You can go even shorter, probably
god bless Fabien Barel and Mondraker for developing and pushing “Forward Geometry” in 2012, now trickling down to every bike worth buying IMO. Picture via MBR.co.uk
Updated 7/31/24
My introduction to getting seriously into unserious cycling coincided with the short stem / wide bars development. I completely missed the long stem days. Even the all-road bikes I’ve built up have maxed out with 70mm stems. Though until recently all of my bikes have settled in around 50mm regardless of the bike category.
classic Midwest gravel + 70mm Nitto Technomic
But the last few weekends I’ve done some big ol’ rides on both my Centurion ProTour and Stooge MK4. The ProTour sports a 70mm Nitto Technomic tall stem and the MK4 has a 53mm Box BMX stem. I finished both rides with basically no pain, but some soreness the following days, specifically between my shoulder blades and my lower neck. And when I look at pictures from those rides it confirms that I’m a little more hunched over than I probably need to be. So, like a good American, I decided to buy some stuff on the internet.
Of course the best way to start is with a frame that fits, and therefore has enough stack. A big reason why I pawned the Randy Herse off onto Eliisa was because it was just a little bit slammed, and the Centurion Dr. Welby sold me was just that much bigger to get a little bit more of a French Fit. And as an aside, I think Rivendell is absolutely brilliant for their 6º sloping top tube. It seems like a lot of folks think it's overhyped or that Rivs are unnecessarily expensive, but my understand is that their lugs were designed by them (which costs a lot up front) so that they can get that 6º sloping top tube, and subsequently more stack. I have a bud that's 6'4" who is always running into stack issues with bikes. He ended up finding an older 63cm Homer, and for the first time in his life he's had to bring the stack lower. He couldn't believe it.
#motorcity
Also, due to my love of short cranks (I prefer 160mm or even 155mm on most bikes) I have to raise my saddle more (which, as another aside, allows me to run a full 180mm OneUp dropper on the MK4, which has a fairly long seat tube for a 5’9” person). Subsequently I tend to want to bring my bar height up with the seat height. I do agree with Russ at Path Less Pedaled that standover isn't the most important characteristic of a non-mountain bike but I still don't want to go too huge on a bike. So here’s what I’ve done with my bikes, and at the bottom is a list of stems out there with super short reaches.
On my Bridgestone NB-26 coaster clunker I just switched from 70mm stem to a Crust x Nitto BJ stem, which has about 30mm reach with the 31.8mm bar clamp (it has a few mm less on Eliisa’s 26mm version just due to the nature of handlebar tube diameters). It also has a pretty high minimum insertion. It's made the bike look super Dutch and a little weird but I don't care at all, it feels incredible.
On my Centurion ProTour I switched from a 70mm Nitto Technomic (tall) to an 80mm Nitto Dirt Drop. Yes, 80mm is longer than 70mm, but only if you're measuring at the same stem angle. If you haven't spent some time using this tool I highly highly recommend it. It taught me that the 80mm Dirt Drop has at least 30mm less reach. It also gives you at least another centimeter of bar height compared to the tall Technomic. After a shakedown ride today I'm a huge fan. It seems to feel a bit stiffer too, for better or worse.
On my Stooge MK4 I switched from this rad 53mm Box stem to a 26mm S&M Redneck FLT stem. The 53mm was pretty good but after my experiences with going shorter on previous bikes I wanted to see how short I could go on the MK4. After a proper trail ride with the shorter stem I can say it's perfect for me. It's a beaut too thanks to its unique clamp. I was originally a little nervous about that unique clamp, but I figured if it was good enough for BMX it’s probably fine for trail riding. And after smashing it into a million roots and rocks yesterday I have total confidence in it.
So enough rambling, here's my list of short (<50mm) stems to get your bars as close as possible. I'll update as I find more.
Threadless
Spank Spoon 318 (31.8mm clamp diameter / 33mm or 43mm reach / $59.99 MSRP). We bought one of these for Eliisa’s Rocky Mountain Suzi Q. The anodizing is a bit ugly IMO but Spank’s pedigree is legit, and I haven’t seen any other stems that short for the price. They also make a 35mm as the Spoon 350 but in this house we believe 35mm bars are a bike industry conspiracy.
S&M Redneck FLT (22.2mm clamp diameter / 26mm reach / $89.95 MSRP). I don’t really have a BMX background (unless you count hucking yourself off homemade ramps on Walmart Mongoose bikes in elementary school), but after getting this Stooge I’ve been completely smitten by 7/8” bars. They’re so sleek and simple, and all the coolest high rise, high compliance, and custom bars out there seem to be 7/8”. So after last weekend’s big outing on the MK4 with the 53mm Box stem I started researching super short BMX stems. Apparently the Redneck is an iconic BMX stem dating back to the 90s, and originally only came in red. Mercifully they sell a black and polished one now.
