Messing with the standard stem on a Reign.

[Jurassic]

I was just wondering whether anyone has tried a different length stem on a Reign E? I've just trusted Giant to have got it right up to now although I've always thought that the standard stem lengths were quite long for this type of bike. The other day I noticed my headset had a bit of play in it and while I was cleaning, regreasing and adjusting it I decided to try putting the bars and stem from my Orbea Rallon on to see how the bike rode with a shorter stem. I had my first ride on it today and wow, what a difference! It's speeded the steering up a load compared to the standard set up and made the bike so much more agile and less barge like. The trade off is that it initially felt a bit short for XC type pedally stuff but in the tech it was amazing. I'm going to leave the short stem on for a bit and ride it some more but first impressions are very positive. For reference, the stem of the Orbea is a 32mm compared to the 60mm OEM fitment.

 

[Acmac999]

40mm is about right I think, stock is too long

 

[Jurassic]

40mm is about right I think, stock is too long

Interesting. I'm using the 32mm because I already had it (borrowed from my enduro bike) but I had wondered whether 40mm might be the best compromise. After riding the bike some more with the 32mm stem on I'm totally convinced that the stock stem is way too long. The steering on the bike is transformed with the shorter stem, it's hard to stress how much better the bike rides than it did with the longer stem on it.

 

[Rando_12345]

I'm 177cm on an M frame, I went with a 45mm stem despite running 40mm since forever on all my bikes. The reach is slightly shorter than my previous bikes and the head angle is really slack.

 

[Jme]

I run my one up 40mm and one up carbon bars. I had the shop swap them out before taking delivery so I can comment on the comparison. However, I really like the way this bike steers...