Based on my experience with my other bike, I bought a stem extender when I bought my new Giant. I rode the bike for a week without the stem extender then I decided to install it. I like it MUCH better. I don't ride for speed. I ride for fun, exercise and to be outside. I like having a cool bike. But I respect and understand effciency. I have noticed there are some "hard core drop bar" members in this forum. I respect their opinions. I am not comfortable with drop bars. The more comfortable I am, the more I ride and the more exercise I get. That is all I care about.
Originally Posted by
MRT2
IMO, the challenge for someone your height looking for a drop bar road bike is to get the the height and the reach of the bars just so. I have a friend who just went through this and to his chagrin, gave up and decided to stick with his (very) old 27" frame road bike. It looks like your FastRoad has some sort of extra tall stem to get your bars as high as they need to be.