Mountain Bike Saddle Height

rothers said:

Hi All,

Any advice on setting the height of a mountain bike saddle correctly
?

I've only recently started mountain biking after many years road
cycling. On my road bike (hybrid) I have the saddle set so my legs
almost, but not fully, straighten at the bottom of the stroke.

Set the saddle in a similar fashion on the mountain bike (Orange
Clockwork S) and I feel very unstable on rough ground, I feel much
better with it lower. Perhaps it's just my novice lack of skills,
i.e. needing to put a foot down far to often.

I tend to have two positions for my saddle. One is high but not as high
as I would on a road bike for when I am climbing, road riding or
non-technical stuff and the other with the saddle dropped low for the
downhill if its at all technical. The other thing you need to take into
account is, if you have a suspension bike not only will the bottom
bracket be higher than a road bike but also when you are stopped with
your feet down it will be higher still with the suspension unloaded.
But the answer is to set the saddle where you feel comfortable.

Tony

in message <[email hidden]>, rothers

(') said:

Any advice on setting the height of a mountain bike saddle correctly ?

I've only recently started mountain biking after many years road cycling.
On my road bike (hybrid) I have the saddle set so my legs almost, but not
fully, straighten at the bottom of the stroke.

Set the saddle in a similar fashion on the mountain bike (Orange
Clockwork S) and I feel very unstable on rough ground, I feel much better
with it lower. Perhaps it's just my novice lack of skills, i.e. needing
to put a foot down far to often.

It's an issue, isn't it? If you have you saddle set high enough for
efficiency it can be extremely difficult to get a foot down in emergency,
which, in turn, can feel scary on technical sections, especially downhill.

A number of older[1] mountain bikers I know use a 'magic' seat post which
has two positions selectable by a lever on the handlebars. I'm afraid I
don't know who makes these; I know my LBS has fitted a couple, so I could
find out. I've never tried one myself. I /think/ they use a gas lift like
an office chair to raise the saddle from the low position to the high
position. It used to be common to stop at the top of hills to lower your
saddle for the descent, which is why mountain bikes typically have quick
release levers on the saddle clamp, but this has gone out of fashion
because these days if you stop for a couple of seconds you lose races.

But the answer to your question is that you are most efficient with the
saddle on more or less the position you're using, so if you want to ride a
long distance or take part in cross country racing that's what you need.
But it is much harder to get a foot down. So you may find that it makes
sense to have it lower at least while you're developing confidence in your
technique on technical sections.

If you remind me next week I will find out who makes the magic two-position
seat posts.

[1] by which I mean 'older than most mountain bikers', not 'older than me'.

--
[email hidden] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

;; may contain traces of nuts, bolts or washers.

In article <[email hidden]>, Simon
Brooke
[email hidden] says...
<snip>

Quoted message said:

A number of older[1] mountain bikers I know use a 'magic' seat post which
has two positions selectable by a lever on the handlebars.

Who apart from me had a Hite Rite in the good ol' days?

On Sat, 14 Jul 2007 20:33:05 +0100, Simon Brooke <[email hidden]> wrote:

Thanks Tony & Simon,

I was indeed during the descents that I felt a great need for my rear end to be
nearer terrain firma. I've put the saddle lower and will leave it there for now.

Cheers

Neil

in message <[email hidden]>, Rob Morley

(') said:

In article <[email hidden]>, Simon
Brooke
[email hidden] says...
<snip>

Quoted message said:

A number of older[1] mountain bikers I know use a 'magic' seat post
which has two positions selectable by a lever on the handlebars.

Who apart from me had a Hite Rite in the good ol' days?

What is a 'Hite Rite'?

--
[email hidden] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

Morning had broken, and I found when I looked that we had run out
of copper roove nails.

