No Saddles?!?!

i have noticed recently alot of young people seem to be riding round on sort of mountain bike
things with a very low cross bar and a very low (or no!) sadlle and was intrigued to know the
advantage of this??

 

On Sun, 27 Apr 2003 19:22:48 +0100, Mike Fleming scrawled: ) i have noticed recently alot of young
people seem to be riding round on sort ) of mountain bike things with a very low cross bar and a
very low (or no!) ) sadlle and was intrigued to know the advantage of this??

On a related topic, whence comes the urge to lift one's self off the saddle when in too high a gear?
What's the efficiency of such pedalling? I see people doing it all the time and I'm /sure/ it's less
efficient but I can't explain why.

J-P
--
words move faster wire and clouds move thin between us like a skin

 

Mike Fleming wrote:

>i have noticed recently alot of young people seem to be riding round on sort of mountain bike
>things with a very low cross bar and a very low (or no!) sadlle and was intrigued to know the
>advantage of this??

I've heard that saddleless bikes are very popular with nuns. They conceal the fact that they have no
saddle with their long habits.

Now next time you see a nun on a bicycle...
--
remove remove to reply

 

"Mike Fleming" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> i have noticed recently alot of young people seem to be riding round on
sort
> of mountain bike things with a very low cross bar and a very low (or no!) sadlle and was intrigued
> to know the advantage of this??

I imagine they're trials bikes related to motorized trials bikes which also are seatless. When used
for their purpose the rider needs to stand on the pedals to negotiate obstacles, a saddle is
superfluous, putting a foot (a dab) down loses points. Trials riders (pedal bike types) can perform
amazing feats, the sort of thing whereby if you blink you miss the critical move and wonder how they
ended up where they are. eg hop onto a car bonnet then onto the roof do a 180 and hop back off. (all
while the cager is stuck at lights and friggin' about with his mobile, not really).

The fact that most of the kids you see on trials bikes can't hop up a kerb is irrelevent, like MTBs
and 4WD vehicles that never leave suburbia.

Pete

 

On Sun, 27 Apr 2003 19:22:48 +0100, Mike Fleming did issue forth:

> i have noticed recently alot of young people seem to be riding round on sort of mountain bike
> things with a very low cross bar and a very low (or no!) sadlle and was intrigued to know the
> advantage of this??

They'll be trials, jump or duel bikes. I think the argument is that the low top tube and saddle
makes it easier to maneouver the bike, especially with both wheels off the ground.

Quite where this comes in to riding along perfectly flat pavements, I'm not sure ;-)

--
Huw Pritchard Replace bounce with huw to reply by mail

 

j-p.s wrote:
> On a related topic, whence comes the urge to lift one's self off the saddle when in too high a
> gear? What's the efficiency of such pedalling? I see people doing it all the time and I'm /sure/
> it's less efficient but I can't explain why.

More power can be transmitted when standing up because you can put more weight onto the pedals,
fully extend the legs and apply more leverage to the handlebars to counteract the pedalling force.
It's particularly useful for a burst of maximum acceleration or fast climbing.

But many casual cyclists don't really do it because they want to go as fast as possible, but because
they've selected a too-high gear (through ignorance or laziness) and simply find it too hard to push
when seated. It might then be more efficient to stand up (in that gear) - depending on pedalling
force and duration. Otherwise, resting much of the weight on saddle and selecting a proper gear has
to be more efficient in the long run.

~PB

 

Pete Biggs <pLime{remove_fruit}@biggs.tc> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> j-p.s wrote:
> > On a related topic, whence comes the urge to lift one's self off the saddle when in too high a
> > gear? What's the efficiency of such pedalling? I see people doing it all the time and I'm /sure/
> > it's less efficient but I can't explain why.
>
> More power can be transmitted when standing up because you can put more weight onto the pedals,
> fully extend the legs and apply more leverage to the handlebars to counteract the pedalling force.
> It's particularly useful for a burst of maximum acceleration or fast climbing.
>
> But many casual cyclists don't really do it because they want to go as fast as possible, but
> because they've selected a too-high gear (through ignorance or laziness) and simply find it too
> hard to push when seated. It might then be more efficient to stand up (in that gear) - depending
> on pedalling force and duration. Otherwise, resting much of the weight on saddle and selecting a
> proper gear has to be more efficient in the long run.
>
> ~PB
>
>

All that + to give your 'tackle' a rest when you've been in the saddle for too many hours!

