Originally Posted by DaveSSS

Stock bikes come with a big stack of spacers under the stem to allow vertical adjustment of bar height, a stem length and angle that may place the bars too high or low and a bar reach that my be too long or short. Trek for example may use an 80mm stem and combines it with 100mm reach bars, which is just the opposite of what I'd do.

If you sat on the bike with a full stack of spacers and the bars felt too low, then you're not a candidate for any modern race bike. You need a tall stack endurance bike.

The main point is that there's room for siginificant fit changes on any bike. If you can't grasp that, your chances of spending a lot of money on an ill fitting bike are high. Hopefully your local shop can explain that.