Saddle height

[sjj84]

I know without a proper bike fit it's never going to be perfect, but are there any suggestions for getting a rough saddle height? Or is it just a case of trial and error? Looked at a couple of articles online and it seems to be incredibly high.

[WinstonWolf]

If you put your heel on the pedal with it at the bottom of the throw your leg should be just about straight.

[Kermit power]

WinstonWolf said:

If you put your heel on the pedal with it at the bottom of the throw your leg should be just about straight.

That's true if the OP is riding on tarmac - a road bike, hybrid or whatever. If they're mountain biking, on the other hand, then it's better to drop it an inch or so. It won't be quite as efficient when pedaling on the flat or uphill, but this is more than made up for by being able to move around on the bike more easily when going downhill over bumpy stuff.

[anonymous-user]

There is a good guide to getting a suitable road bike saddle fit here
http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/fitness/bike-fit/sa...

[Woody]

To get a base setting you can put the saddle under your armpit and adjust until the end of your middle finger is on the centre of the crank bolt/axle.
From there you can see if you want to go higher or lower.

[BadgerBenji]

Woody said:

To get a base setting you can put the saddle under your armpit and adjust until the end of your middle finger is on the centre of the crank bolt/axle.
From there you can see if you want to go higher or lower.

You sit on a bike in a funny way.

There are many ways, there is no scientific being either for the foot and extend till slight bend either, it is OK as a start, a ride on a turbo trainer and video yourself, then look at leg extension and the way your joints move in relation to each other is hip, knee and ankle.

[nammynake]

Woody said:

To get a base setting you can put the saddle under your armpit and adjust until the end of your middle finger is on the centre of the crank bolt/axle.
From there you can see if you want to go higher or lower.

I've read that three times and I still don't get it. You're setting the seat height based on arm length?

[Woody]

nammynake said:

I've read that three times and I still don't get it. You're setting the seat height based on arm length?

Correct - try it and with your current seat position - probably not a million miles away.
Was a technique shown an an MTB skills course to get a decent base position.
There's a ratio between your arm and leg length unless you have short legs and orangutan arms.

[WinstonWolf]

Woody said:

nammynake said:

I've read that three times and I still don't get it. You're setting the seat height based on arm length?

Correct - try it and with your current seat position - probably not a million miles away.
Was a technique shown an an MTB skills course to get a decent base position.
There's a ratio between your arm and leg length unless you have short legs and orangutan arms.

I guarantee it won't work for me

[JEA1K]

I had a bike fit last year on my new Madone ... when I got home and measured it against my old Madone, the seat height was exactly the same to the mm. I had played around with the old bike quite a bit to get the best from it and the only real difference was I didn't have seat level on the old bike. This in itself made quite a difference. Slight adjustments can make a huge difference to comfort, particularly if you plan on spending some time in the saddle.

I thought I set up my recent Kinesis Aithein build the same as my Madone ... same seat height (so I thought) but I started to get some slight knee pain which I don't experience ordinarily. So I double checked and the bottom bracket on the new bike was lower on the Kinesis than the Madone resulting in overstretching for the pedals and causing discomfort ... once lowered to give the same seat - BB length, the knee pain was gone. We're talking 3mm here but it was enough to cause an issue.

[SixPotBelly]

Woody said:

To get a base setting you can put the saddle under your armpit and adjust until the end of your middle finger is on the centre of the crank bolt/axle.

The saddle-height-with-forearm and more quick fit methods expounded here:

http://cyclingtips.com.au/2010/04/science-of-bike-...

I tried last week against my existing self-fit and it didn't seem to measure up at all. Then, prompted by this thread, I re-read it. Only this time saw the sentence in red at the top of the text. Yes, I'd been an April fool in January.

What I have done is to start by setting saddle so heels touch pedals in the six o'clock position with straight legs, same as WinstonwWolf. Then half an hour on the trainer to make sure hips aren't rocking at high cadence. In my case they were a tad, so I lowered a tiny bit - maybe 5mm - and re-checked.

Edited by SixPotBelly on Thursday 15th January 10:19

[AyBee]

The number of people I see on my commute rocking about on their saddles is hilarious - why is it that saddle height is seen as "higher the better" by a lot of people?

[scherzkeks]

sjj84 said:

I know without a proper bike fit it's never going to be perfect, but are there any suggestions for getting a rough saddle height? Or is it just a case of trial and error? Looked at a couple of articles online and it seems to be incredibly high.

As some have mentioned, heel-on-pedal is a good rough guide. The old Italian CONI cycling manual offers a similar variation: measure your inseam from floor to crotch/pubic bone (using a level or a book). The saddle height should equal this measure from the center of the pedal axle (perhaps add a cm or two for pedal/shoe stack) to the upper most portion of the saddle. Fine tune via heel-on-pedal as follows: slight bend at the knee for long-distance riding, and a straight knee for crits etc.

I'd stay away from formulas, particularly the Lemond or Hinault formulas (inseam x .883), as these were an effort to reposition the rider on the bike, and also called for a larger frame, setback, and reach. Greg's position in the 80's was also a painful sight

[Craikeybaby]

Kermit power said:

That's true if the OP is riding on tarmac - a road bike, hybrid or whatever. If they're mountain biking, on the other hand, then it's better to drop it an inch or so. It won't be quite as efficient when pedaling on the flat or uphill, but this is more than made up for by being able to move around on the bike more easily when going downhill over bumpy stuff.

