Effect of raising saddle? - Page 2 - Cycling Mob: Road Cycling, Mountain Biking and More

06-16-2004, 09:09 PM

Roger Zoul wrote:

> Anyway, since folks have been telling me to raise my saddle (including the
> cute lady who sold me my bike

;-) I think it's time you posted the cutie's picture.

> -- I think she was afraid for me at first so
> played it safe), I thought to ask for some assistance on getting it close
> (they're pushing me to pay the $100 for a professional fitting). Anyway,
> one of the guys (a mechanic and one of the two people there who does the
> fittings) decides to help me out...puts the bike on the trainer and has me
> start riding. By then end of 30 minutes or so, he has raised the saddle
> hight by 2.5 inches!!
>
> I'm wondering what practical difference this will make?

2.5 inches will make a huge practical difference!

Riding a saddle that's too low is like doing a Groucho Marx duck walk
all day long. It puts lots of unnecessary strain on your knees.

You mention doing leg presses. You should be able to verify the idea
with that machine, if it's got enough adjustment. See how much you can
raise with your leg nearly extended, versus how little you can raise
with your knees deeply bent.

One way of setting saddle height is to lean against a wall to support
yourself, unclip, put your _heels_ on the pedals, and backpedal. Your
seat should be high enough so you can barely contact the pedals at their
lowest point. (Hip rocking to "stretch" is not allowed.)

If you set your seat height this way, then when you clip in properly,
you'll have about the right bend (i.e. pretty slight) in your knees.

Of course, nothing's perfect. This works pretty well if your body -
especially shoe size - is all "normal." Feel free to make slight
adjustements to fine tune things.

With the seat high enough, you'll ride _much_ stronger.

(With the seat too high, your hips might rock and cause saddle problems,
or you may get pain in the back of the knee from over-extending.)

--
--------------------+
Frank Krygowski [To reply, remove rodent and vegetable dot com,
replace with cc.ysu dot edu]

06-17-2004, 04:05 AM

In article <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]>, [Only registered and activated users can see links. ]
says...
> Wow....went to the LBS today to pick up my bike with the rebuilt rear wheel
> (28 spokes, 240 lbs rider). Don't know yet if they did a good job or
> not --- TBD.
>
> Anyway, since folks have been telling me to raise my saddle (including the
> cute lady who sold me my bike -- I think she was afraid for me at first so
> played it safe), I thought to ask for some assistance on getting it close
> (they're pushing me to pay the $100 for a professional fitting). Anyway,
> one of the guys (a mechanic and one of the two people there who does the
> fittings) decides to help me out...puts the bike on the trainer and has me
> start riding. By then end of 30 minutes or so, he has raised the saddle
> hight by 2.5 inches!!
>
> I'm wondering what practical difference this will make?

Your knees, quads and lungs will probably thank you!

.....

--
Remove the ns_ from if replying by e-mail (but keep posts in the
newsgroups if possible).

06-17-2004, 04:05 AM

In article <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]>, [Only registered and activated users can see links. ]
says...
> Wow....went to the LBS today to pick up my bike with the rebuilt rear wheel
> (28 spokes, 240 lbs rider). Don't know yet if they did a good job or
> not --- TBD.
>
> Anyway, since folks have been telling me to raise my saddle (including the
> cute lady who sold me my bike -- I think she was afraid for me at first so
> played it safe), I thought to ask for some assistance on getting it close
> (they're pushing me to pay the $100 for a professional fitting). Anyway,
> one of the guys (a mechanic and one of the two people there who does the
> fittings) decides to help me out...puts the bike on the trainer and has me
> start riding. By then end of 30 minutes or so, he has raised the saddle
> hight by 2.5 inches!!
>
> I'm wondering what practical difference this will make?

Your knees, quads and lungs will probably thank you!

.....

--
Remove the ns_ from if replying by e-mail (but keep posts in the
newsgroups if possible).

06-17-2004, 04:05 AM

In article <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]>, [Only registered and activated users can see links. ]
says...
> Wow....went to the LBS today to pick up my bike with the rebuilt rear wheel
> (28 spokes, 240 lbs rider). Don't know yet if they did a good job or
> not --- TBD.
>
> Anyway, since folks have been telling me to raise my saddle (including the
> cute lady who sold me my bike -- I think she was afraid for me at first so
> played it safe), I thought to ask for some assistance on getting it close
> (they're pushing me to pay the $100 for a professional fitting). Anyway,
> one of the guys (a mechanic and one of the two people there who does the
> fittings) decides to help me out...puts the bike on the trainer and has me
> start riding. By then end of 30 minutes or so, he has raised the saddle
> hight by 2.5 inches!!
>
> I'm wondering what practical difference this will make?

