Originally Posted by
TheFort
Thanks for all the help so far. The bike was intended for a 90mm stem, so I don't really want to go lower than 80mm. This is the reason I was looking at compact bars to reduce the reach to the hoods 10mm. I might try this and see how it goes. I have no interest in an aero position and just want to ride gravel in a more upright position.
If none of this works, maybe a custom bike is in the offing?
You are succumbing to a common misunderstanding. For what you are trying to achieve here, there is NO DIFFERENCE between reducing the reach of the bars vs reducing the length of the stem. None. Nada. Zip. The effect on the handling of the bike when in the drops or on the hoods is identical, because the position your hands end up in relative to the steering axis is the same. The only difference it makes is the position of your hands when on the tops.
If you are finding the 90mm stem length to be sacred, why would the bar reach not be equally sacred?
FWIW, I am also someone who needs an unusually high stack to reach ratio. What I have found (through the guidance of an excellent bike fitter) is that in my case it is best to go with the frame that gives the proper reach, as stack is a trivial matter to make up for with spacers or a riser stem. Making large adjustments to reach (be it through shorter stems OR shorter reach bars) can affect handling.
That said, i would not sweat reducing the reach to the hoods (be it through stem length or bar reach) 20-30 mm from the stock configuration. Stems are cheap, and you will know if you are OK with the handeling.
Thus, I tend to go DOWN is size, rather than up.
One other thing to keep in mind when looking at stack and reach numbers: if frame A has the same reach as frame B, but also has a much taller stack than B, then after you set the bars at the same level on each frame, frame A will have a longer effective reach than B. The reason being that as you space the stem up the steer tube on B to match the bar height of A, you are also moving it back due to the angle of the head tube and steer tube.
The reason I am pointing this out is because it means that the difference in effective reach between frame sizes is actually larger than it appears when you look at a Geo chart and just look at the reach numbers alone.
Good luck.