Stem Angles

Nikos has bought one of our favorite bikes, the CR1 from Scott, nice choice! His question is concerning his stem, he is looking to change from the original Scott stem, which is 110 mm, to either a Thomson or BBB in a 100 mm length, the angle is different he wants our opinion on it

Question: Hi guys,
recently I bought the Scott CR1 Team 2008 and I want to replace the 110cm Scott stem with a Thomson 100cm stem. The Scott rises at 6 degrees, while all road Thomson’s or BBB’s stems have a 10 or more degrees angle. Is it too much aggressive for comfort riding?
Thank you.

Hi Nikos,

We can’t fault you on your choice of bike as we have one in the Bike Cycling Reviews stable, have you seen the new Addict? I guess you meant to say 100 mm stem not cm, as this would be a very long stem.

OK, your stem, as it is 10 mm shorter it will be closer, so this lifts our position slightly and if the stem 10 degree then you can try it either way round, try it pointing down, this will give you a similar position to the Scott, but a little closer and a little higher. If this doesn’t suit you, you could try it pointing up; this would give you a very comfortable position, but maybe a little too up right.

Stem on the CR1

Try the stem either way and change the spacers from above and bellow the stem to fine tune your position until you are comfortable, don’t worry about “aggressive” because if it is comfortable that’s all that matters, you will know if it is good when you get off the bike after a long ride, if you cant straighten your back then this is not healthy. You should feel no lower back pain or tightness in the shoulder area, these are the signs of bad position caused by the wrong stem length or height, your arms and shoulders should be relaxed on the top of the bars and on the drops you should be able to pull with your arms and feel the arm muscles working. When you have your hands on the brake hoods you should be comfortable, but also be able to pull on a climb and be able to use your arms to help you climb. I hope this answers your question? Experiment until you are happy with your position.

Bars on a CR1