Saddle Height

leapesportif

HI all! I need a bit of help!

I'm trying to work out where my correct saddle height should be.
I'm not necessarily uncomfortable on my bike, bit i do feel that my legs are still half bent when reaching the bottom of the pedals.

I initially worked out (using LeMond) that my saddle height should be around 75cm from the centre of the BB. However, that has still left me feeling like i'm not opening up my legs enough to generate as much power as i could do.

However, when I'm on the saddle, i can only reach the floor with tiptoes.

How do you guys have your saddle adjusted? What method? And, i guess importantly for me, how does that leave your legs when pedalling?

Cheers!

pdw

As high as comfortably possible, where "comfortably" means without rocking hips, pointing toes or otherwise stretching to reach the pedals.

I can see various ways that a measurement-based approach can go wrong. Whereabouts on the saddle do you measure to? What about different crank lengths? What about the stack height of your pedals/shoes?

Don't worry about whether you can touch the floor whilst still on the saddle. If it feels like you could put your saddle up a bit then try it.

leapesportif

Hi pdw,

Today i had my saddle at around 83cm and It felt a little better. I'm still trying to find the right setup on this bike. The frame fits (according to trek anyway), but i still have the feeling i could be sitting a little further back. Having said that, my forward knee is almost directly above the forward pedal spindle when the cranks are parallel to the floor - so i'm not far off.
Perhaps a slightly longer stem may do the trick? I'm currently running a 110, and when leaning forward slight (attack stance) I can still see the front hub slightly forward of the bars, which, again according to lemond should be obscured by the bars (albeit on a drop bar setup).

I'll keep playing!

wongataa

leapesportif wrote:

Having said that, my forward knee is almost directly above the forward pedal spindle when the cranks are parallel to the floor - so i'm not far off.

Remember, the correct position for you on the bike may mean your knees are not above the pedal spindles.

The Rookie

As a rule of thumb, sit on the bike sqaure and with your heel on the pedal (so no pointed toes) your knee should be just bent before the point it goes 'backwards' and locks.

If you now have it over 3" higher than before and can still pedal, the previous method was very wrong!

Initialised

I'll second The Rookie's method.

Set the saddle to hip height sit on it with the pedal in a straight line with the seat tube and your heel on the pedal your leg should be straight (or almost)

3" makes a world of difference.