roil profile

Maybe I just need to take this to the logical conclusion and just buy a noseless bike seat. 

I had no idea these were even a thing until this evening.

Hey Noel! 

Very cool to hear from you. I didn't realize the SwitchGrade shifted the seat forward. I watched Paul Aston's video, albeit quickly, and couldn't see the forward shift when he toggled between settings. 

My bike has an 80° effective seat tube angle, and I run the seat pointed slightly down. I totally agree with the benefits you've outlined.

Matching your sit bones to your saddle is key! I asked my friend, and he runs the Specialized Power Pro Mimic.

I know SQLabs has some saddles with stepped profiles for climbing. Seems like a simpler solution than the SwitchGrade.

If the SwitchGrade also shifted the seat forward to put you mover over the BB when climbing, I would be all about it.

Cool product but it also highlights some of the issues I have with seat design in general. Why are seats shaped the way it is? They seem unnecessarily long. I am not putting any weight on the forward half of the seat and it only serves to potentially poke/catch you on the descent. One of the guys I ride with uses particular woman's seat (specialized but I can't recall the exact model) as it's shorter.

Your photo on the thing is epic

I've ridden Bronson's bike. Believe the hype.

Holly sh*t. I bet that thing rips.

I was really prepared for a bone ratting ride with these bars but that has not been the case. I ran those SQ 711 grips in the photo only for my initial ride around the neighborhood. On trail, I've only run Wolf Tooth Fat Paws which give good vibration dampening. I also find that I'm not gripping the bars as hard with the higher setup so there are multiple factors at play. 

One thing to consider when going back to the Surly bars in your stem's offset. I'm running a 31mm stem but the steering axis is actually behind the steer tube on account of the bar's orientation and backsweep. This setup helps resists flop or wandering in the front wheel (especially noticeable when climbing). I suspect this is because the bar (and my hands) provide counterweight to the wheel's tendency to flop/wander as opposed to exacerbating the flop with a positive steering axis offset with the mass of the bars and rider matching the orientation of the wheel. I hope that explanation makes sense. 

Of note, I forgot to mention that I have a +3.5" ape index which gives me longer arms for this particular bike setup.

Steel on steel. Sign me up!

Interesting that you can't get enough weight forward. What's the reach on your bike and how tall are you? My bike is pretty long and I'm 6'0" (182mm) so maybe I'm in the sweet spot between reach and stack height for my size.

I'm running Surly Sunrise bars (chopped to 780mm), Renthal apex stem (31mm offset) and 25mm of spacers on my Privateer 161 P4 (515 reach) which gives me a slightly negative effective offset. The bike is so much easier to control and ride fast. Having the bars higher allows me to keep weight off the front of the bike for certain situations (steep drops, rock gardens, braking bumps and clearing large rocks). I have even switched with someone running a conventional setup mid trail and it confirmed how much better the high bar setup is.

Sorry I don't have a nice on trail photo to share.

*edit: can't seem to get the image to load. here's a link: https://ibb.co/km0nfbD