Setting up?...

woodbloke

I went out for a short spin on my new bike last night which was initially set up by the LBS on Saturday. After I came back I found that my thigh muscles at the back (as you would stand) were aching a bit which makes me think that the saddle might be a little low.

At present, when I'm seated on the bike, my toes can just touch the ground and when on the pedals, my legs form a rough 20deg angle, which the LBS said was about right. Reading eslewhere on t'interweb it seems that minute adjustments of the saddle, both vertically and horizontally can make big differences.

The frame size of the bike is 56cm, I'm 6' with a 32" inside leg. Any advice please? - Rob

merak

A good starting point is to place your heel on the pedal when you leg should be straight while in your normal seated position and the pedal at its furthest point. That's just a place to start. If your hamstrings hurt, could be that your saddle is too high. Too low saddle tends to cause pain at the front of the knee and in your quads. Ignore the reach to the ground. It's irrelevant.

rafletcher

well I have a similar inseam (actually 1" longer at 33") and the distance from centre of BB to top of saddle is is 775mm. So you'res should be around 755mm minimum I'd say.

woodbloke

Thanks for the replies thus far...I'll try that out tonight and measure the distance from the centre of the BB to the top of the sadle - Rob

merak

Another formula is 1.09 of inside leg from the pedal at its furthest length to the top of the saddle. Eliminates crank length variation. Make sure inseam is measured from pelvic bone to floor. Need a (close) friend to help. This is not your inside leg when you are buying trousers - it'll be more.

woodbloke

merak wrote:

Another formula is 1.09 of inside leg from the pedal at its furthest length to the top of the saddle. Eliminates crank length variation. Make sure inseam is measured from pelvic bone to floor. Need a (close) friend to help. This is not your inside leg when you are buying trousers - it'll be more.

I've done a bit of measuring and this calculation comes out mm perfect for me as does the heel in the pedal with the leg straight, so I guess the saddle height is pretty good. Perhaps my aches (very minor) from last night was my carcase getting used to the new riding position of the bike...it's a bit different from my Trek hybrid :P - Rob

merak

Yep - give it a few rides before you move away from these rules of thumb. TBH, the road position is different from hybrid and takes some getting used to.