Seat hight, I fall off

jeremyrundle

I know this is a really silly question, sorry, but I (at 50+) and still not sure why everyone elses saddle appears to be higher than the handlebars yet mine is much lower.

I tried it once and fell off before I could even get on.

Why, please, do bikes you see in pictures have saddles so high and you youngsters leaning over the handlebars even on mountain bikes like my Saracen.

Thank you

_Brun_

It makes the bike look sexier and old people feel inferior.

Double-win.

kelsen

It's a known fact that our legs become shorter as we get older...

london_scottish

it might be easier for you to lower the handlebars, or alternatively put a smaller wheel on the front to achieve the same look.

nicklouse

jeremyrundle wrote:

I know this is a really silly question, sorry, but I (at 50+) and still not sure why everyone elses saddle appears to be higher than the handlebars yet mine is much lower.

I tried it once and fell off before I could even get on.

Why, please, do bikes you see in pictures have saddles so high and you youngsters leaning over the handlebars even on mountain bikes like my Saracen.

Thank you

saddle height has nothing to do with Bar height. some bikes have bars that are lower or higher than others.

Saddle height is purly a result of leg length.

cyclopsbiker

you get much more power out of your legs with the saddle at the right height. took me a while to get used to the higher setting but its worth persisting. you can always raise your bars

notsoblue

kelsen wrote:

It's a known fact that our legs become shorter as we get older...

And our ears and noses continue to grow. This may explain the quality of JR's posts.

On topic: Saddle height is related to your leg length. Nothing more...

jeremyrundle

notsoblue wrote:

[/quoteAnd our ears and noses continue to grow. This may explain the quality of JR's posts.quote]

What an odd comment :!:

It was a quesion, as when in town there was a local cycling club and all had high seats, I just wondered.

Sorry such an inoffensive question appears to annoy you.

notsoblue

jeremyrundle wrote:

Sorry such an inoffensive question appears to annoy you.

No no, I should apologise. Was no need for that. Sorry!

nicklouse

jeremyrundle
have a read

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/saddles.html#height

MrChuck

It's generally the most effective position, depending on what you're doing- for best results on the road you don't want to be too upright, for downhill MTBing it's very different. But as above, assuming you want to pedal efficiently then you need the right seat height, which is often higher than a lot of people think. Handlebar height can be varied relative to seat height depending on what you want or what you're riding but if you want to make the best use of your legs then saddle height is important.

As a rule of thumb, if your leg is straight with the pedal at 6 O'clock and your heel on the pedal then you're in the ballpark. Then when the ball of your foot is on the pedal when you're actually riding you have a few degrees of bend in the knee.

deptfordmarmoset

jeremyrundle wrote:

notsoblue wrote:

[/quoteAnd our ears and noses continue to grow. This may explain the quality of JR's posts.quote]

What an odd comment :!:

It was a quesion, as when in town there was a local cycling club and all had high seats, I just wondered.

Sorry such an inoffensive question appears to annoy you.

Take no notice of those young scallywags, JR! Though the bit about seat height being related to leg length is true. It's actually easier to cycle with a higher saddle but it often means that you have to alter your style of cycling, for example having to dismount when you stop at lights.

Alphabet

set your saddle high enough so that your leg is stretched out almost completely (not locking your knee though) when your pedal is at the bottom of the stroke (always the front of your foot on the pedal too - winds me up when i see people doing that wrong). not so high that your bum is rocking side to side when you're pedalling though. It might be a bit strange to start with, but bear with it. it's much more efficient and if you're tucked down on to the bars you're also that little bit less affected by that nasty headwind.

come off the front of your saddle at the lights and stop with one foot on the pedal, one on the floor and your nuts hanging precariously over the cross-bar. if you can't do this comfortably, your frame is too big.

wgwarburton

Hi,
I think there's a bit of missing the point going on here.

While we can all agree about saddle height being related to leg length, the question really relates to why the local hotshots have their bars so low (compared to their saddles).

Jeremy-it's more aerodynamic. At speeds over about 12mph most of your energy is going to overcoming wind resistance. The faster you go the more of an issue it becomes, 'cos it's a non-linear relationship (goes up with the square of speed? Cube?).

As you get to 20mph+ the difference between sitting upright and leaning forwards (to cut down your frontal area and improve airflow over your body) is huge...

Specialist time-trial and triathlon bikes take this to the extreme, sometimes with undersized front wheels and/or special handlebars to allow you to ride in a deep tuck position than can save you seconds over a course.

I typically ride "on the hoods" of my drop-bar bike. If I'm late and rushing or there's a headwind, I'll tuck down & ride on the drops to gain a bit of speed or save a bit of energy.

Cheers,
W.

kelsen

JR, please don't feel berated over some of the replies from us young scallywags. We're all loveable rogues just having a laugh on this forum. The fact that we can make fun of somebody as revered and as elderly as you just means we see you as a young at heart, fun loving, great grand uncle!

MrChuck

WGWarburton wrote:

Hi,
I think there's a bit of missing the point going on here.

While we can all agree about saddle height being related to leg length, the question really relates to why the local hotshots have their bars so low (compared to their saddles).

Jeremy-it's more aerodynamic. At speeds over about 12mph most of your energy is going to overcoming wind resistance. The faster you go the more of an issue it becomes, 'cos it's a non-linear relationship (goes up with the square of speed? Cube?).

As you get to 20mph+ the difference between sitting upright and leaning forwards (to cut down your frontal area and improve airflow over your body) is huge...

Specialist time-trial and triathlon bikes take this to the extreme, sometimes with undersized front wheels and/or special handlebars to allow you to ride in a deep tuck position than can save you seconds over a course.

