Originally Posted by ralph12

I want to get a road bike for commuting. I'd prefer not to spend more than $800....

I want relaxed geometry. I know a lot of people swear by the positions of conventional road bikes, but it doesn't work for me--I don't mind a reasonable forward lean at the waist, but I get a ton of pain if I have to actually bend my spine to reach the bars (I have scoliosis and some other problems). Even some "hybrid" bikes kill my spine if they're not altered in some way to get the handlebars up high.

If the bike has a threadless stem, then I will use one of those stem risers to bring up the handlebars. if it has a threaded stem, I need one that can go up pretty high.

I feel a lot of pressure at most bike shops to get a bike that has a much more aerodynamic position than I'm comfortable with, so I want to have some idea of some entry level road bike models that have a relaxed geometry (or can be inexpensively altered to that end) before I actually go into the shops to start looking around.

Recommendations are much appreciated.