Originally Posted by
unterhausen
I haven't gotten used to the look of a short stem yet, but I like to run randoneur bags on all my bikes and a short stem makes that work a lot better.
I like the idea of a little less weight on the front wheel so it will float better and possibly reducing the feeling of not going over the handlebars. Although I don't think that is a big factor in my riding. Anything else recommending it?
Mostly its to get the front wheel out further to better deal with obstacles and to reduce the feeling of going over the bars on steep rocky/rooty descents. I like to be able to ride my gravel bike on singletrack, as well as gravel roads and having less weight on the front wheel makes it easier to lift it over obstacles like downed trees. I prefer to accomplish that by keeping the same HTA and trail and pushing the head tube out, rather than going to a slack HTA which will result in more wheel flop on low speed climbs.
Short stems seem to offend people who are accustomed to seeing "proper" drop bar bikes as having a long stem. A lot of people also mistakenly believe that a short stem will negatively affect the handling of the bike.