Originally Posted by 79pmooney

No answers here but I completely get unusual bike setups working for certain people. I ride 58-59 cm bikes, 74-75 ST, very long reach (stems 140 to a lot longer) and have my saddles placed midway on the rails with 60mm setback posts. This gives me the correct location over the BB, the rear wheel in close for better handling on rough descents (ie, less scary and less skidding on poor surfaces out-of -the-saddle climbing). A reach that stretches my back and allows all day comfort as well as being less tiring upwind (my nemesis being skinny). And yes, I have real weight on my hands. I deal with it by using handlebars that work for them and paying a lot of attention to the rotation angle of the handlebars and location of the brake levers. All bikes get rides without bar tape so I can locate stuff on the road. First tape job is cloth wrapped from the bottom so I can unwrap, move levers and cables as needed and re-wrap.

So, OP, I recommend you do real work to dial in your handlebars and brake levers. Try my bar tape trick and go for those rides with all the wrenches. (I have to bring both the Allen key for the brake levers and a 6" crescent to put on it for leverage.) This doesn't sound entirely obvious, but I do best when the bars and levers are rotated forward and down so my hands are rotated down, pulling my pinkie back and thumb forward. Bars tipped back to "be comfortable" cause me numbness and pain riding that lasts long afterwards.