Effect of raising saddle? - Page 12 - Cycling Mob: Road Cycling, Mountain Biking and More

06-18-2004, 08:35 AM

psycholist wrote:
:: "Frank Krygowski" <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]> wrote in message
:: news:[Only registered and activated users can see links. ].edu...
::: 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]
:::
::
:: The website for Colorado Cyclist has a fitting section that's quite
:: comprehensive and that's based on most of the latest thinking on
:: proper bike fit. Go to [Only registered and activated users can see links. ]

Thanks, Bob...I'll go read it too.