I think it's saddle position. Clearly, your saddle is angled down, forcing you to fall forward onto your hands. It's also way forward, resulting in even more weight on your hands.

If you can't level the back part of the saddle without the nose coming too far up, a flatter saddle might be a better fit.

Also, I would try moving the saddle back to the middle of the rails - and see if that radical change gets weight off your hands and lets you balance more. Just as an experiment. You can fine-tune the fore/aft position later.

this is generally true and a really good point that no one else mentioned. saddles with a kicked-up tail can be great, but they work best when you sit more upright and your butt stays in one position. if you move around, which is natural when you use hoods and drops, a flat saddle is better for most riders.

So I have a question. Why do riders normally have their saddle tilted like this (https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-i.../WP_000461.jpg)

Source: kgt's Wilier Cento Uno from WW.

hard to believe there are four pages of replies telling a guy how to remove a hand and point while riding a bike...

You seem to have forgotten where you are...

Tilted like what? That saddle looks essentially level to me, which is how it should be. Again, your problem is extremely simple: your saddle is sliding you onto the bars. Anything else is, at this point, irrelevant. Until you get your saddle where it belongs, you are going to continue to have troubles.

IMO that saddle is tilted up way too high, if you rotated your pelvis forward and straightened your back like you're supposed to, the middle part of that saddle would be stressing the perineum.

http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=248206

This is how you need to set a bike up for an aero / pro looking position, with great drop comes great setback and if you have a ton of drop you're probably on a small frame which necessitates a long stem. Having the saddle so far forward or tilted up is pretty much wrong IMO but since this is the 41 nobody will care anyway. Also note that most pros will have the center section of the saddle level and the rear lip at a downward slope... Maybe some people tilt the saddle up because they don't have enough setback...

I tilted my seat up a bit and now I can take off my hands without a problem. Having it flat made gave me the feeling of falling forward a bit and put pressure on my legs and hands. Only issue now is the nose is curved so I'm getting a flatter saddle.

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I'm not looking for the aero/pro look. Pros ride bikes that are 1-2 sizes smaller than what they need.

Look, I know conventional wisdom dictates as a 6'1'' male I should be on a 58 but that doesn't work out so well. I feel more comfortable on a 56. I've tried a setback seat post and also a 110 stem during fitting. Even the fitter said that probably would have worked at first. My arms would be locked if I did those and a set back would place my knee over my ankle at the 3 o clock position. We ended up with no setback and a 90 stem.

Funny, I don't see it that way. Looks essentially level to me. Tough to see when the photo is anything other than directly side-on.

Awesome! Shows what having the wrong shaped saddle can do to you on the bike!

Looks parallel with the center portion of the top tube to me, and I know that sure ain't level.

EDIT:

Did a little MSPaint work. The pic is taken from the front of the bike which could increase the severity of tilt a bit. I imagine a yardstick on that saddle would show some uptilt IRL, however.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7094/7...93283c68_b.jpg
WP_000461 by Lester Of Puppets, on Flickr

So, in summary, today he learned.

You buy a post with more setback (they vary), saddle which accommodates more rearward movement (they vary), or in extreme cases a frame with a slacker seat tube angle.

http://store.velo-orange.com/index.p...g-setback.html