New Bike - Seat Height / handle bar angle

mdavenport555

Sorry, another noob question(s)..

Just received my Broadman CXR 8.9 and have a question about seat height. Do people have the seat at a height where they can touch the floor with 1 foot, both feet or no feet (come off the seat to stop).

also the handle bars needs aligning and altering - what is the correct an angle for the drops to be at?

nibnob21

General rule of thumb for seat height is to have a straight leg when your heal is on the pedal at the furthest point away during rotation. When you then ride with the ball of your foot on the pedal this should give the right sort of knee angle to avoid being either over-extended or too squished up.

singleton

I hope you are enjoying owning your new bike - it's a good feeling.

In answer to your question, like a lot of other things - it depends.

That may not help sorry, but if you watch even the top riders in the top races, you can see that some prefer a higher saddle giving a straighter leg, and some prefer a lower saddle.

You need to start somewhere and then adjust as you get used to riding the bike, but where do you start?

I was told that for road riding, wearing your cycling shoes, you should set your saddle height so that your leg is straight at the bottom of the pedal stroke when your heel is on the pedal. So you should be able to pedal backwards with your leg straight but without your foot leaving the pedal. When you ride, you will have the ball of your foot on the pedal meaning that your leg will not be straight at the bottom. Start there and then adjust.

Having said that, for offroad riding, some people prefer their saddle a bit lower, so that they can touch the floor with one foot or other - so it depends on where you are riding.

For the handlebars, find something that feels comfortable for your first few rides. I think drop handlebars look silly when they are angled back and pointing at the sky - for me the top of the bars round to the hoods should be level with the floor at a minimum.

veronese68

Seat height as nibnob says, heel on pedal leg fully extended. You might find you can barely reach the ground and have to lean to one side when you stop, but your knees will thank you.
For the handlebars some will say there is a precise and correct angle, but see what feels comfortable for you. Some say the ends of the bars should be horizontal, some prefer the top of the drop before the hoods to be closer to horizontal.
With both what is right for someone else may not feel right for you, you can adjust and tweak things to see how they feel to you.

hdow

Seat height as above

Bars for comfort and control both on the hoods and on the drops. Make sure that the bars are rotated and positioned so that your hands wont slip off the ends if you hit a rough patch of road which does happen. For me that means the last few inches of the bar ends are horizontal

womack

The bar rotation will also depend on if your bars are round at the top or flattish / aero type. If you have the latter rotated up a bit I have found them very uncomfortable.

Disclaimer. That was obviously my personal findings, I feel sure somebody will be along in a minute to say that I am talking b-ll--ks and it's fine for them and that I am riding the bike incorrectly / don't know what I'm doing etc.

veronese68

womack said:

Disclaimer. That was obviously my personal findings, I feel sure somebody will be along in a minute to say that I am talking b-ll--ks and it's fine for them and that I am riding the bike incorrectly / don't know what I'm doing etc.

Invariably those people are the ones talking bollox, you have to be comfortable on the bike if you're going to enjoy riding it.

imposter2.0

If you want to touch the ground, get off the saddle and stand over the top tube. As others have said, seat height should be set in relation to the appropriate distance between saddle top and pedals when fully extended.

masjer

Don't forget, if you adjust your saddle fore-aft, you'll have to recheck the height.
Handlebar (drops) are usually anywhere from level to sloping slightly down ie pointing towards the rear brake. You might have to move the shifters to get the best position for yourself.

mdavenport555

Thanks all.. Huge help on here as usual

masjer

Glad we can be of assistance...cheers.

N0bodyOfTheGoat

Have you been for a test ride yet and if so, how did it feel?

Was the gearing set up properly out of the delivery box, so you literally had to attach the wheels, bars and sort out the saddle height?

mdavenport555

Hi, yes went on a 3 miler 1st day and 11 miler on day 3 of having it.. I got lower back ache but wonder if this is just to do with me getting used to riding as not riden much. Found it ease if I rode the top of the bars but don't want to do that much.

Gearing is ok but think 4th gear doesn't seem to always engage and trying to work out if 2 clicks on the lever is taking it to 4th or 5th from 3rd - need to monitor on next ride.

Yep all I had to do was level up handle bars, angle of handle bar and seat heat so not too much to do.

rick_chasey

mdavenport555 said:

Hi, yes went on a 3 miler 1st day and 11 miler on day 3 of having it.. I got lower back ache but wonder if this is just to do with me getting used to riding as not riden much. Found it ease if I rode the top of the bars but don't want to do that much.

Gearing is ok but think 4th gear doesn't seem to always engage and trying to work out if 2 clicks on the lever is taking it to 4th or 5th from 3rd - need to monitor on next ride.

Yep all I had to do was level up handle bars, angle of handle bar and seat heat so not too much to do.

TBH you're doing well if you ride and your lower back never aches.

It is more about how much it's aching and if it's affecting your ride or not.

Beyond strengthening your back, you can work on your flexibility - stretching your hamstrings after your ride regularly will help with that.

I find as well that if I am spending a lot of time pushing a bigger gear, especially if I am in the drops, I can get lower back ache too - sometimes it's your body telling you to not push such a big gear.

If the pain is more where your arse-cheek meets your lower back, I find this stretch helps:



Nothing wrong with riding on the tops by the way. As you get more experienced you can work on getting a lower profile.