FOMTOR 31.8 Bike Stem 35 Degree 70mm (31.8mm clamp diameter / 70mm length / 35º rise giving a 44mm ish reach / $18.99). There are certain bike parts that are worth not cutting corners and skimping out on, and those are the ones that keep your teeth in tact. Stems definitely fall into that category, but the FOMTOR is legit and seems to be rebranded from other legit stems. Yes, it says 70mm but remember using the YOJIMG tool that as you add rise you lose reach. I ran this on a 90s mountain bike for some time, and while it may not be the prettiest it sure gets the job done, especially for the price.
LD stems. This is more of a genre than a specific model, but these usually have so much rise and angle to them that you can get your bars pretty close. Crust makes one but it seems to be out of stock as of the time of writing, Velo Orange makes one (Cigne), and you can get custom ones too.
Discord Creemee (31.8mm clamp diameter / 0mm length / 125mm height (steel) or 80mm height (aluminum) / $195 (steel) or $165 (aluminum). I’ve never ran one of these but my aforementioned 6’3” friend is in love with his aluminum version on his All City Electric Queen with Soma Dream bars for trail riding. I have run the [apparently now discontinued?] 0mm Discord (W)right stem on a 90s Specialized Hard Rock with drop bars and a big 2.3” front tire and a big Wald 1392 basket, and it was totally normal for most riding, but was a bit sketchy for controlling wheel flop with a heavy front load and that much pneumatic and mechanical trail. Conceptually I’m pretty down on the 0mm stem lifestyle, but I just haven’t found the need to run them yet.
Discord Chromo Peeper (31.8mm clamp diameter / 30mm reach / 125mm height / $195). I haven’t tried this one but it seems like it goes.
Discord Cheddah Stem (31.8mm clamp diameter / 30mm reach / 95mm height / $195). I also haven’t tried this one, but since my wife’s 30mm (W)right stem has been recalled I was nosing around on the Analog Cycles site and saw this recently dropped. We’re being reimbursed in store credit for the recall, so I’m thinking about grabbing a Cheddah for future threadless dirt drop (possibly fat?) antics.
Crust SST (31.8mm clamp diameter / 30mm reach / 80mm height / $125 (includes a 25mm spacer). I haven’t tried this one either, but it seems like a great alternative to the Cheddah or Peeper if you need less stack height.
Be More Bikes RR (35mm clamp diameter / slightly negative reach (???) / 150mm height / $500 (includes 31.8mm shim)). The best part about mountain biking is the tinkerers, inventors, and engineers who just go for it. I’d be completely remiss if I didn’t mention this giant hunk of Made In USA CNC’d aluminum, even if it’s probably not the right tool for most of us, but Seth from Berm Peak loves it, so that’s a pretty legit endorsement.
7/31/24 update: Origin8 Everland MX/GX (31.8mm clamp diameter / 60mm reach / 40º rise giving a 35mm ish reach / $38). I just found this one, I haven’t tried it but it looks very useful for drop bar conversions and the like.
Threaded
Nitto x Crust BJ Stem (31.8mm or 26mm clamp diameter / 25mm ish reach / 100mm max height / $128). My first experience with this stem was in the 26mm variation on Eliisa’s Crust Nor’easter, mated to some Crust Shaka bars. It’s a classic Nitto beauty, with Crust funk on it since they designed it. It’s basically a bar clamp beautifully tigged to a quill. I ended up buying a 31.8mm version for my Bridgestone NB-26 coaster klunker (pictured above), and even though the previous stem setup was gorgeous and useful, this is even more comfortable.
Nitto x Crust UI Quill Stem (31.8mm or 26mm clamp diameter / 60mm length / 30º or 15º rise giving a 40mm ish reach on the 30º rise compared to a classic -17º quill / 120mm max height on 30º version / $128). When Eliisa started riding the Randy Herse she really missed her stolen Salsa Cowchippers. Plus, I knew they worked with her Wald 1372 basket, so we ordered some silver Cowchippers to replace the stolen black ones. Most of my quill experience has been with 25.4mm or 26mm stems, so I was pleased to find the UI stem from Crust, made by Nitto. Again, thanks to the beauty of trigonometry, both rise variations will help bring your bars a lot closer to you than the 60mm reach suggests. Eliisa uses the 31.8mm 30º model, giving about a 41mm reach on a traditional 73º randonneuring bike. As an aside, Crust bikes are cool and all, but don’t sleep on their components. They really are filling holes in the market with useful and beautiful stuff, like the two aforementioned stems.
Nitto Dirt Drop aka MT-10 (26mm or 25.4mm / 80mm length / about 40º rise (measured by me) giving a 44mm ish reach compared to a classic -17º quill / 140mm max height / $84). Stiff, short, tall, what more can you ask for. I’m running this on my Centurion after taking off a Technomic and I really love it. Rivendell recommends it for the Albastache bars I’m running, it turns out they know what they’re talking about.
There also seems to be a variety of 22.2mm BMX quill stems out there, but I haven’t tried any yet.
Drop anything I may have missed in the comments. Until next time!
PC