Maybe I need to try dropping the seat on my MTB by an inch or so, I've got it set up seemingly perfect for pedalling sat down, but find it gets in the way if I'm peddaling stood up on the pedals.

[mph1977]

AyBee said:

The number of people I see on my commute rocking about on their saddles is hilarious - why is it that saddle height is seen as "higher the better" by a lot of people?

becasue they rode oversized bikes (i.e. adult size frames on 26 in wheels) as young teens becasue it wasn;t deemed 'hard' to have a 24 " wheel bike

[JustinF]

JEA1K said:

I thought I set up my recent Kinesis Aithein build the same as my Madone ... same seat height (so I thought) but I started to get some slight knee pain which I don't experience ordinarily. So I double checked and the bottom bracket on the new bike was lower on the Kinesis than the Madone resulting in overstretching for the pedals and causing discomfort ... once lowered to give the same seat - BB length, the knee pain was gone. We're talking 3mm here but it was enough to cause an issue.

I made the same error when setting up my new bike last year, I didn't notice any pain initially and had no idea I was over-extending every pedal stoke until about 30 miles into Chase the Sun last year when I started getting a niggling ache behind the knee. Not knowing what the issue was or how to resolve I carried on going, 100 miles later I had to pull out as I was in agony, it's taken 6 months to totally heal the tendons at the base of my hamstring and it totally screwed my goals for 2014.

I'd definitely take the time to get it right OP.

[TheLemming]

JEA1K said:

I had a bike fit last year on my new Madone ... when I got home and measured it against my old Madone, the seat height was exactly the same to the mm. I had played around with the old bike quite a bit to get the best from it and the only real difference was I didn't have seat level on the old bike. This in itself made quite a difference. Slight adjustments can make a huge difference to comfort, particularly if you plan on spending some time in the saddle.

I thought I set up my recent Kinesis Aithein build the same as my Madone ... same seat height (so I thought) but I started to get some slight knee pain which I don't experience ordinarily. So I double checked and the bottom bracket on the new bike was lower on the Kinesis than the Madone resulting in overstretching for the pedals and causing discomfort ... once lowered to give the same seat - BB length, the knee pain was gone. We're talking 3mm here but it was enough to cause an issue.

I found I had issues switching saddles - from one Fizik Antares to another.

On very close investigation after trying to work out why after several weeks it turns out the curve of the carbon Antares is slightly different to the Kium rail model.

Because of that I was a couple of mm higher on the kium saddle, cue the back of knee pain.

I'd have never believed how much difference a couple of MM can make. The summer bike is perfect. 100% "change a thing and I'll kill you" perfect.
To the point that my nicest carbon rail saddle is on my winter bike - because I don't want to touch the setup to change it by even a degree or a mm.

[JEA1K]

JustinF said:

I made the same error when setting up my new bike last year, I didn't notice any pain initially and had no idea I was over-extending every pedal stoke until about 30 miles into Chase the Sun last year when I started getting a niggling ache behind the knee. Not knowing what the issue was or how to resolve I carried on going, 100 miles later I had to pull out as I was in agony, it's taken 6 months to totally heal the tendons at the base of my hamstring and it totally screwed my goals for 2014.

I'd definitely take the time to get it right OP.

Ouch! Funnily enough, my knee pain was the same although certainly by the sounds of things less painful. It was sore after our club ride of 140 miles just before Xmas. Even a few gentle rides after that, it was not right until I changed the saddle height ... done some hard efforts since without a twinge tho.

TheLemming said:

I found I had issues switching saddles - from one Fizik Antares to another.

On very close investigation after trying to work out why after several weeks it turns out the curve of the carbon Antares is slightly different to the Kium rail model.

Because of that I was a couple of mm higher on the kium saddle, cue the back of knee pain.

I'd have never believed how much difference a couple of MM can make. The summer bike is perfect. 100% "change a thing and I'll kill you" perfect.
To the point that my nicest carbon rail saddle is on my winter bike - because I don't want to touch the setup to change it by even a degree or a mm.

Well, I think thats conclusive to the OP that 3 of us got it even slightly wrong and suffered for it!

[sjj84]

pablo said:

There is a good guide to getting a suitable road bike saddle fit here
http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/fitness/bike-fit/sa...

This is actually the article that I followed. Which also fits into the heel on the pedal method too. It's on a mountain bike at the moment, although only being used on the road. I'll give it a go early next week hopefully. It just seemed very high compared to where I had it so thought I'd ask the collective wisdom on here.
Cheers

[rockandrollmark]

Jeeez, what is the world coming to when an individual can't set the height of their saddle / stem without the help of a charlatan. I think the last person to adjust my saddle on my behalf was my dad when I was about 8 years old.

What next, paying some bloke to ride the damn thing for you in case you're not doing it right? 1) Head out with a multi tool 2) If it doesn't feel good adjust it 3) Ride. 4) Repeat steps two and three until step two doesn't occur.