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Can a saddle influence a position to an extent that it's just not for you?
Yes. Also, knee pain almost ALWAYS manifests itself 'after' the ride rather than during unless something is seriously wrong!
This sounds very similar to an issue I had a few years ago. It was only really a lot of trial and error and ultimately a bike whisperer bike fit that sorted it.
In my case I was using a specialized power. At 143mm it 'should' have been exactly the right width for me and was 'on paper' the same width as its predecessor which had been fine for years.
However, after a long hilly ride in Wales I started to get exactly as you describe, like shin splints. I also had unusually sore quads which I just put down to riding fixed up hills etc.
I went to a physio who even suggested I perhaps should stop riding fixed if I was prone to injury! The horror!!!
So upshot was, after seeing some photo and video of me riding it became apparent that I was only using about 50% of the saddle, the front 50% as the rear profile was actually much too wide.
What this was doing was shoving me almost a couple of inches too far forward. I admit I should have noticed the change but as it was a new saddle I just did the math, set it up and rode it.
I've since changed to a narrower but still noseless saddle with a profile that suits me much better and have no aches at all.
I do long hilly club rides weekly totally pain free these days :-)
Can't guarantee you have the same problem but could be worth looking into...
aniki-
it became apparent that I was only using about 50% of the saddle, the front 50%
I feel like it might be somewhat similar here but for different reasons - during a bike fit the guy told me that i'm slowly moving forward during a ride as the core gets tired. I end up sitting on tip of the saddle and that's when it stars getting numb down there. Maybe the same with this short nose thing it's just there's nothing to sit on and knees get more work, I don't know.
Probably will hit a bike fit studio again...
dau
Can a saddle influence a position to an extent that it's just not for you?
I've been riding on brooks c13 carved and it worked quite well for me but on longer rides it would start getting numb down there. It wasn't very bad, I'd just have to get up a little bit and that's all.
All the other saddles i've tried didn't fit me well/weren't comfortable so I labelled my brooks "most comfortable saddle that doesn't fit me".
During a bike fit I've tried a short nosed saddle and wow - it felt like I could sit in drops for days without any discomfort or pressure. So i've bought a fizik short nosed saddle and even though it feels comfortable for my family jewels, some other problems started coming up - mainly one of my knees.
I've had problems with it before - I have high arched feet and my knees sort of go inwards. After high intensity rides, sometimes it feels like one of my knees is "very free" / not supported enough. Bike fit guy recommended me inserts to compensate those high archs and on brooks it helped.
But now with this new saddle these problems eventually returned. After one more intense ride it got so bad I was limping for a week. Usually this problem with "free knee" comes after the ride and I don't feel anything while riding but on one of my recent rides, 15 mins into the ride I've developed a new pain when climbing / pedalling more intensively - just below the front of the knee, where it connects to the shin. Somewhat similar to shin splints when running. Very weird.
I'm still trying, moved my saddle back just a little bit but I feel like giving up soon and putting back my old brooks on.