My ESL has been negative (31mm stem / 16° bar) and despite all the things I've read about how that's bad it works great for me. With a higher bar, I find that I need a longer stem. Even rolled back the ESL is positive with my current ProTaper setup.
I've been thinking a lot about hand position versus weight distribution. Think of comparing effective top tubes on two bikes instead of comparing Reach numbers. A shorter stem and lower bar position (shorter ESL) versus a longer stem and higher bar position (longer ESL) can be adjusted such that the rest of me is in a similar position.
The issue with playing with it is a 31mm stem is the shortest easily available option and more than 16° of backsweep bars I've tried (which have been substantially more at 20°+++) haven't worked for me on the trail. It would be a better experiment to do on something like the Large Chameleon I was running since my V2 is quite long. Anyway, future project in the works.
Nov. 6, 2022, 1:32 p.m. - Andrew Major
My ESL has been negative (31mm stem / 16° bar) and despite all the things I've read about how that's bad it works great for me. With a higher bar, I find that I need a longer stem. Even rolled back the ESL is positive with my current ProTaper setup. I've been thinking a lot about hand position versus weight distribution. Think of comparing effective top tubes on two bikes instead of comparing Reach numbers. A shorter stem and lower bar position (shorter ESL) versus a longer stem and higher bar position (longer ESL) can be adjusted such that the rest of me is in a similar position. The issue with playing with it is a 31mm stem is the shortest easily available option and more than 16° of backsweep bars I've tried (which have been substantially more at 20°+++) haven't worked for me on the trail. It would be a better experiment to do on something like the Large Chameleon I was running since my V2 is quite long. Anyway, future project in the works.