Getting saddle level - aaarrrgghhh!

Paulq

Have been fitting my Specialized BG saddle to my new Marin Mill Valley today and I just cannot get the saddle to level off. Every time I tighten the retaining bolt underneath it forces the saddle nose up. I have tried everything starting with the saddle pointing down before starting to tighten it so that the raising action counterbalances the problem - no joy and I always end up with the nose of the saddle higher than the rear - something I don't want.

Anyone any tips? :roll:

Cheers

Paul :roll:

stueyc

i have exactly the same problem....not comfortable at all....aaarrrggghhhh!
i need help too

dennisn

For what it's worth a level saddle is not always the answer to proper bike fit. Now I
don't have a clue as to why it won't stay in place once you clamp it down, but I
digress. A saddle with the nose tilted down somewhat will cause you to have to use
your arms, on the bars, to hold you on it. This can be very tiring even on short rides.
In the end you need to find a saddle angle that allows you to "sit" on it and not have
to keep using your arms to hold you there. This usually requires a saddle to be, at
the very least, level or slightly tilted up at the nose. Some people may find this slightly
uncomfortable. Especially people new to cycling who don't have the required "ass"
time or people whos saddle just doesn't work for them. It can take a bit of time and
money to find the right one. I've had pretty good luck with saddles that have a cuttout
center and the so called "sit bones" type. No numbness. Good luck.

Dennis Noward

synchronicity

Yep, I've definitely noticed that new cyclists lower the nose of the saddle, thinking that it will reduce pressure on their bum. What it does is put more pressure on your groin, causing it to go numb within about 5 minutes on the bike.

I would consider buying a new saddle. The only thing a saddle has to do is support the seat, and if it can't even do that right, consider swapping it for something more user-friendly.

I am going to get rid of my USE Alien saddles for this reason. The clamp mechanism is too complicated.

Garybee

From your description it sounds as if you have a seat pin with one central clamp bolt (bolt head on underside of clamp). These can be a bit of a pain as the clamp has serrations in it to stop it moving when tightened. These serrations mean that the angle adjustment of the saddle happens in 'steps'. If you loosen it off, move the saddle nose a bit and tighten back up you will end up back where you started (as you have found).

Try loosening it off even more. You will then find that the semi-circular section of the clamp (directly in contact with the underside of the saddle rails) becomes loose. Lift this part slightly (off the serrations) and rotate it before dropping back down onto the serrations. Now retighten the saddle clamp bolt and your saddle will be at a new angle.

Felix-da-house-mouse

It could be that the grippers underneath the saddle are not correctly interplaced and when you tighten its slippin out try tightening the bolts each one little by little and maybe get someone to hold it in place for you,

neeb

Certainly sounds like a problem with the seatpost clamp rather than the saddle.

For what it's worth I think the specialized BG saddles are great - which model do you have?

I used to subscribe to tilting the nose of my saddle down slightly, and found this was perfectly comfortable for arse & the all important perineum area, but it did mean I put a little bit too much pressure on my hands. Since getting a bikefit I now realise that part of the problem was that I had the saddle too high and a bit too far back. Now that it's in the correct position I find I can have my saddle (specialized toupe) pretty much level and have zero pressure on the perineum area. It's difficult to define "level" anyway, as the BG saddles slope up at the back to support the sit bones, but it's set so that the front part is horizontal.

I've spent hours adjusting the saddles on my two bikes to get the angle perfect... I also have one of those Alien USE seatposts on my winter bike, and it's an absolute nightmare!

Can't believe that the forum software inserted * in the word "arse" automatically! Perfectly good anglo saxon word for a major bodily part! Give us back our language!

luke2792

I had this problem on my bike a few weeks back

I rotated the seatpost by 180 degrees and tried again and everything went level
So i would reccomend trying that and if that fails follow every1 elses advice

blorg

It's almost certainly the clamp rather than the saddle. Is it a one bolt or a two bolt? The former are a hell of a lot easier to adjust IMHO (you can set the angle and then just tighten.)

If it is a two bolt (if it is a Specialized post, it is two bolt) you need to loosen one bolt and then tighten the other to adjust the angle. So to angle down you need to loosen the back bolt and then tighten the front one.

oldwelshman

luke2792 wrote:

I had this problem on my bike a few weeks back

I rotated the seatpost by 180 degrees and tried again and everything went level
So i would reccomend trying that and if that fails follow every1 elses advice

You beat me to it
I was about to say make sure it is correct way round as I had this doing track bike the other day :oops:

oldwelshman

synchronicity wrote:

Yep, I've definitely noticed that new cyclists lower the nose of the saddle, thinking that it will reduce pressure on their bum. What it does is put more pressure on your groin, causing it to go numb within about 5 minutes on the bike.

I would consider buying a new saddle. The only thing a saddle has to do is support the seat, and if it can't even do that right, consider swapping it for something more user-friendly.

I am going to get rid of my USE Alien saddles for this reason. The clamp mechanism is too complicated.

Not sure about this.
I was getting pelvic pain with saddle level on my track bike ( bars lower than road bike) but since I tipped it a bit I have had no problems.