Thanks for those suggestions no1mad - once I got home tonight, I did a few quick things -
1. I noticed the saddle nose was slightly down - I adjusted that so the nose is just a hair higher than level. I have the same saddle on all three bikes, and I saw that my Trek's was set up with nose slightly higher.

2. I raised the stem - unfortunately this model only gives you about 1" of vertical play - I do have a short-length, high extension stem - these are 1 1/8" quills, btw - and have used it once before b/c of a slight back injury a few years ago, but the regular stem has a pulley for the cable and it's a bit hard to get the front brakes set up with a different stem.

3. I am playing around with the angle of the straight bars. I should add that I've narrowed the bars - not uber narrow, just to the width of my shoulders. The width feels right for that, but the way the controls mount near the stem, my hands always feel cramped for room width wise. I had bar ends on there for years, to give me more hand positions, but it felt even more cramped...I think I may have a new MTB straight bar (wide, uncut) stashed somewhere - maybe I should swap that in to give my hands more room (and reinstall the bar ends)?

Any help/advice on the proper angle for a straight (flat) mtb bar would be appreciated. And would I be nuts to consider putting a front shock on this old bike? I did use a friend's bike with knobbies and Front shock for a whole summer a few years ago and I was a LOT more comfy on the rough road commutes. Fwiw, my mtb was supposedly built with suspension-ready geometry and the common upgrade back then was a Manitou 3.

Thanks!