I’ve gradually moved my saddle to a more forward position on my gravel and road bike. It’s helped with my climbing and I don’t feel like I’m constantly in a plank position, so my abdominal muscles have relaxed to allow for much better breathing.
One thing I’ve noticed now is that even forward, I feel like I could go more. I still tend to migrate toward the nose.
could this be a height deal? Maybe dropping the saddlE a bit would keep me in the sweet spot of the saddle.
I used to run a good bit of setback and I always had issues with saddle sores. Since moving the saddle forward and lower the saddle sores are gone.
Is the fitting thread still running, probably one for that? You would have to send a photo. I had a radical forward refit a while back (3 cm): Off loaded the shoulders, massive improvement in bike handling. I am a convert. I too was still sliding forward with the new setup under load. In my case it was the saddle tilt. I went from flat, neutral saddle to slightly nose up. That fixed it. I discovered with the new setup what “piano hands” meant. I could easily hold postion just using hips and abs while offloading my hands as If I was playing the piano on the handlebar tops. I do not have a lot of core strength, wet spaghetti is stronger. The reason I went to the fitter for this was that my shoulders couldn’t handle anything beyond a couple of hours and I felt that I had a significant anterior pelvic tilt on the bike (I looked like a duck when I got off it!). The whole feel-your-sit- bones thing was a head scratcher for me. Now it is more posterior tilt, I can actually feel the sit bones engage and do the piano hands thing. That is my criteria now for a good saddle position. Each to their own, though.
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Just ordered a zero setback post for my road bike, so I can keep it close to rail center. Gravel bike already has a zero.
My old Diverge came with seatpost with a ton of rear setback (Specialized Cobblegobbler/CG-R) and while I loved that bike because it was light and comfy, I never felt like I could “go fast” on it. I was told on a group ride that I sit too far behind the cranks and I needed a zero-offset seatpost. I have long legs and short torso so my seat height is very high and as a result, back. I often felt my legs burning out before anything else. I resisted for a while and finally purchased one and it was night and day, I was able to put power to the pedals and just felt more comfortable overall on the bike. I now run my saddles on road and gravel super forward with the zero-offset post. I did have to adjust seat height/angle and was able to go to a lower and longer stem with no back, knee, or hip issues. It may not be for everyone as some folks are bothered by a tight knee or hip angle or may be sensitive to where their knee is in relation to pedal spindle but never hurts to give it a shot!
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I had a similar experience this year: My saddle moved forward bit by bit every 1-2 months. I’m now around 10-15mm more forward and 10mm higher than at the beginning of the year. However I was quite back and low to begin with. I did it because I felt like I wanted to be more “above the pedals”, it just felt good, so I gradually adjusted forward and up.
Differences are:
- More power: Surprisingly, I’m able to generate 10-15 watts more without feeling any additional fatigue.
- More quads engagement. This took some time to get used to. When the saddle was too low, I occasionally experienced slight knee pain.
- Less hamstring / buttocks muscles engagement. I’m unsure about this. I always assumed these muscles were supposed to carry a significant portion of the load due to their strength, but they seemed to be holding me back.
- Weights on hands and bike handling is a bit different. I enjoy riding “low”, especially spend time in the drop bars. This feels a bit less comfortable now, but not a big issue so far.
I still tamper around with it, I find it interesting how it changed to feeling more comfortable in general. But it also feels less “laid back”. 
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I’m the same, longer legs and shorter torso