Questions about best way to raise the handlebar on my bike

Question

I recently bought a hybrid bike and I'm not comfortable with my body position when riding it. It feel like I'm leaning too far forward and would prefer to be more upright so I want to raise the handlebars. The bike is a Carrera Subway 2 Mens Hybrid Bike XL .

I've never done any changes/upgrades to bikes in the past, so am pretty inexperienced with this. I've been looking into it a bit and have seen that there are two options:

• a handlebar riser, like this: Steerer tube extension source link
• an adjustable stem riser like this: Halfords source link

Is there any consensus on which is the preferred option? Are there pros/cons to each? I'd be very grateful for any help.

Thanks

Answer 1

First a couple of notes: double check all dimensions and read up on fitting stems (a simple enough task, if you do the right things in the right order).

Now, both products have their uses.

The adjustable stem is sometimes used to dial in a fit before replacing with a fixed one of the right length/angle, but it can be left on. Changing the angle brings the bars closer to you as well as higher, and closer also makes your sitting position more upright. This means that although the total height gain is fairly small, the effect can be quite big. You can set it to closely (subject to overall length) mimic your existing setup, and then test incremental movements

That stem riser would appear to provide a minimum of 58mm of rise. That's quite a big jump from where you are now. I'm rather wary of mystery brands on Amazon for safety-critical components, but the basic design is standard; I have one on the tandem.

Only you know how far you think you want to raise the bars, so you'll need to choose based on that information. You could even use both!

It's not totally clear from your top-down photo, but I assume that there's no, or just one thin spacer above the stem. Otherwise the first thing to try would be setting the stem as high as it goes with the hardware you've got.

You may want to look into home bike fitting techniques but in this case I don't recommend a professional bike fit.. That will sound wrong to some, but:

• For a new rider on a Halfords hybrid, a proper bike fit is overkill - it would probably cost more than the bike.
• A shop fitting from Halfords is something to be avoided based on the experience of everyone I know who's had one from their barely-trained sales staff.
• A new (or returning after a long break) rider will either not ride enough to benefit, or ride enough that they'll change posture and flexibility quickly, making the fit out of date fast.

Answer 2

Is there any consensus on which is the preferred option?

Neither.

The preferred option is a stem with the correct length and angle. There are typically 6 or 7 degree stems, 17 degree stems and 35 degree stems. Stems can also be flipped facing up or facing down, so with these three stems, you have six options for the amount of rise.

Stem adjustments are made by doing coarse adjustment by selecting the stem: 6 or 6/7 degrees, 17 degrees, 35 degrees. If you pick 17 or 35 degrees, you probably have an idea whether you're going to flip it up or down. For 6/7 degrees, either up or down is an option, and you may be unsure which you want to do. Bikes usually come with 6/7 degree stem.

Fine adjustments are doing by moving the spacers either below or above the stem.

If you don't know at all which handlebar height you prefer, you can buy an adjustable stem, but even then you have to have an idea of the correct length of the stem.

Adjustable stems are intended only for temporary use, and don't allow adjusting length (except by changing the angle and spacer positions at the same time, but this makes only very minor adjustments).

Once you have the fit dialed in, you almost certainly want to ditch the adjustable stem and buy a stem with the correct angle and length.

Answer 3

There are other options to change the cockpit geometry than to make the stem higher.

• A shorter stem. Chosing a stem that is 1-3 cm shorter already leads to a less streched and more upright position. Maybe you don't actually have to rise anything.
• A handlebar with rise. Some bars are completely flat, but you can easily get MTB bars with 30-50mm rise (or more)
• Handlebar backsweep. Most bars are slightly angled backwards by just a few degrees, but you can find basically everything up to 90° (which of course would be far too much)

Answer 4

First and foremost, always make sure to get things set to the right torque when reassembling things after modifications to your headset. This is especially important for the bolt that compresses the stem and headset against the top of the head tube, because it’s what provides the correct preload for your headset and crown bearings. Too much there and you’ll wear them out fast, too little and your fork will wobble. Note that this means you really need to be using a torque wrench for this, and know what torque settings are involved. If you don’t know what any of that means, I strongly suggest consulting your local bike store (they should at least be able to point you at the right type of tools and help you figure out torque settings when they’re not printed on the parts).

Second, avoid steerer tube extenders. They have a strong tendency to slip, which then means you have to realign your handlebars. In theory this might not matter if you are only doing very light riding, but they’re definitely not acceptable for heavy duty usage and I would always consider getting a new stem with a longer steerer tube first.

Adjustable stems, on the other hand, absolutely can be acceptable for light to moderate usage. The one you’ve listed is actually a relatively common one, and one of the very few designs I would trust. It is especially important if you choose to use one of these to get the torque setting correct on the bolt that holds the angle adjustment in place, not getting it tight enough will run a very real risk of a hard landing or large bump in the road causing it to slip. If you’re looking at heavy riding, I would also avoid these except to possibly figure out the optimal positioning.

Alternatives to those include:

• It’s not really possible to tell from your picture, but if there are spacers above the stem on the steerer tube, simply moving those below the stem will raise the handlebars and give you a more upright position. This is unlikely to get you a significant improvement though unless there are a lot of them to move.
• New handlebars. Handlebar geometry can vary significantly, and just getting different handlebars may be enough to help here. If you want a more upright position, look for either more backsweep (the angle the handlebars bend backwards towards the rider) or more rise (the elevation of the grips relative to the stem). MTB or BMX handlebars are likely your best bet for finding either of those properties (or both).
• Just get a shorter fixed stem with a more aggressive angle. What you have currently looks like either a straight stem, or a 6-7 degree stem. You should be able to pretty easily find a 17 or 35 degree stem, and it shouldn’t be all that difficult to find a shorter one as well, and both of those changes will bring the handlebars closer to you.
• Depending very heavily on the bike geometry, you may be able to move the saddle forwards or downwards, both of which will inherently give you a slightly more upright position. Note though that going more than about a centimeter in either direction from your ‘optimal’ position for pedaling will start to interfere with your ability to pedal efficiently, so this should only really be used for very minute adjustments.
• Mentioning this just for completeness, since it’s absurdly expensive, but there’s always the BMB Raised Reversed Stem. They look absolutely ridiculous and defy conventional wisdom about bike geometry (though this is a case where conventional wisdom is not entirely accurate), but using one will definitely get you a more upright riding position.