Originally Posted by
PeteHski
All n=1 experience of course. My n=1 experience is that I don't need to make ANY fit adjustments for extended climbing. I use a fair amount of saddle setback (well behind KOPS reference) for endurance riding. I have my saddle at 0 degrees. As for reach I need the bars far enough forward not to risk knee strikes when climbing steep gradients out of the saddle. A "normal" stem/reach setup for my size is fine, but if I went much shorter on the stem I could be in trouble on a 20%+ climb. Looking at the pros on the Giro climbing stages, I noticed most of them are using zero-offset seatposts (seems to be a recent trend in general, not just climbing). Saddle tilt depends a LOT on the specific saddle model. Mine for example (Fizik Tempo Argo) has a pronounced kick-up on the tail which helps a fair bit when climbing. Tilting this saddle 5 deg nose down would make it extreme.
I also have a Kickr Bike, so I can freely experiment with bike setup on the fly and have done extensively. Since I do a lot of alpine climbing I have tried all the usual setup tricks you mention, but they just don't do anything for me. I feel fine in my normal position. In actual fact my normal position feels better on a 5-6% gradient than it does on the flat. Since I also regularly train my core off the bike (especially over the winter when riding less), as I said earlier, it makes bike fit in general less critical.
What causes pain in the core muscles is too much load on the core muscles. Of course, you can train to increase core muscle strength to endure higher loads. But you can also tweak the fit to reduce load on the core muscles. Both are valid options.
Perhaps, I didn't say it clearly enough that I ended up using the same setup for both long rides in the flats and also for long climbs. I do believe that KOPS isn't for everyone. I didn't like it at first too. It requires certain posture and certain pedaling technique and among other things. If you get a few things off, you may even get worse with KOPS.
I did reduce reach while also considering pedaling out of the saddle. I left just enough clearance so my knees don't hit the handlebar when pedaling out of saddle and also while going round a bend in the road. I'm aware of the danger of not having your knees clear the handlebar especially when you need to get off the saddle quickly to soak up some bumpy section.