piece of sewing thread with a penny taped to the end.

You should just set your saddle to how it feels comfortable. Your butt is going to go where it needs to. Set it to the middle of the rails and go ride around and work from there. If you feel like you want to be farther back, then move it back. If you feel like you need to be closer, then slide it forward. Since you are pretty tall, you will most likely need to slide it back.

KOPS is only a starting point. And the correct way to do it would be to get on a trainer and ride for a few minutes and get comfortable and into the position you normally would. Then someone would randomly stop your foot and measure that way. Just hopping on the bike and moving the cranks into position is not going to work since that isn't the position you are in when riding. Also, you are using bmx pedals + straps which throws everything off since your feet sit a bit different than they normally would. That's why its better to just forget about all that KOPS stuff and set the saddle to what feels comfortable.

Good.

Obviously if you move your saddle too far to get the weight off of your arms, that can throw other fitment parameters out of wack (as discussed above).

Your bars look pretty low. A lot of casual riders have the bars and seat height the same, more advanced riders might go down 2cm below seat height, 5cm below seat height is very aggressive.

That is really personal preference, but it does take some time to get comfortable if you are going to go really low.

I agree with Scott - you should be able to ride comfortably with a slight bend in your elbow. Locked elbows are not a good sign.

I rode to work again today and the fit felt much better. I put my old seat back on and I think that helped. I also moved my front light to a different position, one that didn't get in the way of my hands as much. We will see how I feel tonight after riding back home again, but I think I'm getting much closer to a correct fit.

If I do decide to raise my bars slightly, I have a few options. I like the angles of the pursuit bars so will probably save switching that out as a last resort. That leaves either adding a spacer or two under the stem, or flipping the stem so it's angling upwards instead of downwards. Which do you think would be a better place to start?

functionally they are the same - its going to depend on the aesthetics and what you think looks better. Given you have room to move the stem up, I would probably try that.

(Glad you didn't cut it down, eh?)
The goal is to get the weight off of your hands and have your core (torso) do most of the work of holding your body up.

I doubled the amount of spacers below my stem (from 20mm to 40mm), and it made the ride much more comfortable. I'm hoping to be able to lower it eventually as I stretch my back out some and get in better shape, but this will work for now. Here's a pic showing the new stem height and the new (old) seat.

http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=271777

^^ That looks much better, and the fact that you are more comfortable is all the more better. Why do you wish to be able to drop the bars down again in the future? If you are comfortable now, stick with it. IMO, you have a respectable amount of bar drop with your current setup. Stick with what's comfortable.

Please help me dial in my fit
 

I don't have to drop the stem in the future, I just thought once I get used to things I may want more of a tucked position when riding.

What I'm trying to decide now is whether I want to run it with the stem angled down and 40mm of spacers (like in the picture) or flip the stem and only run about 20mm of spacers. Right now I'm leaning towards the latter as I feel like 40mm of spacers looks like a little much. It's a purely aesthetic thing at this point.

The problem is that you've been more worried about aesthetics than the actual fit the whole time.

What makes you say that? I hadn't even mentioned aesthetics until that post.

Please help me dial in my fit
 

I put my non pursuit bars back on just to see what kind of difference it made, and I actually felt more stretched out when riding out on the horns. Doesn't that seem counter intuitive? I feel like the 40mm drop on the pursuits would stretch me out more, not less.

Regarding stem flip / flop - you may be able to achieve the same bar height both with the stem in flip down position with more spacers under, and the stem in flip up position with less spacers under, but what will change is stem length. When the stem is in flip down position with more spacers, it is a longer reach from the head tube as the stem has a longer length this way. You need to consider all geometries, unless the stem is a zero rise stem.

Well, it's the first time you used the word "aesthetic". I won't spend too much time busting your balls, since looks are a priority in SS/FG. ;)

I have probably the least-cool bike in this forum, but it's damned comfy -- it's my go-to, and I can ride it for hours.

According to this calculator, it's almost exactly the same. With 40mm of spacers and the stem angled down, I have a height of 57.5mm and a reach of 87.1mm. With 22.5mm of spacers and the stem angled up, I have the same height (57.5mm) and a reach of 87.2mm.

What will throw things off though is when/if I get the slightly shorter stem I'm eyeing on ebay. That's why I'm not going to cut the tube until that happens.

looks much better and more comfortable.

Yeah, flipping the stem might be a little cooler looking.

I flipped the stem and took some spacers out to see which I liked better. Here's a picture. I think I like it better this way. I'm not crazy about the stem angling upwards, but I think I dislike the huge stack of spacers that I have to have if I angle it downward.

http://i.imgur.com/m912z.jpg

I can see why the OD of your spacers would bug you as-is. Once you cut the steerer and only have the spacers on the bottom, I don't think the different in the stem/spacers will be as noticeable or bothersome.

Thank you.

Since I have my shorter (90mm) stem on the way, I'm wondering whether that will affect my ideal stem height. If I've been reaching too far with my current (100mm) stem, will it be likely I'll want to lower my stem slightly once I get the shorter stem, or will it probably be the same?

Obviously I won't know for sure until it gets here, I'm just looking for input from people who have gone to a shorter stem.

FWIW, it's common for most people to use a much shorter stem with bullhorns than with other types of bars.

Yeah, that's what I've figured out. I really thought 100mm was going to be short enough, but I was wrong. I'll hang onto it in case I ever decide to use drops.

Ah yes, I didn't factor in the different spacer height (even though I mentioned it) when visioning this - I was just seeing the stem length alone. That is a cool calculator, thanks.

It won't really make a difference (in general)

However (caveat), if your reach was too long, it would make it harder to get really low as you would be putting more weight on our hands if your core couldn't hold up your body position.

Your stem length (reach) is determined by your body size. Your stem height is really determined by you - your riding style, your strength, how aggressive you want your stance to be. Generally the top of the bars will be 0-5cm below your seat.

Got my new stem and seatpost, here's a shot of how I have it set up now. Still going to hold off cutting the steerer tube for a few days, but so far I'm liking how it feels.

http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=272681

How would you rate your flexibility?

Increasing one's flexibility is a free way to improve comfort on the bike.