems =/= stability?!?

[cobbwheels]

I used to have 110mm long stem on my gravel bike. I've always been comfortable with it. Then I had an accident which broke and sprained some bones on my arms. I've kept on using the 110mm stem for a while but found no longer comfortable in longer rides. Due to arm injury, I'm finding myself unloading my arms more by engaging the core muscles. But doing this made me feel stretched on the bike so I replaced the 110mm stem with the shortest compatible stem available which is a 32mm stem.

The bike felt twitchy at first going from 110mm to 32mm stem and also adjusting the brake hoods upwards so the hoods is much closer to me than before. Steering effort felt much lighter. Everything felt less stable at first.

But after couple months, I got real used to it and now I think the short stem + short reach dropbar setup is actually more stable in fast descents.

When I had the longer 110mm stem and making fast descents in the mountains, if I disturb the handlebar a bit, the bike and handlebar would oscillate on its own, several times, and eventually stopping on its own without doing any corrective action. It is scary given you're going downhill at high speeds.

Now with the 32mm stem and the hoods in a closer position, if I disturb the handlebar while descending at high speed, the handlebar would almost immediately correct itself. If it oscillates, it does so in much less number of cycles than the 110mm stem. To me, this is a more stable, much safer behavior. There's even more advantages shorter stems present like improved handlebar stability when tackling long steep climbs at low speed.

I've watched GCN video comparing stem lengths on slalom courses and high speed descents. It seems they didn't really did all tests conceivable and didn't give themselves the chance to get used to using shorter stems.

The only potential disadvantage of really short stems is they look awkward on a road bike. They look perfect on a MTB but a bit ugly with road bikes.

 

[Bella8Corey]

And I like really short stems! Although they do not look beautiful for many, but it suits me!

 

[cobbwheels]

There's potential issue with bike fit but fortunately did not become problem to me and I'm even using undersized gravel bike frame.

I actually found that going with the shortest reach possible (without causing your knees to hit the handlebar when standing on the pedals or doing a very tight turn) is the most comfortable setup. I did not even move my saddle backward when I did this mod.

It does make you sit more upright probably why it's more comfortable. Solved numb hands completely even if I never take my hands off the handlebar on long rides. Understandably, not everyone will agree on short stem and looks weird on a road bike. But I won't go back to OEM stem lengths again!

The short stem just handles far better and feels safer. The 'stability' of long stems is misleading. It only makes steering away from a straight path much harder at high speed so you can keep riding straight while reaching for the bottle to drink or just goofing around or making excessive hand gestures. Most riders will interpret that as more stable. But if you did manage to disturb the handlebar enough or hit an unseen gap on the road, the front wheel can oscillate. Most times, oscillations go away quickly but sometimes, it can devolve to a 'speed wobble' or shimmy which is quite dangerous. Long stem would give more leverage for your body to reinforce or reach the resonant frequencies of the oscillations which is bad.