I wish I was talking about money, but with gas prices at 2.37€ a liter right now, anything that’s coming in is on its way out pretty quickly.

But it’s still good news today because I want to talk about stem length. First though, a couple of shots of where I started with my Crisp Titanium last May…

…and where I am now.

I’ve made a couple of small-but-crucial changes; the first being a good 2 cm off the steering tube. I’m ‘slammed’ down now, but you can see that the saddle-bar drop is still not very much at all. It’s hardly a super aggressive position.

The second thing is what I’ve been dreading (because Enve stems aren’t cheap) for months, but thanks to the insane length of Sram Red hoods (did you know this?) I have been feeling a little like Graeme Obree when my hands were on the hoods….just not as fast.

I bit the bullet and bought a 90mm stem, so now my Crisp is kind of the anti-Colnago, because that frame is too small and I have a 300mm stem on it. That being said, take a look above and I hope you’ll agree that those 90mm don’t really make the bike look unbalanced or squashed.

I properly tested it today and I don’t notice any difference in the jitteriness of the steering and, best of all, I’m feeling just fine on the hoods. Bringing the bars back also put me closer to my sweet spot in the drops, where I like to be relatively close to the frame for maneuverability. I was also a little concerned that pulling the bars in would make me sit up and beg with the hands on the tops. It doesn’t seem to.

So, nearly a year later, the position is finally catching up to the beautiful build quality of my Crisp. Work on the rider is ongoing.