Originally Posted by
NCbiker
As far as I know it is. I have it set fore and aft so that the front of my knee is directly over the spindle when the the pedals are at 3 and 9. The height is set so that my leg is fully extended when the heel of my foot is on the pedal leaving a slight bend in my leg on the down stroke when the ball of my foot is on the pedal. Angle is set at what I found to be most comfortable. This has helped with knee pain, but it still gets me on longer rides. I would really like to get the frame sizing resolved so I can get on with ordering a LHT to fit up.
I would get hand pain with straight bars. Seems to me pdlamb is making a good observation that you are experienced an apples to oranges transition regarding bar to seat height change and not a frame/top tube issue. From what you've said a 58cm sounds right, i've got long arms and feet, ride a 56cm frame for 30yrs and I'm 5'9". It's a frame size I"ve used since I raced bikes from when the handlebars were 3 1/2" below the seat but now as I've gotten older/fatter the bars are 1" below the seat. You're starting with bars about 8" ABOVE the seat which might cause all kinds of issues in adjustment for your neck arms and back.
$.02 is the 58cm is a good choice but start with the bars at a similar distance from the seat as your old bars but not as high. You may go through a couple stems to get it right as your body adjusts. Sore knees could be anything, pushing high gears and not spinning, not warming up, cold weather. Drop bars don't become useful until they get lower and you're putting weight on your hands AND stretched out for better aerodynamics and breathing, which will bring other comfort issues for parts of your body not accustomed to that postion.
Roundabout way of saying that maybe drop bars aren't what you need but a more aerodynamic position or one suited to higher rpm pedaling and less gear mashing is what you need, drop bars may or may not be the way to get there.