My brother is new to riding and is uncomfortable on his bike when he is in the drops. He says "Riding on the drops is not comfortable. When I do, I feel like the seat is too far forward. (emphasis mine) I will get down on the drops when I go down this huge hill near my house. I eventually will come up off the seat and move further back. It could just be flexibility. My lower back hurts when I stay low too long. Or that I am fat and my thighs are hitting my gut."

The "seat is too far forward" makes me think that maybe the bike is too big and he gets too stretched out putting more weight on the front of the saddle? Does this sound right?

I asked him to send me a pic of him on the bike in the drops so I can have a better idea.

If the seat seems to be too far forward, would that indicate that he in fact feels that the frame might be too small and NOT too large...I dunno...

....or that the pitch angle of the seat isn't ideal, or the fore-aft isn't right, or the stem length/height isn't correct, or that he's simply not accustomed to a road bike yet, etc., etc....The possibilities are endless.

I'd tell him to just ride some more, and make singular adjustments before each ride to get an idea of what does what. Most new riders find road bikes uncomfortable at first.

FWIW, the normal TT setup involves positioning the seat forward relative to where it is on a road bike setup to open back up the hip angle a bit.

OK, he sent me a little clarification:
What I mean by “the saddle feels too far forward” is that when I get down on the drops, my thighs want to move backwards a bit but the seat shoulders are in the way. So I feel like I want to sit farther back on the seat but can’t. So I kind of have to rise up off the seat.

He is sent me pics of him on the bike to give an even better idea.


After I saw that and he made some adjustments...