Originally Posted by
Road Fan
Mine are all a little nose up. I start with it level and pedal it sitting with my back straight. At this moment I'm lookig for my hips to pedal smoothly without rocking side to side, and for my hips not to slide forward or back wards. If I need to raise the nose to prevent sliding forward, or to lower it to prevent sliding backwards, there will usually need to a small vertical height adjustment as well to restore correct pressure on the sitbones and perineum.
For me those are the basics of saddle position adjustment. That sequence has worked well for me for Brooks Pro, B17, Swallow, Ideale 90, 92, and 80, Specialized Alias, and Toupe.
Try it, but don't let any of the trials go long enough to cause significant pain, especially due to abrasion. If you have abrasion, you will have to tay off th bike and let that heal before you can go back to incrementally adjusting you saddle position. You may find there is such a thing as "easy discomfort" and "very hard discomfort." That could be another learning experience.
No, I am not trying a level or tipped back seat because I know exactly what it will do. Yes, take weight off my hands and stop the (minor) tendency to slide forward. It will also have me tipping my pelvis back to take pressure of my soft parts or pay the price; both during the ride and after. That tipped pelvis means I cannot abdominal breath as effectively. Now I could then bring ,my bars up and/or back and solve both the weight on hands and reduced oxygen uptake, but at the cost of this lightweight, totally non-aero and low powered leaf laboring harder to go fast or upwind. In my book, totally not OK.
So I adjust my seats to get the position I want in comfort, then address seriously my hand comfort. End result? I can ride all day in comfort and if I have to spend real time upwind; well it's as good as I can make it.