ricohman

I adjusted my new Roubaix on the indoor trainer last winter and I have used it without adjustment until this point. It feels good and I am improving my speed and endurance but lately I feel the saddle is to low.
I don't know why, but I feel like I should be extending my leg a bit more. I have zero issues with any type of pain and I can spin along at 100-120rpm without trouble.
During last nights group ride I found that I was sitting a bit farther back on the saddle during the only climb of the ride. Riding in the group at 35-40kmh is comfortable but when I look down at my knees while riding it seems like I don't have enough extension.
Stationary I can touch the heel of my shoe to the peddle but I have read this isn't the most accurate method.
Raise it a bit now or wait until the snow flies next month and do it indoors? Leave it alone?
How does a rider find that perfect saddle height?

simonaway427

raise it to your hearts delight....don't need our approval....do what's most comfortable!!!

njkayaker

I don't think it's uncommon (or wrong) to change your position on the saddle for things like climbing.

Don't look at your knees??

If you want people's opinions about your extension, provide a picture.

DaveSSS 

Pictures aren't of much value unless you really know the angle of the heel while pedaling. You can set the saddle to fully extend the leg with the foot sitting horizontal and all it takes is the common 2-3cm rise of the heel to create the recommended 30 degree bend at the knee.

I could post a picture of me with my leg fully extended with my foot horizontal. Everyone would say that my saddle is too high, since I hve no bend at the knee. Wrong. I have plenty of bend at the knee while pedaling and my saddle height also fit the .883 times inseam formula, which assumes some rise at the heel.

Raise the saddle about 3mm at a time and see how it feels.

icyclist 

"How does a rider find that perfect saddle height?"

- By experimenting with different heights. What has kept you from doing this?

- By paying for a professional fitting (obviously not an option for many cyclists).

ricohman

I will try and post a pic tonight.
I will raise it a few mm as mentioned above. I didn't raise it earlier as I felt my comfort and training was coming along.
But after a fast group ride last week both my hamstrings felt a bit tight and I thought maybe my saddle was to low. But maybe looking at my knees while riding isn't good for anything but a crash.

tyler777

I would imagine it's normal to experience a change in fit if your biking style/strength changes somewhat significantly (going from averagine 17mph to 20mph or something). I started biking consistenly only a couple months ago and have gotten stronger and more comfortable and have felt the need to raise the seat a couple times from what I previously felt was right.

I'm going to wait another few weeks before I get professionally fit because I want to make sure my corestrength and biking technique has gotten past the initial learning curve.

ricohman

I got my kid to snap a couple of pics. From the pics I can see a decent extension. But why does it look so different from the saddle.
Is this about right? One pic is heel up the other level.

Level


Heel up. Which is what I think I ride like.

ciocc_cat

The heel-on-the-pedal method was a good starting point back in the day of quill pedals and flat-soled cycling shoes. My first set of cycling shoes (Adidas, 1976) were all black leather and the (TA metal) cleats had to be nailed to them. In an age of curved-sole cycling shoes and clipless pedals the heel-on-the-pedal method provides questionable results, but so are formulas that don't take into account the effect of the pedal/cleat/shoe combination on saddle height. This is where a cycling coach or professional fitting can help, but ultimately there's a lot of fine-tuning required on your part to find your optimal height for maximum comfort/efficiency.

simonaway427

The pics show you just PRIOR to full pedal stroke, so its still difficult to tell what your extension looks like. That said, the position of your legs is approx the bend you want at the full bottom pedal stroke, not just prior. Therefore your seat might be a tad high. Do you notice that your hips sway when your ride? Do you bobble back and forth on the simplest of climbs? Those are tell tale signs of a high saddle.

jdon

I am inclined to agree, especially if your hamstrings are affected. If that tightness becomes painful, drop your seat a little. Even professional fittings are only a starting point. Fine tweeking is required.

Loose Chain

Here is your starting point, raise or lower to suit your style, shoes, peddles etc but this is very, very close to optimal for the vast majority of cyclist:

PBH (cycling inseam, stocking feet, six inches apart, against a wall, one inch book jammed in, pencil mark) X .883 = SH (saddle height from center of BB to top of saddle with a ruler across it)

"Comfortable" has nothing to do with correct saddle position, efficiency and human geometry define saddle position for maximum performance. Comfortable could be anything from feet flat on the ground and sitting upright to the saddle jacked up to the moon.

Your saddle looks close to a bit high.

ciocc_cat

"Maximum performance" is affected by rider comfort, particular on longer efforts. A track sprinter or short-distance time-trialist is only on the bike for a short time and doesn't need the same level of comfort as a long-distance road racer or club rider. If he's not comfortable then he's probably not going to ride very far.

RMMJ

Can someone explain why that works, given that different size frames have different crank lengths, which is not reflected in the BB to seat distance? I've wondered about that one for a while. Thanks.

njkayaker

Note the "for the vast majority of cyclists" and "your starting point".

Anyway, since smaller cranks are installed on smaller frames, the length of the crank is "reflected" (approximately) in the BB to seat distance.

https://tallynet.com/palmk/crtips.html

It would seem that the typical range of lengths for cranks is 170-175 mm. The difference is 5 mm or 1/5 of an inch (which is a pretty small difference for a "starting point" number).

Loose Chain

The crank length is one of the factors along with foot size, peddling style, cleat stack etc that require the additional fine tuning, that and not everybody is within the "vast" majority. But it gets you to a reasonable starting point that for many, many people, is pretty darn good to go.

The crank length, I have a track bike with 165mm, three road bikes with 170mm, one with 172.5mm and my Surly CC and my Stumpjumper are 175mm and I hardly ever really notice the difference and my seat height is within a few mms on all of my bikes.

ricohman

I tried raising the seat 3mm today. Half through my 50km ride I lowered it back. Once I got onto the flats and up to speed I could feel my hips rocking. Funny thing is it feels to low. But since I have no comfort issues I will just leave it alone.
I can now see that a simple thing like swapping on a different seat could mess up the height.

Silvercivic27

Check both legs too. Most people have some leg-length discrepancy. I think riding position has something to do with it as well, in terms of how far forward or back you have your butt in the saddle. You may also be sliding forward or backwards if your saddle is tilted. Just some things to think about. I personally keep track of all my measurements on the bikes, but when things start to hurt, I just go back and get fitted again, and re-record the measurements.