new stems in Shops are in all sorts of pricepoints. low to premium,

Plus you can test fit it before you Buy.

if it rolls, turns, pivots, or has threads on it, grease it. lube the chain. I spray , then wipe chain and derailleur pulleys weekly with WD40. Cheap and readily available. But, really, grease and properly adjust your wheel bearings, if they take grease. You will see a difference.

Oh yeah, buy a tub of bearing grease.

edit: Check yer brake pads, cables, shifter cables, etc., with an eye to reducing unwanted friction. A little brake rub is meaningless up to a point, maybe, but it'll make you tired.

After that, grease some more stuff.

Take a look at this Schwalbe website article about tires and rolling resistance. In order to get less rolling resistance out of a skinny tire it needs to be inflated to a higher psi. resulting in a rougher ride. The spring 2013 issue of Bicycle Quarterly is devoted to tire performance and comes to some interesting conclusions about wide vs. skinny tires and rolling resistance.

What often confuses the issue is that skinny tires are generally built for speed where as fatter tires are built for flat protection and long life. This can make a huge difference in rolling resistance. So people come to the conclusion that fatter tires are slower than skinnier tires.

Swapped out the crank after work tonight. Turns out the Sugino that was on it is a 170mm crank arm length. I'm thinking that will make a huge difference going to the 175mm Deore crank. Hoping to get out for a ride tomorrow after work. Pretty sure I will now need to adjust the saddle height, but I will hold off on that until the stem is replaced, expected arrival Monday or Tuesday. You know, I'm getting kind of excited to see what these changes will do to the ride of this bike...

The Vittoria Hypers are supposed to be great in terms of low weight and rolling resistance for a "larger volume" tire made for touring/commuting tire. I've read it over and over, and never anything to the contrary. Maybe try a set of those out for your next $100. You can get them in sizes from 32-38, I think. I've heard that LHTs are just what their name implies, though, trucks. Is your problem in the handling or moving forward? And if it's in moving forward, I'd say try riding it unloaded for a while and see what you think after swapping the tires, or after comparing to your faster bike with "touring" type tires so that you can see the difference that the tires make. I know my road bike with 25mm tires is faster than my touring with 38mm tires. If I swap the 25mm tires onto the touring bike, there is a noticeable difference. I think the geometry of the LHT would still make it handle more slowly than a narrow tire road bike, but that's something touring bikes are made for. It keeps them stable when loaded.