Two bikes, what saddle position

gloomyandy

Hi,
So I have two bikes that I ride a lot, one a standard dropped bar road bike, the other a bike based on a 29er mountain bike frame but with rigid forks (of the correct suspension corrected geometry). Both have same length cranks. I use the second bike to commute and as a touring bike. The 29er has a more upright overall riding position (as you might expect), but the question is what should the saddle position be? Should it be the same relative to the bottom bracket for both bikes (thus maintaining the same position of my knees, legs etc to the pedals)? Any thoughts?

Andy

night_porter

If you read anything that tells you how to set your saddle height it won't tell you that it depends on the type of bike, so the answer must be yes they should be the same.

gloomyandy

Not just the saddle height though, also the set back. Some of the articles on the web seem to suggest that set back may be related to the position of the bars, some say saddle set back should be simply based on knee position relative to the pedal(Hmm will this change if the bars are in a different position?). Was interested to hear what anyone else with two different bikes like this has done about saddle position.

Monty Dog

Try to keep set-up the same for both, but accommodating differences in shoe / pedal stack height if necessary. Likewise, saddle setback is typically determined by your femur length, so make sure the nose of the saddle is set the same distance from the BB (use a plumb-line).

nolight

Not exactly a guru, but for me saddle height is simple. Not so low that my legs are bending if I heel down on the pedal at its lowest position. Not so high that my hips are swaying from side to side (and losing energy) when pedalling.

My road bike's saddle is lower than my hybrid bike's saddle because the hybrid bike's pedal is higher.

essjaydee

Good advice from reply here http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=40020&t=12891287&p=17999846#p17999846