Road Cycling - Fore-aft question

I recently started riding and I don't want to hurt myself because I have a sensitive knee. I have done lot of research on this forum as where my knee should be during the critical down stroke. I have an Easton layback carbon seat post and I want to know how to adjust my fore-aft.
I am very confused because I am hearing conflicting strategies.

1. Use line from knee to toe at 3 O' clock.
2. Use line from knee to spindle at 3 O'clock.
3. Peterwhite.com says that aerodynamics is more important and forget the line and sinker thing.

So now I am really confused, I have the stamina but I dont have extra knees. Can someone give me the down-low on where my knee should be. Also should I use seat height and fore-aft to achieve my goal.

TIA
Gerald

If you've had a knee injury, get the bike professionally fitted, preferably by a bike knowledgeable physical therapist. Your correct position will depend on your body, bike and riding style. If you happen to live in the San Francisco Bay Area try these folks who are great:

http://www.presidiosport.com/

Other options are trial and error while slowly building up mileage and effort and being very responsive to knee pain. There are a number of rules of thumb for getting started but I'd suggest talking to someone in person and ignoring any advice you get from this forum. Your knee with thank you for it.

-s

I have tender knees too and I spend a lot of time concentrating on riding position which as helped me a lot. I am no expert - but let me tell you what I have observed in my 20 years of serious competetive cycling. Generally I am more comfortable with my knee (actually the spot under the knee cap or the bone that sticks out on the inner part of the knee) even with, or slightly behind, the peral spindle at the 3:00 position. If I ever get ahead of my pedal spindle I will start to feel it in a couple of rides. The other things to consider are the saddle height. Be sure you are not overextending your knee. You want a slight bend in the knee at the bottom of the pedal stroke. Pain can also be casued by your cleats being set so you are too far outboard on the pedals/cranks (legs too far apart) or the opposite - too far inside causing your legs to be too close together. The last thing that can be a factor is mashing too heavy of a gear. Spinning is better for the knees. Floating pedals can also take strain off. By floating I mean something like Speedplay pedals where you get a lot of float.

If you experiment with any of this make small changes one at a time to avoid any drastic impact on your joints. It took me a long time to find the right combination of positions that worked for me. Now I ride pain free.

thank you this is what I was waiting to hear

Read about the myth of KOPS (knee over pedal spindle).

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/kops.html

for more info on fore aft see:
Peter White Cycles (http://www.peterwhitecycles.com/fitting.htm)