AzTallRider

Great article, and totally jives with my experience: light front end, slow handling, easy to oversteer (major crash that way just after I got my Gunnar), occasional front end shaking of the bars on a bumpy downhill. And, just as he said, the fitters keep pushing my seat way back (well behind KOPS), even when spec'ing the Gunnar, which lead to a short TT (60) when compared to the height of the bike (68). As my power and fitness have improved, and I've grown to understand the affects on handling, I've brought my saddle forward. It sure feels good to have more weight on the front wheel. Everything just works better.

During the upcoming racing off-season, I'll likely keep moving me saddle forward until it becomes hard to keep my nose off the stem with my hands behind my back while cranking at a reasonable pace (on the trainer). That's a pretty good measure of your position relative to the crank. As you get stronger, your position relative to KOP tends to move forward, because your peddling pushes you up, and you don't need to be as far behind the BB.

I use 175mm cranks - any longer than that, and I'd really be worried about clipping the ground in a race. Coasting through corners, when other people are peddling hard, doesn't improve your race results.