What is current best thinking on where saddle height should be in relation to bar height. I was discussing this with some fellow cyclists today and they maintained that they had to be the same height. My view was that for mountain bikes the bar was usually a little lower than the seat.
It was a fairly trivial debate! What is the modern thinking on this issue and is there a distinction between road bikes and mountain bikes?
Cheers,
Steve
-- The reply-to email address is a spam trap. Email steve 'at' shodgson 'dot' org 'dot' uk
On Thu, 18 Aug 2005 17:58:28 +0100, Steve Hodgson <[email hidden]>
Quoted message said:
What is current best thinking on where saddle height should be in relation to bar height. I was discussing this with some fellow cyclists today and they maintained that they had to be the same height. My view was that for mountain bikes the bar was usually a little lower than the seat.
It was a fairly trivial debate! What is the modern thinking on this issue and is there a distinction between road bikes and mountain bikes?
Cheers,
Steve
On my tourer, bars are about 2" lower than saddle, on road bike some 4-5" - on both, saddle nose points slightly downwards to accomodate gonads (can I say that here ?)
What is current best thinking on where saddle height should be in relation to bar height. I was discussing this with some fellow cyclists today and they maintained that they had to be the same height. My view was that for mountain bikes the bar was usually a little lower than the seat.
It was a fairly trivial debate! What is the modern thinking on this issue and is there a distinction between road bikes and mountain bikes?
Not much. Your saddle should normally be quite a bit higher than your bars for optimum performance - I have the saddle about 50mm higher than the bars on all my bikes. If you're doing stunty jumpy stuff or lunatic downhilling you probably want the saddle lower than the bars, but you won't get back up the hill that way.
What is current best thinking on where saddle height should be in relation to bar height. I was discussing this with some fellow cyclists today and they maintained that they had to be the same height. My view was that for mountain bikes the bar was usually a little lower than the seat.
It was a fairly trivial debate! What is the modern thinking on this issue and is there a distinction between road bikes and mountain bikes?
Yes, air resistance is much more of an issue for a roadie so they will generally have the bars very low, much lower than the seat. I guess mountain bikers'll put them where they have most control over steering and balance?
For normal everyday cyclists there isn't really a rule and bar height varies with type of bike, fashion and individual rider comfort - there's no 'should', tho level or slightly higher is normally regarded as more 'relaxed' than below.
On Thu, 18 Aug 2005 17:58:28 +0100, Steve Hodgson <[email hidden]>
Quoted message said:
What is current best thinking on where saddle height should be in relation to bar height. I was discussing this with some fellow cyclists today and they maintained that they had to be the same height. My view was that for mountain bikes the bar was usually a little lower than the seat.
It was a fairly trivial debate! What is the modern thinking on this issue and is there a distinction between road bikes and mountain bikes?
On my tourer, bars are about 2" lower than saddle, on road bike some 4-5" - on both, saddle nose points slightly downwards to accomodate gonads (can I say that here ?)
Interestingly after I fitted tribars to the Dolan I found I needed to raise the saddle a further 2cm and, for the reason you state, tilt the saddle down. Always before I've had my saddle horizontal and had assumed that a tilted saddle would be uncomfortable but it Just Works[TM].
What is current best thinking on where saddle height should be in relation to bar height. I was discussing this with some fellow cyclists today and they maintained that they had to be the same height. My view was that for mountain bikes the bar was usually a little lower than the seat.
It was a fairly trivial debate! What is the modern thinking on this issue and is there a distinction between road bikes and mountain bikes?
Yes, air resistance is much more of an issue for a roadie so they will generally have the bars very low, much lower than the seat. I guess mountain bikers'll put them where they have most control over steering and balance?
If you want to go fast on a mountain bike, you'll have the seat high and the bars low. Gareth, in that photo, is the fastest cross country cyclist in Scotland this year by some margin.
What is current best thinking on where saddle height should be in relation to bar height. I was discussing this with some fellow cyclists today and they maintained that they had to be the same height. My view was that for mountain bikes the bar was usually a little lower than the seat.
It was a fairly trivial debate! What is the modern thinking on this issue and is there a distinction between road bikes and mountain bikes?
Keen riders of both tend to have the bars lower than saddle, some by just a few mm, some a good few inches.
Whatever, saddle height should be set for what's best for pedalling and [censored]-comfort, then bar height set after that for whatever provides the desired comfort, aerodynamics or handling. Some of the riders who don't mind speed being compromised will have the bars as high or higher than the saddle. Reach is just as important as height, though.
BikeFit just recommended that this average proportioned male of 173cm male have a drop of 8 cm for "sport/road riding". Back in realityville, I tend to have the bars about level to 4cm lower (10 cm lower on the track bike but the frame is small).
I think comfort is the driver, my wife has her bars about 8cm higher, but she has short arms.
Saddle is absolutely level, measured by spirit level. For aerobars one may tilt down placing more weight on the arms which are better supported than without bars. Sore wrists will ensue otherwise.
What is current best thinking on where saddle height should be in relation to bar height. I was discussing this with some fellow cyclists today and they maintained that they had to be the same height.
These days the tendency is to run lower bars on road, so bars level with saddle would be very much a touring position.
I run my bars about 20cm below the saddle FWIW. I'm tall and have long arms though. Smaller riders will have a shorter drop.
MTB'ing is a whole different kettle of fish. Most riders will run higher bars for control. Downhillers and 4-cross type riders will have them higher still, while real hard-core MTB races may even duplicate their road position.
Arthur
-- Arthur Clune PGP/GPG Key: http://www.clune.org/pubkey.txt The struggle of people against power is the struggle of memory against forgetting - Milan Kundera
Peter White gives bar height as from level to 3 inches below saddle height. The correct position being determined by trading off comfort against speed.
