fthomas

I am no expert at these things, but have experienced a similar problem with drops and straight bars. Go out and read Sheldon Brown regarding seat angle and other adjustments and the impact it can have on your hands. Saddle position impacts posture and weight balance between saddle and hands.


Angle

The angle of the saddle should be pretty close to horizontal. Some men prefer the front to be slightly higher than the rear; some women prefer the front slightly lower than the rear, but extreme angles should be avoided.

If the saddle is nosed up too far, it is likely to increase pressure on the soft tissues, and cause all sorts of problems.

If the saddle is tilted down in front, the rider will tend to slide forward onto the narrower part of the saddle. Women who are riding on saddles that were designed for men frequently tilt their saddles down. This will relieve some of the discomfort from the saddle itself, but creates new problems: The downward slope of the saddle causes the rider to tend to slide forward, and this can only be counteracted by pressure on the hands. Thus, poorly-angled saddles often are the cause of wrist, shoulder and neck problems, due to carrying too much of the rider's weight on the hands.

The angle and the front-back position are both adjusted by the clamp on the seatpost.

Front-back position

Saddles are also adjustable back and forth. Ideally, this adjustment should be made to set the saddle at the correct distance behind the bottom bracket, so that you are pedaling at an efficient angle. The conventional wisdom is that, when the pedal cranks are horizontal, you knee cap should be directly above the pedal spindle. See Keith Bontrager's article on this topic.

It is generally considered a Bad Idea to tinker with saddle position to adjust the reach to the handlebars; it is better to adjust this by replacing the handlebar stem with one with a different reach, or by buying a bicycle with a different length top tube.

The angle and the front-back position are both adjusted by the clamp on the seatpost.