I typically ride "on the hoods" of my drop-bar bike. If I'm late and rushing or there's a headwind, I'll tuck down & ride on the drops to gain a bit of speed or save a bit of energy.

Cheers,
W.

As well as the aero aspects it seems easier to 'give it some' if the bars are a bit llower rather than higher. If you think about trying to really put some energy into the pedals on something like a dutch-style roadster where the bars might be much higher than the saddle you're just not in a very good position to do it compared to being in the drops on a road bike.

Of ocurse if you're just crusing down to the cafe it doesn't matter but if you're a bit more interested in performance there are biomechanical as well as aero advantages to having the bars lower than the saddle.

jeremyrundle

nicklouse wrote:

jeremyrundle
have a read

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/saddles.html#height

THANK you, printed off to read and digest later, thanks again.

jeremyrundle

WGWarburton wrote:

Hi,
I think there's a bit of missing the point going on here.

While we can all agree about saddle height being related to leg length, the question really relates to why the local hotshots have their bars so low (compared to their saddles).

Jeremy-it's more aerodynamic. At speeds over about 12mph most of your energy is going to overcoming wind resistance. The faster you go the more of an issue it becomes, 'cos it's a non-linear relationship (goes up with the square of speed? Cube?).

As you get to 20mph+ the difference between sitting upright and leaning forwards (to cut down your frontal area and improve airflow over your body) is huge...

Specialist time-trial and triathlon bikes take this to the extreme, sometimes with undersized front wheels and/or special handlebars to allow you to ride in a deep tuck position than can save you seconds over a course.

I typically ride "on the hoods" of my drop-bar bike. If I'm late and rushing or there's a headwind, I'll tuck down & ride on the drops to gain a bit of speed or save a bit of energy.

Cheers,
W.

Great so as an overweight shopping commuter I need not bother, thanks.

jeremyrundle

I still think all you who have your saddles so high you are doing press ups are "mad", still that is the "young" for you.

wheeled_warrior

It's still the height of the handlebars that affects how flat your position is, though.

As for the saddle height, I saw a girl this morning who had it so low, her knees were basically 90 degrees at 6 'o' clock. Looked like a lot of hard work. Not sure if it's good for your knees.

I have flat bars on my hybrid - flipped the stem and handlebars for a flatter riding position. Felt uber sketchy for a couple of days, but now I wish I had proper drops so I can get some real speed :P

Slightly OT: If you have a strong tail-wind, I wonder if it works better to sit upright, so your body acts like a sail? Although I guess there's still air in front of you to push out of the way, unless the windspeed is a steady 20mph+ ...

wgwarburton

jeremyrundle wrote:

I still think all you who have your saddles so high you are doing press ups are "mad", still that is the "young" for you.

Jeremy, I'm 46, not some skinny-jeaned hipster-wearing poseur.

There's no need to be quite so... linear.. in your thinking....

Cheers,
W.

kelsen

WGWarburton wrote:

jeremyrundle wrote:

I still think all you who have your saddles so high you are doing press ups are "mad", still that is the "young" for you.

Jeremy, I'm 46, not some skinny-jeaned hipster-wearing poseur.

There's no need to be quite so... linear.. in your thinking....

Cheers,
W.

Leave him alone! He's 50+

Cafewanda

Yeah, but

_Brun_

jeremyrundle wrote:

I still think all you who have your saddles so high you are doing press ups are "mad", still that is the "young" for you.

No one's saddles are high, they're the correct height.

Some people's handlebars are low.

notsoblue

WGWarburton wrote:

jeremyrundle wrote:

I still think all you who have your saddles so high you are doing press ups are "mad", still that is the "young" for you.

Jeremy, I'm 46, not some skinny-jeaned hipster-wearing poseur.

There's no need to be quite so... linear.. in your thinking....

Cheers,
W.

Ooooo, burn!!!!!

Valy

This thread bemuses me.

deptfordmarmoset

Jeremy, I was 56 when I last counted, I do nearly all my shopping by bike and I've got my saddle up pretty high.

Here's an experiment - find a flight of stairs and climb up them with your legs as bent as they are when you're cycling. Now go back down the stairs and walk up them normally. If you found the second climb easier, go back down the stairs and find an Allen key...

_Brun_

Now I'm worried that Jeremy's next post will report that he's fallen off the stairs.

snailracer

deptfordmarmoset wrote:

Jeremy, I was 56 when I last counted, I do nearly all my shopping by bike and I've got my saddle up pretty high.

Here's an experiment - find a flight of stairs and climb up them with your legs as bent as they are when you're cycling. Now go back down the stairs and walk up them normally. If you found the second climb easier, go back down the stairs and find an Allen key...

Your analogy doesn't hold for someone who runs up the stairs, two steps at each bound. I think you'll find their knees bend quite sharply.
Plus, they will get to the top before you :P

deptfordmarmoset

snailracer wrote:

deptfordmarmoset wrote:

Jeremy, I was 56 when I last counted, I do nearly all my shopping by bike and I've got my saddle up pretty high.

Here's an experiment - find a flight of stairs and climb up them with your legs as bent as they are when you're cycling. Now go back down the stairs and walk up them normally. If you found the second climb easier, go back down the stairs and find an Allen key...

Your analogy doesn't hold for someone who runs up the stairs, two steps at each bound. I think you'll find their knees bend quite sharply.

Damn you young sporty things! I'll have you know that there comes a time when sprinting up stairs becomes far too undignified for people of our own well-experimented maturity, not to mention the fact that sprinting down the stairs 2 or 3 at a time makes our ankles splinter quite sharply. And anyway I thought that my brand-new patented marmoset saddle height test was pretty good. Though this might be because I'd only thought of it about a minute before I wrote it...

jeremyrundle

Valy wrote:

This thread bemuses me.

This IS a "chat" forum for, well, chatting......