Originally Posted by
Iride01
Don't exclude recumbents. Both trikes or bikes. .....
Recumbent bikes are very tricky to balance. I had an OSS SWB recumbent at one point, and the low speed balancing took a lot of effort to learn. For some reasons counter-steering either doesn't work, or works very slowly with these recumbents, so high speed behavior can be unsettling as well. If you can imagine a twitchy, nervous, yet slow turning bike- that is the recumbent bike. The USS models even worse. I strongly advice the OP to stay away from them until she is completely comfortable with a regular bike.
Originally Posted by
ClydeClydeson
If you can touch the ground with both feet while on the saddle, your saddle is too low. Proper pedalling is achieved when you have your leg almost completely straight at the bottom of the pedal stroke, and since there has to be space between the pedal and the ground, a proper saddle height will not allow you to comfortably reach the ground from the saddle. You must slide forward off the saddle and stand over the frame when you stop, and this is generally true for all heights of rider.....
Generally true for all riders. But not true for beginners, which the OP obviously is. For a beginner, the seat should be low enough for you to put both feet , if not flat on the ground, at least comfortably on the ground (ie. not tip-toeing). When the OP is comfortable with riding a bike, then she can raise the seat gradually until she gets to the optimal position.