Originally Posted by Prowler

This is how my saddle height, bars and hoods are set. I ride a lot on the tops and ramps. With the bars rotated further down I would be pitched forwards onto the hoods too much. When in the drops (sometimes for an hour or so into a headwind) my wrists feel comfortable - bars 'pointed' towards the RD. I have large hands so braking in the drops is no trouble.

I made a 'story stick' that captures my preferred dimension from the top of the pedal spindle to the spot on the saddle where my sit bones are (pretty well back on the saddle). It ignores differences in crank arm length and saddle dimensions. I wear the same shoes for each bike. The story stick also captures the dimension from the sit bones home to a line across the back of the hoods. This enables me to easily set each bike's saddle height and reach (saddle position and stem length) the same. Also speeds re-set when I remove something for maintenance. The story stick (furniture builder's term) is a wooden shaft with a flat bottom and a perpendicular dowel rod at the sit bone height. The reach mark is just a mark that measures to another rod laid across the back of the hoods. This stick captures what works for me and helps me repeat it.

Of course, if I decide another dimension works better, I just make another stick and burn the previous one in the stove. Obsolete tools become fuel. Waste not......