Saddle height question

sturmey

I have always been a road cyclist and the only mountain bike I have owned up til now is a resprayed lump of steel with rigid forks.
While I am waiting for my Mongoose Amasa Comp to come through the post I wanted to ask whether the same principles apply for setting your saddle height as is the case with a road bike- i.e. height is correct when knee is just bent with heel on pedal at lowest point?
And do you lower the saddle when off-roading then raise it again for road use?

Oh and one other thing- will my bike still be worth keeping if it gets muddy!?

Andy B

height is correct when knee is just bent with heel on pedal at lowest point?
And do you lower the saddle when off-roading then raise it again for road use?

Oh and one other thing- will my bike still be worth keeping if it gets muddy!?

Yes, correct way to set saddle height

Yes, drop it if you want for descents, makes it easier to get your arse behind the saddle, raise it again afterwards

it will get muddy, just clean it now & again, mostly paying attention to the drivetrain & suspension.

thomasali

In your riding shoes, with the ball of your foot in/on the pedal at the lowest point your leg should have a slight kink in it. Or pretty much totally straight leg with your heel on the pedal, but you should not be be stretching to reach the pedal.

VWsurfbum

sturmey wrote:

Oh and one other thing- will my bike still be worth keeping if it gets muddy!?

once the bike is dirty its time to look for another one using the formula N+1 (look it up)

sturmey

So the concensus is that saddle should be as high as a roadbike.

Which leaves me wondering why so many six footers ride 19" frames or smaller.
Though it also seems that top tubes are correspondingly longer on MTB's and handlebars higher so perhaps that explains things.

bomberesque

sturmey wrote:

mountain bike ... is a resprayed lump of steel with rigid forks.

Oi! there was a time when *all* mountain bikes could have been described that way! Bloody kids *shakes fist*

saddle height adjustment sounds like you have it right although I would say that's a real XC racing / extended climb or road to the trailhead set up. You won't be able to move around on top of the bike with the saddle up there.

I normally run mine an inch or two lower than that point and then drop it right down for the fun stuff. My SS I run a lot lower than full height (maybe 4" lower...?) as climbing is mostly out of the saddle anyway and I can't be arsed to adjust the saddle height during a ride.

Uncle Peter

It's more likely you'll damage your clackers on the top tube on a mountain bike, you'll appreciate the extra clearance.

Anonymous

sturmey wrote:

I have always been a road cyclist and the only mountain bike I have owned up til now is a resprayed lump of steel with rigid forks.
While I am waiting for my Mongoose Amasa Comp to come through the post I wanted to ask whether the same principles apply for setting your saddle height as is the case with a road bike- i.e. height is correct when knee is just bent with heel on pedal at lowest point?
And do you lower the saddle when off-roading then raise it again for road use?

Oh and one other thing- will my bike still be worth keeping if it gets muddy!?

Efficient pedalling on a mountain bike requires the same saddle setup as a road bike.
However, because "efficient pedalling" is not what draws us to mountain biking, real world saddle position is always a compromise between allowing plenty of room to manoeuvre, whilst still allowing a reasonable level of pedalling.
Most rough sections are ridden whilst standing up anyway.

As for the frame sizes being smaller, that's another way to allow the rider room to move around the frame of the bike, for dealing with tricky terrain.