denvertrout

I am trying to change my bike position on the saddle to get a little more comfort in my lower back. I in effect want to position my saddle so that my lower spine is "flatter". Do I tilt the nose down a bit to accomplish this?

rpenmanparker 

No, keep your saddle flat. Instead roll your pelvis forward. A down-pointed saddle throwsnyour weight onto your hands and unbalances you on the bike.

cyclezen

my take
based on your saddle (saddle shape/profile) the point of 'level' is best placed when you can ride comfortably without sliding forward AND can keep very light hand pressure and weight on the bars.
Lotta things affect this: core strength, upper body proportions (actually all body part/segment proportions), how meaty you are in the thighs and butt. Being able to 'weight' the bars is important, but should be something you can vary/adjust on purpose, like more weight on bars when descending... etc
the sitbones are not perfectly round. the more you rotate them (the pelvis) forward the higher you actually 'sit' (to a point).
So if you rotate the pelvis forward to get a 'flatter back', your ability to reach the pedals shortens slightly.
To compensate you drop the saddle a few mm... just a few mm. That will also give the equipment some more space. And the pelvis can more easily rotate forward. However, your lower/back/glut/hamstring flexibility has a significant effect on this whole thang.
That said, everyone has a different need for saddle 'tilt', level. Many of us can easily feel a difference of just 3 mm in saddle extension. I know a guy whose saddle tilt forward looks like an advanced slope at Mammoth. For the life of me, I don;t get how he can ride that way. But he does, for long distances and is a powerful rider. Maybe he has a limitation in hip rotation or some such issue which he doesn't talk about? who knows, he's not sayin... so much for theory and convention

Carbonfiberboy 

I don't. Sometimes I'll ride a bit rounded, sometimes really flat, just to change the nip on my butt on long rides. It's just different bones touching. If riding flat back bothers your goodies, you have the wrong saddle. It shouldn't be a problem with the proper saddle fit.

johnny99

Maybe lower your saddle a little instead of tilt it down.

I agree with the other comments that rotating your pelvis forward comfortably is largely a matter of core strength.

NYMXer

Your issues could also be fixed by going with a slightly longer stem. That would force you to bend and reach more, take weight off your hands and help you get aero.

denvertrout

Thanks for the replies. After a quick 15 miles with a small adjustment, did not like it. Felt cramped and did not help my back. Wonder if I need to move the seat back just a bit as well? I have the core strength to maintain the position I am looking for, but thought maybe if I make adjustments it would just position me there instead... Think I will return to my normal position, flat, and just hold that position and see if it becomes more natural after a few rides. Was able to hold it for 50 miles this weekend and my back felt way better than normal. Was just looking for a quick fix.

rpenmanparker 

Rotating the pelvis forward does move you closer to the bars. Moving the seat back could be right. Only you can tell. More likely you need a longer stem.

gsa103

When you rotate your hips forward, you'll want to slide your pelvis back a hair. It wouldn't surprise me if you need to move the saddle back ~5mm.

chaadster

I agree that, generally, tipping the saddle nose down doesn't solve anything, and that a combo of bar height, reach, saddle fore/aft position, and cleat placement is the key to finding comfort for the lower back.

Without seeing your position, it's hard to make reccos on anything, but if you think you've got that dialed in and think it's the saddle, perhaps one of the abbreviated nose styles, like Specialized Power or ISM may be worth a look.

bmthom.gis

Work on your core strength. Your lower back will thank you. I don't know that lower back pain is much of a fit problem over muscle fatigue. Hard to say w/o seeing your current fit though.

Jiggle

No, just reach down and pull up on the man parts a little to keep it out of the way. Women don't have this problem which is why they can reach a lower position.

topflightpro

That's the key. I know it worked for me. That said, I suggest moving out in increments, i.e. go from 100 to 110 then to 120. Borrow stems if you can.

fietsbob

Backwards thinking , Maybe you are Just not going to be comfortable bending over so Low, Ever.

Level the saddle, Round your back to keep your hips upright so you dont put excess pressure on
Your Soft crotch fleshy bits..

and You Don't put excess pressure , constantly using your Hands to push your butt constantly up the sloping saddle.

redlude97

Or bend the elbows more if your core can sustain it.

philbob57

Tilting seat down may throw you froward, to keep yourself from falling off. You might try raising the tilt and riding with the equipment on one side or the other. Of course, that'll put a lot of pressure on a small part of your soft tissue - but a lot of people ride to the side.

Bending your lower back sounds like a recipe for developing lower back pain, perhaps down the line, if not immediately. I've suffered from sciatic pain in the past, but not since I started rolling my pelvis forward.

I haven't solved the problem of perineal numbness, though. A number of vendors say they have: ISM, Selle SMP, Selle Italia, Selle Anatomica, Rido, Terry, any number of noseless saddle makers.... You may find https://www.cervelo.com/en/engineeri...f-road-saddles to be interesting reading.

rpenmanparker 

Nowadays stems are so cheap on ebay, there is no reason to borrow them. You can resell them for about what you paid for them. Most of the stems on ebay are there exactly because they were bought just to test out for fit. Hardly used at all. There are plenty of old graphics FSA OS-99 alloy stems for around $20. Stupid light.

topflightpro

But why bother paying anything when I have a bunch of friends/teammates with a variety of stems lying around that I can borrow?

rpenmanparker 

Excellent. I don't have any friends.

What is a teammate?

wphamilton

The challenge in my experience is that it's an evolving process. You get it all set, the saddle, the tilt, reach, bending the elbows a bit, the back stretching out a little more and not so curved and it feels good. Then after enough miles your core strengthens and you loosen up a little more, and there you go again. Even changing back some of the things you set up to facilitate it in the first place, such as saddle tilt or stem length.

So I think you have to resolve yourself to periodic evaluations and adjustments, abandoning the idea of fit and forget or even following someone else's plan. I think the variables are all identified, but need to be implemented by feel, trained for awhile in a particular configuration, and then adjusted again. It's iterative.

Gasser5.2

OP - sorry if this suggestion has already been made in a previous post, but have you tried any basic home-fitting techniques yet? If not, that'd be the place to start. There are a lot of good vids on this, including .