Originally Posted by
Allen55
How much difference does the height make? I find myself leaning forward a bit more than I like, but this is the way I bought the bike. The guys at the LBS said that I could adjust them. What difference would adjusting them up mean to me?
Lots of stuff going on here.
If you're learning forward too much, it sounds like a fit issue, although it might also be to do with core strength. I saw a pic of you with the bike on your blog, but not of you on the bike. One of those would help, or you might be able to get the opinion of someone at the shop?
Moving the bars around can make lots of different kinds of difference. It changes your posture, and, if you care, your aerodynamics. Lower bars are faster, but it doesn't look like you're trying to race.
You can move the bars up or down by changing the stem, or by adding and removing spacers. It's a five minute job, and probably won't cost more than about $40 - that's if you bought an adjustable stem. I'm not a fan of these, because they aren't very stiff and make me nervous when I stand on the pedals to climb a steep hill. But a lot of people (including yours truly) use an adjustable stem to figure out where the bars should be, then get a normal stem once they figure that out.
In case you haven't encountered them yet, this is what I mean by "adjustable stem:"
