Bike Stems for Dummies

Bike stem, from quill to handlebars

Few freelance foul-ups are as frustrating (and sometimes amusing) as writers who blather for hundreds of words about a topic, even after having shown their ignorance with a basic mistake in the first sentence or two. Putting it simply, said freelancers can find the most definitive references and reword them at will, but if they have no real idea what they're talking about they're likely to say something stupid. That's how we caught SportsRec.com contributor Andy Humphrey: he said something stupid in "Long vs. Short Stem Bicycle," and one of our staffers saw it.

The crucial stupidification in Humphrey's post appears in the first paragraph:

"The stem on a bicycle is the metal piece connecting the handlebars to the rest of the bike. Changing the height of the stem changes the dynamics of the bicycle and finding the right stem height for you is essential..."

Wait, what? The first half is correct, Andy, but changing the length of the stem doesn't change the "height of the stem." Heck, it has only slight, if any, effect on the height of the handlebars. That's because the stem is a horizontal component; changing stem length changes the distance between the seat and the handlebars, not the height of the handlebars!

That mistake is too bad, because most of what Andy had to say is fairly good advice. It should be, because he more or less copied it from references like Sheldon Brown and Utah MTB. Well, most of it's good information; some of it is a little... questionable. Take, for instance, Andy's claim that,

"Long stems require you to make large motions to steer..."

Not really, Andy; a "large motion" on the handlebars is pretty unlikely. Perhaps you meant "larger"? What long stems actually do is allow riders with relatively long arms and/or long upper bodies compared to their leg length to assume a more comfortable position. This is called "reach," a word Humphrey did not use in his post. Reach is a one of the critical factors in properly fitting a bicycle, which is why component companies make stems in a wide variety of lengths.
Combine his apparent confusion about what a stem is with his lack of discussion of the effects of changing stem length on a bike's fit, and it should come as no surprise that Humphrey is today's Dumbass of the Day, mostly for writing about a topic he simply didn't understand.

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