Agree with the lowering of the stem and bars, as I have gotten more fit and flexibility has returned, I have removed spacers from my front end/stem. I use a single spacer, I believe 15mm, and the stem is flipped into the down angle. it was a big issue for me at first. I have 2 levels of my lower lumbar spine fused and have hardware in the area to support things, when I got my bike I had all the spacers it came with in place and the stem rotated to the up angle. As I felt better and gained flexibility in my back I first flipped the stem then I began slowly removing spacers from the stack, nothing drastic at all. My bars are now a bit below the seat and I am completely comfortable in the drops or on the hoods. I need to measure the drop from the seat, the stem is a 100mm C3 Cannondale and I use their 44 width bars in the anatomical bend, the fit of my bike feels very dialed in now, I will only look into a slight reduction in the remaining stack height in the near future.

Good thread Al, thanks for posting this one.

Bill