I went to my first spinning class the other night. It was a lot of fun, but the bike really, really was not made for me. I'm 5'2". Outside, I ride a 15 1/2" WSD bike with an even shorter than standard stem (I have shoulder issues, and am not supposed to overreach). My outside bike is really comfortable for me, but I simply could not get the spinning bike set up to feel good. When I set the seat fore/aft properly for my legs, the reach to the handlbars felt really far. I kept locking out my elbows to balance myself between seat and handlebars, and I know that's really bad.

I've read the other posts in this thread and all you instructors have some great recommendations (the front left outside of my knee also was painful, and the recent posts on knee pain gave me some good ideas). So, anyone have any ideas on how to get a more comfortable reach for me? Is there an attachment for the handlebars of a spinning bike to make a shorter reach for a shortie like me? Any other work-around?

Thanks, Cathy