poor fit on road bike. Need Help.

[Brink]

I have a nice road bike but am having some low back pain when in the drops for too long. I have
decided that i need to raise my handlebars about 2 inches. I have a threadless headset and no extra
length on the fork (no room for spacers.)

I currently have a 100 mm stem and i was thinking of replacing it with the LOOK ergostem.
http://www.lookcyclesusa.com/pp-ergostem-hsc.htm

This i think could give me about 90-100 mm rise while keeping the 100mm stem length.

I was told by the LBS that i could add some sort of extender to the end of the stem to raise the
height (not spacers, I have no room for spacers). I am worried that I would then excessively torque
the screw and potentially break it and crash. (I am 6 feet 5 inches 230 pounds.) Has anyone heard of
this type of assembly before? This method would be cheaper, but is it worse?

Any other suggestions?

Thanks Brink

 

[Steve McDonald]

Try the handlebar stem extender. If it's sturdy and properly installed, you shouldn't tear anything
apart when riding unless you crash. I use one on a mountain bike that has a large cargo box on the
back. I sometimes have had a total weight of 350 lbs. loaded on it and the stem extender has held up
fine. My back has felt much better since I raised my bars.

Steve McDonald

 

[Per ElmsäTer]

Brink wrote:
> I have a nice road bike but am having some low back pain when in the drops for too long. I have
> decided that i need to raise my handlebars about 2 inches. I have a threadless headset and no
> extra length on the fork (no room for spacers.)
>
> I currently have a 100 mm stem and i was thinking of replacing it with the LOOK ergostem.
> http://www.lookcyclesusa.com/pp-ergostem-hsc.htm
>
> This i think could give me about 90-100 mm rise while keeping the 100mm stem length.
>
> I was told by the LBS that i could add some sort of extender to the end of the stem to raise the
> height (not spacers, I have no room for spacers). I am worried that I would then excessively
> torque the screw and potentially break it and crash. (I am 6 feet 5 inches 230 pounds.) Has anyone
> heard of this type of assembly before? This method would be cheaper, but is it worse?
>
> Any other suggestions?
>
> Thanks Brink

You can find photos and an article about this extender on Sheldon Browns pages. He seems to be very
happy with it.
--
Perre

You have to be smarter than a robot to reply.

 

[Paul Southworth]

In article <[email protected]>, Brink
<[email protected]> wrote:
>I have a nice road bike but am having some low back pain when in the drops for too long. I have
>decided that i need to raise my handlebars about 2 inches. I have a threadless headset and no extra
>length on the fork (no room for spacers.)
>
>I currently have a 100 mm stem and i was thinking of replacing it with the LOOK ergostem.
>http://www.lookcyclesusa.com/pp-ergostem-hsc.htm
>
>This i think could give me about 90-100 mm rise while keeping the 100mm stem length.
>
>I was told by the LBS that i could add some sort of extender to the end of the stem to raise the
>height (not spacers, I have no room for spacers). I am worried that I would then excessively torque
>the screw and potentially break it and crash. (I am 6 feet 5 inches 230 pounds.) Has anyone heard
>of this type of assembly before? This method would be cheaper, but is it worse?

It is widely used on mountain bikes and certainly no less reliable than an ergostem. It is also
quite economical, does not require changing other parts, and quick/easy to install. If you are
concerned about how much to tighten it, use a torque wrench (or ask the bike shop to install it with
a torque wrench). If you like to ride off big jumps you should probably just replace the
fork/steerer, otherwise I would try the extender.

--Paul

 

[Peter Cole]

"Brink" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> I have a nice road bike but am having some low back pain when in the drops for too long. I have
> decided that i need to raise my handlebars about 2 inches. I have a threadless headset and no
> extra length on the fork (no room for spacers.)
>
> I currently have a 100 mm stem and i was thinking of replacing it with the LOOK ergostem.
> http://www.lookcyclesusa.com/pp-ergostem-hsc.htm
>
> This i think could give me about 90-100 mm rise while keeping the 100mm stem length.
>
> I was told by the LBS that i could add some sort of extender to the end of the stem to raise the
> height (not spacers, I have no room for spacers). I am worried that I would then excessively
> torque the screw and potentially break it and crash. (I am 6 feet 5 inches 230 pounds.) Has anyone
> heard of this type of assembly before? This method would be cheaper, but is it worse?

I would trust the steerer tube extender more than the Look Ergostem. I used a quill type steerer
tube extender for many years and, as Sheldon predicted (he's my mechanic), it stood up to my 6' 10",
235 lb, doing fairly extreme mountain biking, mostly. The extender I have is a Nitto, it just makes
the steerer tube longer, then you add spacers to move the stem to where you want
it.