Originally Posted by Sunsanvil

Long story short, in the spring I bought a Trek 8.4 DS. Love the bike, regret my choice of the 21". I'm 5'-11.5", 170ish lb. At the time I seemed to be between the 19 and the 21 (in retrospect thats probably because the test riding consisted of little more than sprints in the parking lot). I initially questioned my decision but everyone said "its just different from your old bike...you'll get used to it". Well, 4 months later its time to suck it up and deal with the fact that I chose wrong. Trouble is, the purchase blew my 5-year bike budget so I'm either going to have to make it work somehow, or drop out of cycling.

The seat I have dialed in I think perfectly in that pedaling feels good, never any discomfort in the legs. Its my reach to the bars which is off. I feel like I'm leaning so far forward there is a tone of weight on my hands and I end up riding on my palms, elbows locked which I know is not good. Its at a point where when I'm on a strait flat section I sit upright ("no hands") even though its a grossly inefficient way to ride. The shop already swapped stems from a 105 to a 90. I really don't think going any shorter would be a good idea, but bringing the seat artificially forward seems even less productive.

Any guidance or suggestions (other than "buy another bike") would be much appreciated.