Originally Posted by
oldbobcat
It boils down to going as forward as you can without causing stress on the arms and shoulders. Some World Tour pros boggle my mind with how forward they're sitting, but they're generating a lot of power on the front of their strokes and they're carrying minimal mass above their hips. But my point is, if you ride with an athletic back angle and you're experiencing arm, shoulder, or back pain, don't think that you can fix it by simply moving the saddle forward.
I look at my bike position like sitting on a bar stool. If I need one hand to steady myself as I lean forward and use the other to reach for a beer, my hips are too far forward.
And this is completely NOT what I do or how I think of my position. I find the seat height, setback and forward lean that is the best compromise between comfort, power and lean forward. I then run very close to that relationship on all my bikes except that everything gets rotated back to make the bike more of a cruise or forward to be more aero and faster. (My fix gears and racing bike get the forward treatment. Fix gears because there is no other way to get any break upwind.) Yes, this puts more weight on my hands. I spend a lot more time dialing in the exact rotation of the handlebars and lever position on the forward bikes.