Originally Posted by
DrIsotope
The heel method, as mention, is a fine starting point. However in my case, I can barely touch the pedal with my heel when the saddle is as my prefered height. Perhaps in part because I have size US14 feet, and the cleat is probably 8" from my heel.
There is no "correct saddle height." You ride what's comfortable. My saddle is ~1.5" higher than would be recommended by a test (the straddle a level and mark the wall, specifically) but so long as the knees don't hurt and the hips ain't rockin', it's the right height.
Exactly. It's somewhere between touch and a ~4mm gap, mostly depending on foot size. And then there's touch and firm touch. I play with tiny adjustments until I can feel my hams working well when I'm climbing. I'm in the "barely touch" range. But that's why the heel method is seen by many as inadequate, because it's a datum which is open to interpretation by the rider. OTOH, that can also be seen as a good thing, because we're all different, different foot sizes, flexibility, pedaling habits, etc. There's no perfect calculation.