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Hi Essex Herts MTB

Just got back into riding as the last of my kids has now taken off their stabilisers. last time i rode was BMXing down Grove woods. Alot older and some what unfit I decided to get a mountain bike so I could go out for rides with the kids.
Any way getting a bit a bit long this so down to the point.

Got a secondhand GT XC1 aggressor of eBay in mint condition for a good price to begin with and see how much I use it before getting something expensive and letting it sit around gathering dust. Plus I'm a student at moment so broke most of the time. I found I love riding again and am already replacing parts on it. I read the parts don't take much of a hammering and I have just found Danbury Common and LOVED it. My question is about the stem.

I want to replace it with something shorter and closer to the frame. It seems to have spacers from the frame making it two inches away from the frame to bottom of stem. Is this because of the length of the forks and will i have to cut the top off the forks to make it shorter. Also any ideas on some decent makes of stem that won't break the bank.
Want something shorter than the 100mm thats on it. I believe its a 1 1/8 stem.

Any help for this beginner would be great

Hi and welcome!

You can swap the spacers from under the stem to above to begin with. This gives you a bit of adjustment to play with. 10mm can make quite a bit of difference to how the bike feels so experiment! Once your happy that lower is better you can trim the fork steerer down but bear in mind that once its gone there is no adding it back! (Also once they get too short it will reduce their resale value if you ever upgrade and want to flog them on).

As for stems, chainreaction cycles have a never ending sale so are a good bet, as are places like superstar components. Also people are always messing around with stem length, so ask in the buying/selling forum. Chances are someone will have one in the shed they would sell.

Make sure you get the right clamp size for your bars. Lots of bars are oversize (31.8mm) now-a-days but there are plenty of standard 25.4mm ones around.

To check which bars you have it often says on the bars but it may be under where the stem clamps on

if you intend on using it for a lot of xc as well as danbury etc get a 70mm
if you are going to be mostly playing on it then a 50mm would be ideal
zero or minimal rise.

Hi, and welcome

Spent loads of time in the 80'a over at groove woods when they built the bmx track there.

Some good advice above as always from this forum, try sitting on your bike in a riding position holding the bars unattached from the stem and see where your reach would be best for the stem and get someone to measure it for you so you get the right length, its tricky but worth the faffing about

WOW cheers

Some great advice. will try all these things out as soon as I can.

@phinw. I guess the forks will just stick out the top when I remove the spacers. Its a good tip as will eventually upgrade the forks I would think but that's a while off yet.

@nmwlarge. didn't think about the rise. thanks

@unityjon. lost my front teeth on my bike at grove its all been flattened recently just a few rhythms and a small table top left. thanks for the advice.

Yeah, your fork will pass right through the stem but you have to swap the spacers to above the stem, rather than remove them, as they are needed to tighten the topcap onto, which in turn loads the bearings.

If you have lots above the stem it looks a bit odd which is why most people trim the steerer once they are happy.

Right thanks. Think I've got it sorted. I'll know when I can't put it back together. Thanks