[PaintPeelinPbody]

Curious if anyone is running a negative rise stem on an MTB with a rigid fork for commuting duties.

On my current vintage commuter setup, the combination of non-suspension correct geometry and a rising stem with flat bars just feel really weird. Compared to my road bike, its just not comfortable on the street.

Thinking that if I go to a longer stem, negative rise, it'll flatten things out a bit and make it feel more like a road bike.

 

[Sizzler]

I'm curious what your setup is? I'm running a Kona mtb frame with an overly suspension corrected rigid fork (too long), high rise stem an riser bars. Not suprisingly, it rides a bit strange so I need similar help!

 

[blunderfonics]

The bike I commute on when the weather is crappy is a Redline Monocog 29er with a rigid fork. Between the huge wheels, huge tires (Schwalbe Big Apples) and the rise of the Origin 8 Space Bars, I found that I was more comfortable with my 6deg stem flipped over. Because of the head-tube angle there is still a bit of an incline from where the stem attaches to the steer-tube and where the bars attach to the stem, so this is not a true negative rise setup. The riding position this gives me is still pretty upright and certainly not very road-like, but that is by design for my application.

 

[perttime]

Try your current stem inverted (if it has any "rise"). I have an inverted stem on my Suburban Assault Vehicle, and also had an inverted Thomson stem on my HT trailbike until I found a flat bar that was a good length for me.

 

[CommuterBoy]

This is an area that requires serious experimentation. I wound up using an inverted stem and a riser bar on my mtb...it makes no sense on paper, but it feels way better than a riser stem and a flat bar. Don't ask me why.

 

[Bajamike]

I just bought a new stem for my Stumpjumper hybrid. I went with a 6 degree x 130mm Raceface Deus. It was on sale at Cambriabikes for $15. I thought about going with a zero rise and even a negative rise stem but I instead cut my steer tube down a little more. I had about 1.75" of spacers under my old stem. I cut off about 1" and it seems perfect now. I am fairly hunched right now but if I ever want to go lower I can just flip the stem over. What size stem are you running now?

 

[rodar y rodar]

He said vintage, so probaly a quill rather than a case of flipping anything. Just sayin

I don`t have dropped stems on any flat bars, but you might as well give it a try. You might also try some bar ends, or even a bar with more/less sweep if you have one hanging around just to see whether your particular "weird" is due to the location of your hands or to how they`re oriented. It`s mostly a comfort thing, not much of a handling issue?

 

[AndrwSwitch]

I finally put an adapter on my beautiful older road bike so I could use a new handlebar with a 31.8mm clamp. I don't know why I waited so long - it looks slightly funky, but functions very well and being able to mess around with different stems and angles and get the new handlebars has made my bike much more comfortable and fun to ride.

If you're going to do some tinkering, and I think it almost always takes a fair amount to make a bike fit, especially if you're messing with the geometry or purpose, I highly recommend getting an adapter to let you use the newer stems. If it really bothers you and your new bars have a 25.4 or 26mm clamp, you can always get a quill stem to match the extension later.

 

[AZ]

Adapter plus adjustable stem = win . Play around with the adjustable stem until you find the "sweet spot" .