Simon Brooke said:

What is a 'Hite Rite'?

http://www.bikepro.com/arch_products/seatposts/ahiter.html

Tony

in message <[email hidden]>, rothers

(') said:

On Sat, 14 Jul 2007 20:33:05 +0100, Simon Brooke <[email hidden]>
wrote:

Thanks Tony & Simon,

I was indeed during the descents that I felt a great need for my rear end
to be nearer terrain firma. I've put the saddle lower and will leave it
there for now.

I've just got in from a gentle Sunday morning club ride round the
Dalbeattie red route...

My solution is to keep the saddle high and to get my [censored] right out of the
saddle and hanging out over the back wheel for descents. Don't to this if
you wear a camelback or a rucksack while riding - one of the nastiest
mountain bike accidents I've seen happened when the rider in front of me
got the chest-strap of her camelback caught under the back of her saddle
after a sharp step-down.

--
[email hidden] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

;; I'll have a proper rant later, when I get the time.

in message <[email hidden]>, Tony Raven

(') said:

Simon Brooke said:

What is a 'Hite Rite'?

http://www.bikepro.com/arch_products/seatposts/ahiter.html

H'mmmm. Yes, that's a lower tech version of the thing I was talking about.

--
[email hidden] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

;; An enamorata is for life, not just for weekends.

Simon Brooke said:

in message <[email hidden]>, rothers

(') said:

On Sat, 14 Jul 2007 20:33:05 +0100, Simon Brooke <[email hidden]>
wrote:

Thanks Tony & Simon,

I was indeed during the descents that I felt a great need for my rear end
to be nearer terrain firma. I've put the saddle lower and will leave it
there for now.

I've just got in from a gentle Sunday morning club ride round the
Dalbeattie red route...

My solution is to keep the saddle high and to get my [censored] right out of the
saddle and hanging out over the back wheel for descents. Don't to this if
you wear a camelback or a rucksack while riding - one of the nastiest
mountain bike accidents I've seen happened when the rider in front of me
got the chest-strap of her camelback caught under the back of her saddle
after a sharp step-down.

ooh ow!

roger
--
www.rogermerriman.com

rothers said the following on 14/07/2007 18:25:

Quoted message said:

Set the saddle in a similar fashion on the mountain bike (Orange Clockwork S)
and I feel very unstable on rough ground, I feel much better with it lower.
Perhaps it's just my novice lack of skills, i.e. needing to put a foot down far
to often.

Most of the time I ride with my saddle more or less as you describe it,
but perhaps ever so slightly lower than the "correct" height. On an
Orange P7, I can only just touch the ground with one foot stretched
right out. I used to be a saddle dropper but found it so much of a pain
that I spent some time consciously getting used to the "saddle too near
the balls" feeling instead of dropping the saddle every 5 minutes.
Shortening the stem helped too. I don't remember this ever being a
problem first time around from the mid-80's!

I will still drop it if necessary, but those occasions are now far fewer!

--
Paul Boyd
http://www.paul-boyd.co.uk/

Paul Boyd usenet.dont.work@plusnet said:

rothers said the following on 14/07/2007 18:25:

Quoted message said:

Set the saddle in a similar fashion on the mountain bike (Orange
Clockwork S) and I feel very unstable on rough ground, I feel much
better with it lower. Perhaps it's just my novice lack of skills, i.e.
needing to put a foot down far to often.

Most of the time I ride with my saddle more or less as you describe it,
but perhaps ever so slightly lower than the "correct" height. On an
Orange P7, I can only just touch the ground with one foot stretched
right out. I used to be a saddle dropper but found it so much of a pain
that I spent some time consciously getting used to the "saddle too near
the balls" feeling instead of dropping the saddle every 5 minutes.
Shortening the stem helped too. I don't remember this ever being a
problem first time around from the mid-80's!

I will still drop it if necessary, but those occasions are now far fewer!

i've never dropped saddle heights, it's just too much of fath. so i tend
to chose a level that feel right, but then what i like is mud and hills.

roger
--
www.rogermerriman.com