rousseau

Question: has anyone positioned themselves a bit farther forward on the bike, say by replacing a 20 mm setback seatpost with a zero-setback seatpost and getting a longer stem? If you did, what has been your experience with the different position, both positive and/or negative? I'm curious.

abstractform20

this is highly dependent on the individual.

i went to a 32mm offset seatpost on one of my bikes. fit still feels a little off. but i slapped it together for a school commuter and it never saw many miles.

now it sits on CL rejecting lowballers each week.

on the path

Not long ago I switched to a zero offset seatpost. I'd found that I was typically creeping forward on the saddle, and not deliberately or consciously.

Now, my butt generally stays where it should be, and I still pull a little forward for climbing, and can get back far enough for descending in an aero position.

I generally prefer the more forward position of the saddle. I did not need to switch out my stem. I'm 5' 11', with longer legs and arms, and a shorter torso. Works for me.

Notgrownup

It is amazing how a few MM will change your comfort level. I have moved my seat forward a bit on the last ride and what a diff.. I did my first 25 mile ride and it was good...the cheap Vader seat worked great.

Campag4life

You don't really know your best position until you try every position of setback and stem length. I would say many are better served with longer stems than amateurs ride if you look at how the pros ride which is really stretched out. If you try to extrapolate from the pros for a given rider size in terms of saddle setback, it becomes a bit fussy. But for saddle tip to handlebar center for a given pro size, reach is strikingly similar. Pros as it turns out ride from massive setback on the order of 115mm to as little as 25mm. I would say 50-80mm is a common range.

One thing is for sure, a pro applies more average pedal force than an amateur. So many amateurs are better served with a bit more saddle setback to take the pressure off their hands...but not always. Benefit of a less setback of course is it opens the hip angle and makes it easier to ride in the drops and sustain more saddle to bar drop and get more aero. But sometimes you lose too much glute enlistment for climbing for example if too far forward...the lament on TT bikes for example where torso weight is supported by the elbows...why 78 sta's are acceptable in terms of fore/aft weight distribution.
So you have to experiment. I think a good rider has a sweetspot and moves front and back from a good nominal position. On the rivet or forward on the saddle when hammering in the drops..and a bit farther back on the saddle for climbing.

dalava

Watch for the impact on your knees if you move the saddle forward without tweaking other parts. For me, anything more than 2mm movement will have pretty dramatic impact on my knees

99Klein 

A few mm can make a big difference. Be careful about weight distribution effecting handling though.

topflightpro

Sliding the saddle forward often will result in greater use of the quads and decreased use of the glutes. Effectively using the glutes can substantially increase power.

kleng

knee over the pedal axel position will change, watch out for this

Campag4life

Change what?