Your knees, quads and lungs will probably thank you!

.....

--
Remove the ns_ from if replying by e-mail (but keep posts in the
newsgroups if possible).

06-17-2004, 04:05 AM

In article <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]>, [Only registered and activated users can see links. ]
says...
> Wow....went to the LBS today to pick up my bike with the rebuilt rear wheel
> (28 spokes, 240 lbs rider). Don't know yet if they did a good job or
> not --- TBD.
>
> Anyway, since folks have been telling me to raise my saddle (including the
> cute lady who sold me my bike -- I think she was afraid for me at first so
> played it safe), I thought to ask for some assistance on getting it close
> (they're pushing me to pay the $100 for a professional fitting). Anyway,
> one of the guys (a mechanic and one of the two people there who does the
> fittings) decides to help me out...puts the bike on the trainer and has me
> start riding. By then end of 30 minutes or so, he has raised the saddle
> hight by 2.5 inches!!
>
> I'm wondering what practical difference this will make?

Your knees, quads and lungs will probably thank you!

.....

--
Remove the ns_ from if replying by e-mail (but keep posts in the
newsgroups if possible).

06-17-2004, 04:05 AM

In article <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]>, [Only registered and activated users can see links. ]
says...
> Wow....went to the LBS today to pick up my bike with the rebuilt rear wheel
> (28 spokes, 240 lbs rider). Don't know yet if they did a good job or
> not --- TBD.
>
> Anyway, since folks have been telling me to raise my saddle (including the
> cute lady who sold me my bike -- I think she was afraid for me at first so
> played it safe), I thought to ask for some assistance on getting it close
> (they're pushing me to pay the $100 for a professional fitting). Anyway,
> one of the guys (a mechanic and one of the two people there who does the
> fittings) decides to help me out...puts the bike on the trainer and has me
> start riding. By then end of 30 minutes or so, he has raised the saddle
> hight by 2.5 inches!!
>
> I'm wondering what practical difference this will make?

Your knees, quads and lungs will probably thank you!

.....

--
Remove the ns_ from if replying by e-mail (but keep posts in the
newsgroups if possible).

06-17-2004, 04:09 AM

In article <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]>, luigi12081
@cox.net says...

....

> Try raising the saddle: you'll like it. I recently raised the saddle
> on my little brother's superheavy Huffy, and the grin on his face when
> he could actually *move* the bike down the road at a decent clip was
> proof enough of the efficiency and effectiveness of good position.

My daughter had the same response when I raised hers. Of course, that
was three months ago, and now it's too low again <Grin>.

--
Remove the ns_ from if replying by e-mail (but keep posts in the
newsgroups if possible).

06-17-2004, 04:09 AM

In article <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]>, luigi12081
@cox.net says...

....

> Try raising the saddle: you'll like it. I recently raised the saddle
> on my little brother's superheavy Huffy, and the grin on his face when
> he could actually *move* the bike down the road at a decent clip was
> proof enough of the efficiency and effectiveness of good position.

My daughter had the same response when I raised hers. Of course, that
was three months ago, and now it's too low again <Grin>.

--
Remove the ns_ from if replying by e-mail (but keep posts in the
newsgroups if possible).

06-17-2004, 04:09 AM

In article <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]>, luigi12081
@cox.net says...

....

> Try raising the saddle: you'll like it. I recently raised the saddle
> on my little brother's superheavy Huffy, and the grin on his face when
> he could actually *move* the bike down the road at a decent clip was
> proof enough of the efficiency and effectiveness of good position.

My daughter had the same response when I raised hers. Of course, that
was three months ago, and now it's too low again <Grin>.

--
Remove the ns_ from if replying by e-mail (but keep posts in the
newsgroups if possible).

06-17-2004, 04:09 AM

In article <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]>, luigi12081
@cox.net says...

....

> Try raising the saddle: you'll like it. I recently raised the saddle
> on my little brother's superheavy Huffy, and the grin on his face when
> he could actually *move* the bike down the road at a decent clip was
> proof enough of the efficiency and effectiveness of good position.

My daughter had the same response when I raised hers. Of course, that
was three months ago, and now it's too low again <Grin>.

--
Remove the ns_ from if replying by e-mail (but keep posts in the
newsgroups if possible).