I just can't explain the feeling when I lift up off that saddle and the wind makes my Assos ass
cream go all cold..ooh err Missus!!!!!!!!!

--
Mark
____________________________
Practice does not make perfect... Perfect practice makes perfect

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On Sun, 27 Apr 2003 19:45:24 +0100, Gonzalez <[email protected]> wrote:

>Now next time you see a nun on a bicycle...

That's virgin on the ridiculous. Oh, sorry, wrong joke...

Guy
===
** WARNING ** This posting may contain traces of irony. http://www.chapmancentral.com (BT ADSL and
dynamic DNS permitting)
NOTE: BT Openworld have now blocked port 25 (without notice), so old mail addresses may no longer
work. Apologies.

 

In article <[email protected]>, Peter B wrote:
> The fact that most of the kids you see on trials bikes can't hop up a kerb is irrelevent, like
> MTBs and 4WD vehicles that never leave suburbia.

Why hop up a kerb when you can cycle up a tree? ^_^

http://www.biketrials.com/Scott-Tree.jpg

(Cool trial bike picture)

Cheers

Dan

 

"Mike Fleming" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> i have noticed recently alot of young people seem to be riding round
on sort
> of mountain bike things with a very low cross bar and a very low (or
no!)
> sadlle and was intrigued to know the advantage of this??
>

They've just "stolen" (or borrowed) the bike from its parking space, where the owner has removed the
saddle from the QR seatpost, under the misapprehension that nobody will steal a bike without a
saddle :-(

--
MatSav

 

"Mike Fleming" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:<[email protected]>...
> i have noticed recently alot of young people seem to be riding round on sort of mountain bike
> things with a very low cross bar and a very low (or no!) sadlle and was intrigued to know the
> advantage of this??

They could be wannabe trials bikes, which have no saddle, since the idea is that you make it over
ridiculous obstacles without 'dabbing' your foot down...

they could also be flatland BMXes. Good for doing tricks with. shows off your baggy jeans to
maximal effect.

or they could be lowrider bikes:

http://www.azstarnet.com/public/packages/Wakefield/wake12.htm

-Luigi

 

"Peter B" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...

> Trials riders (pedal bike types) can perform amazing feats, the sort of thing whereby if you blink
> you miss the critical move and wonder how they ended up where they are. eg hop onto a car bonnet
> then onto the roof do a 180 and hop back off. (all while the cager is stuck at lights and friggin'
> about with his mobile, not really).

I'm thinking of sponsoring some children to practise these skills in the local cycle lanes. No
shortage of challenging obstacles.

--
Dave...

 

Mike Fleming wrote:
> i have noticed recently alot of young people seem to be riding round on sort of mountain bike
> things with a very low cross bar and a very low (or no!) sadlle and was intrigued to know the
> advantage of this??

Makes some sense on radical descent bikes where the only real point of the saddle is to meet racing
regulations, and for tricks/trials bikes too as you'll be stood up the whole time to shift your
weight about, but for practical riding from A -> B it's just fashion (and trying to look like you're
a descent/trials rider).

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch University of Dundee Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Medical Physics, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK net [email protected]
http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

 

Peter Clinch wrote:

> Makes some sense on radical descent bikes where the only real point of the saddle is to meet
> racing regulations, and for tricks/trials bikes too as you'll be stood up the whole time to shift
> your weight about, but for practical riding from A -> B it's just fashion (and trying to look like
> you're a descent/trials rider).

On Cosham railway station last year there was a group of these saddle-less baggied baseball-capped
riders admiring their machines and I asked about the lack of saddle. "Err, dunno. It came without
one." was the reply.

John B