Knot - Yeah, I guess raising the bar a bit would be another option to try. And you're right that sometimes you do have to "throw the numbers out" (as my fitter said) and go with how the rider feels. That was the situation he had when trying to properly dial in my knee angle. The "correct" number just wasn't working for me, so he had to toss that out and go with a number that allowed my legs to function better.

Unfortunately, my LBS doesn't have a supply of "test stems" to try...they're a small shop. They would have to special order any additional stems that I'd want to try, and likely at my expense. We've tried a few different sizes/rises already and had settled on the 80mm/17-degree one that is on the bike now. Any shorter, and the handling of the bike might be compromised. As I said in my reply above to Indy, I could go steeper on the rise, but going from a 17-degree stem to a 30-degree one is a pretty huge jump in rise. Of course, there is the option of an adjustable stem which would give me an infinite combination of rises to try...so that is another option I should consider. As for how quickly the pain/numbness set in...I wouldn't say that it's "instantaneous", but it does kick-in within the first 15 minutes or so. Whereas, on my Trek with the "rounder" bar...it takes much longer for the pain to surface.