People are always talking about getting the saddle as forward as possible. What does this do other than put more pressure on the soft tissue down there? If I jam the seat all the way forward, my positioning on the bike does not change. I still sit in the same spot relative to the bottom bracket, pedals, etc… The only thing that has changed is where I contact the saddle, which btw is in a much less comfortable spot. Am I missing something here? How does putting the saddle forward increase performance?
Simply jamming the seat forward just for the sake of it doesn’t aways make much sense. In some cases it can make the saddle itself a bit more unstable with all the stress on the rear rungs.
The best reason for any fore/aft saddle positioning IMO is to achieve the optimum fit position, not to try getting as far forward as possible to be a little steeper just for the sake of doing so.
if you get really low at the front of your bike… let say 10cm head tube, neagative stem or neutral with aero bar pad sitting on the base bar… that is relatively low. What will happen his that your hip angle will be very close, compromising your ability to generate power and moving the seat forward will open up the hip angle and give you access to this potential power.
as for you sitting at the same place all the time, you dont know until you are in a race situation and going all out! that when your body shift on the saddle naturally to get in the most powerfull position and push bigger watts. you will see that more often, people will end up been on the tip of the saddle at a very high intensity effort. that show your body wants to move forward…
“I still sit in the same spot relative to the bottom bracket, pedals, etc…”
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- In which case it makes absolutely no sense to have moved the saddle. The reason to move the saddle is to change your position relative to the BB, to open the hip angle to reduce flexibility-related strain at the top of the pedal stroke, and also to open the diaphragm to allow better breathing.
Another element to consider is how moving further forward incorporates different leg muscles. The idea is that you’ll use your hamstrings on the bike and save the quads for the run…or is it the other way around?
The other problem is, just jamming the saddle forward for the sake of it may shift the weight of the rider too far forward and skew the handling characteristics of the bike. This is commonly seen on road bikes with forward posts and jammed forward saddles, but can also happen on some tri bikes.
that is untrue…just a old saying… there is not such this as saving some muscle for the run, it s just adaptation so you can run well after biking well, it s call training…
People are always talking about getting the saddle as forward as possible. What does this do other than put more pressure on the soft tissue down there? If I jam the seat all the way forward, my positioning on the bike does not change. I still sit in the same spot relative to the bottom bracket, pedals, etc… The only thing that has changed is where I contact the saddle, which btw is in a much less comfortable spot. Am I missing something here? How does putting the saddle forward increase performance?
This should help explain why (and how):
http://www.masterstriathlete.com/positions.html
In short, “jamming the seat forward” is the RESULT of getting your body into an aerodynamic position (i.e. lowering your frontal area, “rotating about the BB”) and attempting to keep you “body angles” in a useful orientation.
To ONLY “jam the seat forward” accomplishes nothing besides discomfort, as you well discovered 
I’m 6-3 with a 37" inseam and not real flexible. Trying to getting aero with a body type like this is easier as you move forward. I have a few TT bikes and they are all set at at least an 18cm drop and I’m still not close to flat. As I move everything foward, seat, elbow pads, stem, etc. I can get lower in the front without closing my hip angle. This allows my inflexible back to be able to handle a large drop. I’m currently set at about 18cm drop, as I said before and about 4-5cm in front of the bottom bracket. I still sit on the tip of the saddle!! : )