Originally Posted by
wphamilton
Trial and error, over the course of varied rides.
Balance while crouching is less relevant, because we mostly sit on the saddle rather than hover above it. Try this: hang your feet down, relaxed completely off the pedals, and see how much weight you have on your hands. This should show you that fore/aft of the seat has very little to do with the weight balance of your torso. Core muscles are affected by the angle.
I really don't understand your thought process. We sit bent forward with our hands on the hoods most of the time. To be able to do that for an extended period of time with not too much weight on our hands helps with our comfort and helps prevent injury. Getting it right also means you won't be sliding forward onto your soft parts, also helping prevent injury.
His test, actually it isn't his test, it is a test many use, is not done while hovering over the seat, you are sitting on the seat while doing it. I'm not sure where you get that. The results are repeatable and relevant to how we ride on a bicycle.
Trial and error can work fine for a rider, but a fitter needs to be able to do better than trial an error. It helps to know the outcome you want to achieve, and know the physics, physiology and mechanics involved so you can achieve your outcome. For proper positioning on a bicycle, you want a position that enables you to be comfortably balanced on the bike, with not too much weight on your hands, and one that enables you to pedal efficiently. There are different levels of each, comfort and efficiency, for different purposes. A touring bike rider may emphasis comfort and give up a bit of efficiency, while a racer will give up some comfort for better efficiency and power. Both however need to be properly positioned on the bike to prevent injury and offer some level of comfort. Your test of hanging your legs down doesn't really show anything because by doing that you are altering the weight balance, your legs are no longer pushing, so they are hanging down acting as counter weights which removes some weight from your hands. You are simply changing the balance which does nothing to mimic what you are doing while riding. The balance test is done while actually pedaling, which is very relevant to what you do while on the bicycle, we pedal. It is simply physics.
The important thing for you, is that you have found a good position on your bicycle. You did it though trial and error, and that is fine, but a fitter cannot do that, they are being paid often to correct a problem, and no one wants to pay someone to simply apply trial and error fixes until something works.