sorry Rowan, just saw your question. I try to stay between 85 and 95 mostly. why?

My opinion is that cadence has a role in where the seat is in terms of setback. The slower pedallers tend to have their seats back, the very high cadence ones have it more forward. Riding fixed gear demonstrates this quite well... at least, for me it has.

It's just a matter of checking out your butt positioning when you get to climbing a hill seated. I find my butt moves back in the saddle so I am pushing more forward on the pedals. When my cadence increases, I find myself moving forward on the saddle and "over the pedals" as your riding colleague suggests.

85-95 is, in my book, moderate cadence, and your might find yourself in a more neutral position that you were.

Peter White did a lot to "debunk" KOPS, but I think there is still merit in looking at it. It's not a static measurement, it's a dynamic one because of the different styles needed for low-cadence effort up hills when the gears disappear, and for riding on the flats at high cadence.

A neutral KOPS position is what I aim for on my bikes -- geared and fixed/SS, and then I might adjust depending on the frame geometry and how the bike will be used.

Yes, leg measurement may come into it, but in the end, having your knee too far forward over the pedals in a static position will have you pedalling slanting backwards at higher cadences.

It's open to discussion, and I am not offended by people who think I talk crap on it... but it seems to work for me, and if you look at pictures of GT riders with their pedals in horizontal positions, and take a measurement down from their knees, I don't think they are too far away from neutral KOPS, depending on their cadence style.

excellent points, thanks. I need to really think about this a bit, as I really dont have that much experience or expertise in this area. I'm just trying to find out what will work best for me, and this certainly provides food for thought.

I've got this seatpost on my main training bike (2011 Allez) to replace the stock setback seatpost, and it's pretty nice, especially for $32 on sale. ;) I got it so that the seat wouldn't be scrunched all the way forward on the seat rails, rather than for some magical advantage. The stock seatpost on my Look 585 has adjustable setback, and is adjusted to zero setback. They, and the seats on my two steel bikes, are adjusted to the same distance behind the BB.