question about lowering handle bars?

[spaddy]

Hi all,

I have been lurking on this site for about a year and love all the great info and knowledge that is shared. I have a question about lowering my handlebars. I have some spacers under my stem and my stem is flipped so there is no rise. I would like lower it. Will this affect my overall reach and will it place more weight over the front wheel? This frame is bit bigger than what I normally ride( about a size up) and just feel that I don't have enough weight over the front.

[swoop]

if yer bike is too big it will just continue to be too big. and yes.. every time you drop the bar a centimeter you are adding reach. you can't really fit a bicycle and have a happy ending if you are going about it this way.

if the issue is weight over your front wheel and the frame is too big... even if you streched out like superman.. your bike will still be too big.

start with saddle hieght and setback... get your assssss* in the right place and actually... start with your cleats.. actually start with saying that your frame is too big and see if you can trade or sell it and get one that fits.

that will work better.

having your shuolders around your ears and being scoochewd up on your saddle and your knees way out of the plane of the bb wont make it handle better.

you can try and drop the bars and keep the reach the same with a measuring tape. measure from the nose of your saddle to the tip of the hoods and tip of the inside of the drops.
as you drop the stem re-measure. change stem length to keep the measurment constant.. unless your reach is already wrong.

it's easy but it's complex. it's compleasy.
shortcut: smaller bike.

you can also bend your elbows more in the drops to try and find your sweet spot balance wise. it's about your torso and noggin yo. that's the massive thing your arms are attached to.

it's pretty painless to drop the spacers and play around .. just experiment.

[Louis]

I...just feel that I don't have enough weight over the front.

You can check this using a few books under one wheel, and a bathroom scale under the other, then swapping.

Others on the forum more expert than I can chime in on the desired front-to-back % weight distribution.