Saddle height for 9 year old on 24" inch bike.

tailwindhome

Guys I have no previous MTB experience and need some advice.

Standard advice on kids bikes is that their feet should be able to touch the ground from the saddle.

Took my daughter to a local forest today for a bit of a ride round on her new Felt Q24 - a recent upgrade from her big standard 20 inch bike. She struggled* on the uphills, even on the cycle path sections. Observing her pedalling it was obvious that her saddle needed to come up to allow for a decent pedalling action.

Should I raise it?



* it's also possible she was having a whingy 9 year old day.

Danlube

Position should be so that the balls of the feet are in the ground. If she is struggling then most likely the front end is high with a low back end. Raise the seat and play around with the position until she finds it comfortable. Why ask here if you should raise it? We don't know how tall she is.

Stevo_666

TWH,

You've got a similar problem to me.

I also have a 9 yr old who can whinge for England on bike rides and she has just got a 24" wheel Raleigh this year. I have to have the seat set low enough for her to touch the ground with her feet otherwise she falls or gets caught out when stopping (and doesn't feel comfortable not being able to touch down easily). But her lknees do come up quite a bit when pedalling though she doesn't seem to mind.

It's pretty clear she is at the smaller end of the range that the bike is meant to suit, as the seat is not far above the top of the seat tube - so it may get a bit better as she grows and the seat gets raised? You could try moving move the seat back a little to let her legs stretch a bit more. I also encourage her to stand up and pedal on the uphills which helps, and keep going on to her about using the granny ring now that she has a 16 gears to play with rather than 6.

CommandoBoy

Atleast you not like most parents and buy their kids 26" XL bikes so that they "grow into it "

Mike Healey

There are two tings to consider:

1. Can she reach the ground?
2. Is the saddle the right height for her leg length?

Sometimes the two are in conflict, particularly when a child has just grown sufficiently to move up a bike size.

I'd start off with the correct sadlle height first - pedal at the lowest point and heel on the pedal. The leg should be slightly bent, but she should be able to straighten her leg without lifting off the saddle.

If she then can't reach the ground, or can only just do so, lower the saddle to the point where she can get the balls of her feet - as per previous advice - on the ground. When she's used to the new position, raise the saddle by a few millimetres every so often either as she grows, or as she becomes perhaps more confident about only reaching the ground on tiptoe, or with one foot.

You might also experiment with encouraging her to slide forward off the saddle and straddle the crossbar when she comes to a halt.

Alternatively, replace mattress with growbag until she reaches the required height.