Do I need a longer stem?

[Accelebrate]

I seem to find myself naturally working backwards over time until I feel like I'm hanging over the back of the saddle. The saddle is positioned as far back as it'll go (it's actually a few mm passed the max marker). Height wise the saddle feels right.

The bike is a Specialized Sirrus, in an XL frame size, which looks quite big to me. I'm tall but no giant at 6ft 1. Is a longer stem the key, or am I missing something?

Geometry details here...
http://www.specialized.com/us/en/bc/SBCBkModel.jsp...

[curlie467]

Silly question but is your saddle level?

Dont know if it is the same for road bikes but i was speaking to an mtb group leader and he said as a rule of thumb to put your elbow on the front tip of your saddle and reach with fingers extended to your stem and the tips of your fingers should be halfway on the length of the stem.

[DrMekon]

Stems are so cheap, buy a longer one and try it. SJS cycles have a great selection. It took me 3 seatposts and 3 stems before I got my position dialled. Initially, I went higher at the front and further back, but I felt cramped out of the saddle. I'm now running a post with a fair bit of layback and a 135mm stem with 17 deg rise.

Being >6ft makes xl frames a bit of a lottery, I find, particularly If you like a flat-backed position.