Question about flipping the bar
 

I got fitted/sized for my bike in December. Everything felt comfortable at the time, but now, after about 600 miles on the bike, when I get in the drops, they feel too high to me. Also, when I'm riding on the hoods, they're starting to feel too close to me. I was told that eventually I'd want to flip the stem to make it lower. My question, is if this is done, will I have to change my saddle height as well? I ask because when I go into the drops, I tend to have to slide back in the saddle. It seems like I'd be more comfortable with a higher saddle when I'm lower, but I'm not sure if this would be the right thing to do.
Have any of you changed (or remember lowering your handle bars)? What was the experience like?
Thanks!

No. Saddle positing should be set relative to BB/crankset/pedals. Handlebar position should be set relative to your saddle, not the other way around.

Have you tried bending your elbows?

Yeah, that's the problem; I have to bend them too much when I'm in the drops.

oh ok.. this makes sense.

Saddle distance from BB should be constant, but typically when lowering the bars people like to use a steeper seat angle, which is what our friend is describing. I don't have the cite I was looking for, which was a column on Slowtwitch about multiple bike fitters creating rigs to accomplish this independently. Unfortunately, while Slowman is brilliant at a lot of things, his site is very difficult to explore.

Saddles have a good amount of length -- typically over 7", so I think the point is that riders do shift position on the saddle depending on riding position for the hands. OTOH, the original question as to whether saddle height should adjust, I'd say no, but it's possible some tweak to fore/aft makes sense depending on your %age of time on top, hoods or drops.

So when you say "steeper," do you mean the nose of the saddle points up or down?

Oh dear god no! The saddle should remain level. The "steeper" refers to the seat tube angle, which you could affect by sliding the seat slightly forward and then a fraction of that up. The effect of preferring to ride steep when drop increases is part of why road saddles are designed the way they are, so that you can slide forward when you get in the drops and start riding harder. However, if you're dropping the bars themselves lower, it would make sense to adjust the seat - SLIGHTLY! - as well. I cannot overstate how this should be a matter of a few mms forward and perhaps one up, and don't go out for a long ride immediately.

The article, btw, is here:

https://www.slowtwitch.com/Tech/Grea...like_6939.html

​​​​​​It struck me as a high level overview type of question.

And I, as per usual, tried to fill the fish tank with a fire hose.

Kudos

What, this shibboleth still has legs?

If you're rocking a lot of drop, it's fine to point the nose down a tad. Pros do it.

Is that why, though? I Ask because you don’t really see trackies lowering the tips of their saddles and they generally ride with more drop than a road setup.

One of the really nice things about having a threadless steerer is that you only have to change the stem to adjust your position. When someone talked about "flipping the bars" they probably meant "flipping the stem". If it is in the -6 degree position that would raise the bars considerably and make your position more comfortable if you don't like bending your back. It is also possible to get stems with more rise and shorter length but be care not to go too much. When you change position, unless you're pretty far out always take it in increments.

Flipping a 6 degree stem will make quite a bit of difference in the bar height and lengthen the reach. I don't agree that you should need to be moving around on the saddle, if all else is adjusted correctly. Lowering the bars by 2cm may require a small change in the saddle angle to bring the nose down a bit, but try it without, first. Lower only if you feel excessive pressure at the front. Some posts with serrated angle adjustment work poorly. I always use a 2-bolt rocker style post, like the fsa k-force.

It takes pressure off of your perinium.

Trackies are on their bikes how long at a time?

I was looking at UCI fit requirements for track events last night. I wanted to see how much out of compliance my bike was, not that it matters for the local stuff I do, and I found that the UCI limits the amount of till a saddle can have on track bikes.