Originally Posted by
wphamilton
Even if the first figure is already leaning, and you only move back a couple of inches, it still puts more weight on the hands by moving back. As long as the two lines are the same length (seat to shoulder, shoulder to hands) in both situations. I may be harping on this too much, but if we tell people "move the seat back to take weight of your hands", they do that and realize that it really doesn't, then what?
I agree with you, keep the saddle level or even up can help tremendously compared to tilted down, pushing you against the bars. And also it's a good point that closing the torso-hip angle your core can take up some of the weight. To be sure, moving the seat back does help sometimes - I just rebel against the common reasoning that "it takes weight off the hands", and "it's where you'd be if you balanced without a saddle" because both reasonings are wrong even when the result is correct. It's a matter of overall fit, not weight distribution.
There's another thing that moving the saddle back can do for you. Think of the angle of your leg and the angle of the power stroke on the crank when you adjust it back (and usually lower to compensate). The power stroke begins slightly more counter-clockwise as a result, having the effect of pushing back against the body away from the bars. I think that's helpful. But it's not static as we'd expect with just weight balance considerations, but changing as we become more or less fit and can apply more continuous force to the pedals for example.
I think the whole point is the OP had a problem and there are several things that have worked for others to help correct that problem. For me it was a shorter stem on a Plush Roubaix type of bike and a straight seat post on a more agressive Tarmac. My Saddle to bar drop has been established and charted for years but minor adjustments have to be made based on the difference between bike like my klein, Jamis and Tarmac. Fit and balance go together as does fit and power delivery. Much of it seems to be a compromise. I have found the more fit I become the more agressive my set up can be. Over the holidays and long vacations that same fit suddenly doesn't seem as comfortable. (I will not dare to think why this happens
) Then the more relaxed Klein is more comfortable.
Still balance can be a very good starting point and can be fine tuned for the individual. That being said I find that for most new riders saddle to bar height tend to be closer to level than advanced riders. So the first thing I suggest is make sure the saddle nose isn't down too much. So yes there are more than one solution but in most cases nose down causes people to push back against the bars and that is weight pushing on the bars. Still raising the seat post as the OP did without changing anything else has caused numbness. If what they have said is correct. So the obvious conclusion based on that information is they have to lean forward more to rest on the bars. Unless they are applying a death grip on the bars the solution would seem to be finding a way to take some of that weight off of the hands. My personal suggestion would be, check the saddle nose, raise the bars, make sure teh ramps are flat to the hoods. If it is a flat bar get bar ends.