I would go back to your original setup that you felt comfortable with and live with kind of slow and put some time on your bike. Maybe try a 50 mm with the same rise. Slow isn't so bad, who wants Twitchy?

 

If your hand position feels too low, get a riser bar. The shorter stem will make it more difficult to keep the front wheel planted, whether on a climb or when cornering. Properly weighting the front is a function of body position. You can weight the front just as easily with 0* rise as a 7* rise. You will have to adjust going from 60mm to 35mm.

Moving to a shorter stem with 0* rise shortened your reach but lowered the bar height. What you're feeling is the lower bar height and a riser bar should help that. If I did the geometry correctly you lowered your bars ~2" (52mm) while shortening the reach ~1" (25mm). Don't get crazy, though, with the riser height. A riser bar's rise is not measured from the clamp to the bar end. A 20mm riser, for example, doesn't raise your grips by 20mm. It's actually a bit higher. Here's a helpful graphic showing rise, upsweep and backsweep posted a few years ago.

https://fcdn.mtbr.com/attachments/g...7743604-question-about-handlebar-rise-cockpit-fit-protaper_bar_measurements.gif

Along with rise, you need to factor in both upsweep and backsweep. Most are in the area of 4-5* up and 7-9* back. Try out a few different rises to see what works best for you.

"Stack" usually refers to frame stack which is unaffected by the handle bar. That's the vertical distance from the middle of the bottom bracket to the middle of the head tube.

Handlebar width will not noticeably change your reach and how bent you feel. Wider bars do generally provide more control because there's more leverage.

 

You've been given some good advice, but trying to picture something in our minds is much harder than just looking at an actual photo Photos of the current setup and previous would help a lot, both of the bike by itself and you on the bike to see just what might be giving you your troubles.

 

I don't know that your reach would have changed that much. But if the bars dropped a bit then it could put you in a different riding position that causes some discomfort. Riser bars can help but they may also shorten your reach and cause other issues. If you are in the saddle then you'll likely notice the front end is less weighted. That could effect climbing or cornering but if you're attacking either of those aggressively then you'll be out of saddle and it won't matter as much.

Ask if the bike store will test fit some 20mm risers and see if it improves your position. Of course you'd really need to do a ride on them so maybe they have a demo set or else you'll be forced to buy a set.

 

Sounds like you need an actual fitting from a fitter who is experienced with mountainbikes and mountainbike technique.

 

What the LBS said was pretty much total BS. Usually if you go to a shorter stem, you'll want to go with a higher rise stem and/or handlebars. The slacker your head angle, the more stem length affects bar height rather than reach. So if your bike were to have a 68 degree HA, you would have lost 16mm of height and 20mm of reach.

As far as handlebars, run a bar width that is right for your arms/shoulders, not a width meant to compensate for improper bike setup. The width of your hands when doing a pushup is usually a good place to start for bar width, although you can go shorter than that and still get good results.

I highly recommend Lee McCormack's cockpit setup system. You have to pay a little for access ($19 for a month of his bike school), but his calculator takes out a lot of the guess work and is cheaper than buying the wrong parts and helps you match cockpit setup to your riding style: http://www.llbmtb.com. It's cheaper than paying for a fit and will give you a great platform for ripping, plus you get great instruction and support.

Whatever the case, you don't want to "fix" one problem by creating another.

 

agree. i felt way better after following lee's recommendation

 

What are you running for a fork and frame? Slow steering can also be a byproduct of incorrect fork offset?. Also, what size wheels?

 

I've tried some bike calculators but they seem too arbitrary. They just ask for height and inseam. But people can be of similar height. Maybe one person has wider shoulders and longer arms. Thus they might like different reach, stack or handlebar width.

Does Lee's calculator take into account these proportions or just ask for height and inseam type stuff? I seem to have wide shoulders but shorter arms. So my wingspan is close to my height my my arms appear to be more than 1" shorter than other people of my height.

 

I've tried some bike calculators but they seem too arbitrary. They just ask for height and inseam. But people can be of similar height. Maybe one person has wider shoulders and longer arms. Thus they might like different reach, stack or handlebar width.

Does Lee's calculator take into account these proportions or just ask for height and inseam type stuff? I seem to have wide shoulders but shorter arms. So my wingspan is close to my height my my arms appear to be more than 1" shorter than other people of my height.

There are a couple versions of the calculator. I just used the simple version and got good results, but the pro version is pretty thorough with arm measurements and accommodates for arm length and shoulder width. It's not too overwhelming though. There are only 11 inputs, and not all of those are measurements. I think it'd really help you out.