Lexi01

Hi Guys,

I'm interested in your saddle heights!

I'm pretty tall at 6'5" and I run my saddle height at 910mm (measured from the centre of the BB to the top of the saddle).

I'm particularly interested in your height in comparison to the rule of thumb that says your saddle height should be (inseam in cm * .883). I have an inseam of 37.5 inches which would equate to a saddle height of 841mm using the formula. BTW - I know rules of thumb are just that and everyone is different, etc...but I'm just wondering if most people are around that sort of ballpark?

The reason I ask is that whenever I tell someone I ride a 63cm SuperSix with a 350mm seatpost almost fully extended they look at me funny and say "that's impossible, you're tall but not that tall".

So, although I'm comfortable I have a nagging thought that says perhaps I've got it all wrong and I could lower my seat by 3-4cm and sit "in the bike" a whole lot more???

lazerzxr

Out of interest what is your saddle set back?

Scooper

What length are your crank arms?

revchuck 

How did you end up with that saddle height? Were you fitted that way, or is it just one of those "I think it's supposed to look like this" things?

I'm 6'2", with a pants inseam of 32", so I guess my cycling inseam is about 34-35". I was fitted with a seat height of 80.7cm. I haven't done more than 105 miles on a ride, but it works for that, and I expect I could double that distance and it would still work...if I could do a 200+ mile ride. How do you feel on long rides?

I'm guessing that you're way too high, and that 841mm would put you in the ballpark. The only way to be sure would be to take yourself and your bike to a professional fitter and have your bike fitted to you. It's a pretty good chunk of change, but it's one of the best investments you can make.

znomit

How do you work this into casual conversation?

Rowan

One of the simpler "ballpark" tests is to sit on the seat, put the heel of one foot on the corresponding pedal, and push the pedal to the six o'clock position. Your leg should be almost straight or even straight, but without having to move your pelvis down on that side. Check the other leg.

Then when you clip in or put the ball of the foot on the pedal, your leg should have a bend in it. I've heard of an angle at the knee of around 130 degrees to be ideal.

Do you pedal with a pronounced downward pointing of the toes?

Stealthammer

Bike fit is very subjective and what works for you may actually be different than someone else with exactly the same bone/joint measurements, and inseam is only the most rudimentary of these. If you really want to find your "sweet spot", you will first need to get your seating position "in the ballpark" (with the help of a professional if possible), and then you will need to put in some miles over different terrain at different paces (while taking detailed notes if possible). It also helps to have a friend pace along side of you while you are riding to video tape you from the side and from the back while you are spinning at around 100rpm or so and grinding at 60rpm or so. Video taping really helps because even your own subjective evaluation of whether your hips are rocking or whether you are reaching full extention will be skewed by your own motion.

Do your hips "rock" when you pedal or do you feel that you are extending you foot or toes when pulling back across the bottom of the stroke? Where on the seat is your weight centered front-to-back and what is the angle of your seat? What size shoes do you wear and where are your cleats positioned on the shoe in relation to your ankle's pivot point? Is your bike set up with a lower stem and handlebar position that has you leaned forward with your pelvis tilted forward, or do you have a taller handlebar position that has you seated more upright with very little pelvis tilt? What is the "Q" factor and size of your crankset? What is the "stack height" of your pedal-to-shoe combo (the distance from the pedals axle center to the base of your foot inside the shoe)? All of these things can effect your exact seat height "sweet spot" so no "rule of thumb" will do you any good except to get you in the ballpark.

Go to a reputable shop with someone who specializes in bike fitting. What they will be able to do is get you "in the ball park" (although another fitter might set you up a few mm higher or lower or more forward or rearward), because it is important to have a good starting point. Once they get you in the ballpark, try adjusting up and down and front-to-back in 1-2mm increments and note any hip rocking, any side-to-side knee movement, whether you feel you are extending your toes at the bottom of the stroke or whether you can "drag your heel" through the bottom as though scraping mud off your shoe. Take notes. Do you feel any slight pain in your hip joints, your knees, your the bottom fo your quads, or your calves? Are you comfortable with you leg extension and hip stability?

Once you have found your "sweet spot" on the bike, document everything. When you move to another road bike or a mountain bike these measurements will get you in the ballpark again, but you will still need to work to find your exact "sweet spot" on that bike as well. How "perfect" your seat height "sweet spot" is depends on how much real work you want to put into finding it, but even a more casual approach will get you to where you are able to apply the most power with the least potential for injury.

adrien

Sounds high to me. Assuming you are on 175 cranks, my guess is about 83-86 cm would be right. I am 6'3.3, with relatively short legs. Saddle is at 80-81 cm off the bb.

adrien

BTW, try KOPS. You can do that easily at home and it will help you figure out where it fits best.

Lexi01

It's actually quite a reasonable line of conversation when shopping for a bike...

Anyway. So I did the heal test and couldn't even keep contact with the pedal over a full rotation. With that fact and the .883 method and with a few guys here saying it sounds high I dropped it down 2.5cm and I'm just able to keep contact withy heals. I went for a short ride and it feels really wierd...very low and lacking power.

My current seat height was the result of me slowly pushing it up over the 12 months I've had my current bike.

So I'm super confused... Time for a pro bike fit I think...

dnuzzomueller

How big are your feet?

Lexi01

Size 48 Shimano...size 46 (US13) in every other shoe I have.

