Speaker 1: The correct saddle height is the first step to being comfortable on your bike.
It can allow you to ride further, faster, and longer. You might be brand new to cycling and
wondering where to set your saddle height, or you might have been riding a while and
wondering what the optimum saddle height is. There are a few methods that you can
use at home to perfect your saddle height. In this video, I'm going to show you how.
[music] Speaker 1:
What are the signs that your saddle height is wrong? If your saddle height is too high,
you might find yourself rocking from side to side in order to pedal.
Basically, if you're having to stretch to reach the pedal, your hips will start to rock and all
that movement on the saddle is likely to make it a lot less comfortable, and it might give you some
lower back pain too. If your saddle is too low, the angle of your knee joint will be very tight
at the top of the pedal stroke and at the bottom of the pedal stroke too. From the side, like this,
your knees and your hip joints will look very compressed and it could be giving you sore knees.
Both of these situations are also inefficient. As well as being less than comfortable,
you won't be getting the most out of yourself. Before we start, if you are adjusting your
saddle height on a current bike, take some quick measurement notes. With a tape measure,
measure from where the cranks enter the frame to the top of the saddle and note it down. This way,
if you don't get along with your new adjustments, you can always go back to the old one.
It's also a great idea if you can persuade a friend to take some pictures and videos of you.
Some from the side and some from behind, so you can review and get a better perspective.
When setting the correct saddle height, be sure to wear what you usually wear on a bike ride,
that includes cycling shorts and cycling shoes. Something like this. That's better.
Make sure your bike is static and level. If you do have an indoor trainer,
this is going to make it a lot easier, but if you don't, you can always lean up against the wall
or get a friend to hold your handlebars for you. The two most common methods of measuring are the
heel to pedal method and the Lemond method. I'm going to start with the heel to pedal method.
Sit on your bike and place your heel on the pedal. Rotate the crank arm to six o'clock and it should
be in line with your leg. Your leg should be locked out but your heel should be still on
the pedal. If your knee is slightly bent, this means you need to increase your saddle height,
but if your heel is losing contact with the pedal or you're rotating your pelvis to touch the pedal,
then this means you need to lower it. Make small adjustments until you're happy with it.
That method is as simple as that. It gives you a great starting point to make little
adjustments at further down the line. The next method is the Lemond method,
named after the legendary US racer in the '80s and the '90s. This involves measuring your inseam.
You'll need a tape measure, a fairly large book, or something with a straight edge
and ideally a helper but you can still do this one on your own. Stand against the wall in your
cycling shoes, then place the book in between your legs and bring it up to the inseam. Then
you can get your helper to measure from the ground to the top of the book or straight edge. You can
do this yourself by placing a little pencil mark at the top of the book and then measuring that.
To set your saddle height, you want to multiply your inseam measurement by 0.883.
My inseam measurement was 75.5. If I multiply that by 0.883, I get a measurement of 65.5.
Then to set that saddle height, you want to measure from the center of the cranks
to the top of the saddle. Both these methods will get you in the right ballpark, but there
are some other factors that might move your optimal position up or down a few millimeters.
For example, how long your cranks are, or if you pedal with your toes pointing down slightly.
Now that you've done out your saddle height, you should also factor in fore and aft,
which can be adjusted by moving your saddle along the rails. The ideal position is to
have your knee directly under the pedal spindle when you're in the three o'clock position. You
can easily adjust this by undoing the bolts under the saddle and sliding it forwards and backwards.
To measure this, you're going to need a plumbline. This is my very fancy DIY one.
You can use pretty much any fairly weighted object on the end and a piece of string.
Sit on your bike and place your cranks in the three o'clock position. Take your plumb line
and place it at the very front of your kneecap and then it should drop to where the crank arm
meets the pedal. Now, many road riders these days will ride with a very stretched out position,
so you might find that their knee is slightly in front of their pedal. This again is going
to get you in the right ballpark. In fact, it's easier than saddle height to know when it's wrong.
If it's too far backwards, you'll constantly be sitting on the very end of the saddle
and if it's too far forwards, you'll constantly be wanting to push yourself back on the saddle.
Lastly, you can set the angle of your saddle. If you find yourself constantly slipping off the
front of the saddle, it could be because it's been pointed down slightly. If the nose is pointing up,
well, you're probably going to know because it's going to be rather uncomfortable.
Having your saddle level is a great place to start. Some people do like to have it
tilted down but it should be just a gentle tilt. When you do change your saddle height,
make sure to take a basic multi-tool out on your next few rides in case you need to do
some fine-tuning or adjusting. It could feel great on the static trainer but once you get
on the open road it could be very different. We recommend making adjustments to your position
gradually. Be patient when it comes to setting your saddle height because it can take some time
and tweaking. Again, your body can take a while to adjust to your new position so again be patient.
If you do want peace of mind, then book yourself in for a bike fit. A decent bike fit specialist
will be able to tailor your bike to fit you perfectly so you don't have to worry whether
it's correct or not. [music]
Speaker 1: That's it on how to set your saddle height from home. Hopefully next time you're
out on your bike, you'll be sitting comfortably. If you did enjoy this video then please give it
a big thumbs up. If you do have any questions, please leave them in the comment section below
and we'll try and answer them. [00:06:52] [END OF AUDIO]