I tend to be the biggest size everyone makes without having to go to a big man store.

PLEASE READ THIS IF YOU POSTED ABOVE...

I measured my inseam again last night (I was going by memory in the original post). My inseam is 99cm (39") which gives me "ballpark" saddle hieght of 875...this feels super low...

Could it be that after having my saddle too high for a while I am just used to pointing my toes more than I should? Or will it feel more "normal" after a week or so? I moved it down 2.5cm.

revchuck 

Going from a position you're used to to a new one, it takes time to re-acclimate yourself. If you were to get fitted, the guy/gal doing the fitting would emphasize that you need to keep it as is after the fitting and not change it for a couple of weeks. Even when going from wrong to right, right will feel weird until you get used to it.

Werkin

You may be a person who pedals with heal up, toe down, and it is right for you. A high percentage of women pedal this way, but only a small percentage of males. Without an objective tool for measuring output, you should rely on feedback from your body for what feels right. Is there a reason other than matching numbers from the general norm that make you think something is not right?

Lexi01

Its pretty much 3 things:
1. the general shock of people when I tell them my set-up
2. the fact that I'm always looking at bikes (its just what I do)...and most bikes I look at don't seem to have enough seattube length in them to enable to me to actually ride them (with a 900mm saddle height)...I'm 6'5" not 7 foot!
3. when you look at bike radar and have a look at the riders' heights combined with their saddle heights mine just seems way off. Like Tom Boonen (6'4" - saddle height of 820mm) or George Hincapie (6'3" & 800mm). Even after accounting for long legs/short torsos/long femurs, etc...

So I guess I'd ultimately like to be able to have a saddle height that is transferable to any (XXL) bike...cos at the moment there aren't many bikes with seattubes long enough to accommodate my 900mm saddle height without the use of a 400mm setapost and a 17+cm seat to bar drop (both of which are not ideal)

Werkin

The things that primarily motivate me for a change in position are discomfort or pain. If I were in competition with other bicyclists then power output would be a motivating metric. Certainly it would be wise to choose a cycling position that will not cause chronic or acute injury. How long have you been heel-up pedaling and was this time period all without discomfort?

In my opinion making a 2.5 centimeter change in saddle height at one time is excessive.

Lexi01

I've had this bike for about 12 months and I've been slowly edging the seat up in that time so I'd guess I've been pedalling heel up for a solid 6 months.

I do have back pain...it was diagnosed recently as a buldging disc under L5... Physio seems to think its more do do with posture/core strength though. It seems to manifest itself as hip/glute pain (more gluteus medius). Could that be related to a high saddle?

I don't have any knee pain (you know the old adage "knee pain at the back, seat too high..."

DaveSSS 

Sounds like your saddle is too high, but here are some guidelines. What you really want is about a 30 degree bend at the knee when you're foot is at the bottom of the stroke, while pedaling. Your leg should not be nearly at full extension.

One way to insure this is to set the saddle so your foot is horizontal, with the leg fully extended at the bottom of the stroke. During normal pedaling, it only takes a 2-3cm rise of the heel to create the 30 degree bend at the knee. If you pedal with no heel rise, then the saddle would be even lower.

Werkin

From what I've gleaned from general reading from experts, rocking can cause, or at least aggravate back injury.

When you're comparing saddle height from others, is saddle set-back (lay-back) accounted for in the comparison?

bladehack

My cycling inseam is 38" (pants inseam = 36") and I'm 6'3"; so very long legs, short torso, but fairly long arms. Saddle height is 876.3mm and was arrived at via the "pedal with heel to 6 o'clock position w/o rocking" method. Bike is 61cm and cranks are 177.5mm

Lexi01

No, its not. Would that make a big difference?

I did notice that my tip of saddle to bar measurement decreased by 15mm with the 25mm reduction in saddle height... and when I went for a test ride (aruond the block) I found myself creaping back onto the very back of the seat...sort of felt nice.

Also, thanks for the info bladejack...its a nice point fo reference for me.

Werkin

You scooted back because you were trying to regain familiar leg extension.

Enjoy the experimentation.

DaveSSS 

Saddle height is not measured vertically. It's normally measured along the centerline of the seat tube, so most of the setback is always included. The additional saddle setback from the seatpost is never enough to make any appreciable difference in the overall measurement.

If the saddle height is dropped by 25mm, then is should move forward by 7-8mm, since the cosine of a nominal 73 degree STA is .29.

ColinL

It could make a difference of more than 2cm if you have no setback and fore placement on the rails, and they have 25mm setback with aft placement on the rails.

6'0" with 35" cycling inseam, 79.8cm saddle height from center BB to center of saddle. straight seatpost. my hips don't rock-- I can pedal seated to 120+ rpm without issue. (I work it on a trainer. ) I haven't measured the angle of my knee at the bottom of the pedal stroke, but I doubt it's the 30 degrees DaveSSS was talking about, maybe more like 20.

a vid of you pedaling on a trainer (or on the road, if possible) would answer this. but it's really easy to experiment and just find out for yourself. I set my saddle height for years and knew what I wanted, and it so happens to be close to Lemond's .883 suggestion.

if it feels wrong, don't settle. make sure to measure and take notes, otherwise you can be hunting up and down without success. if you log everything, you should be able to zero in on it.

abstractform20

disagree