Quoted post said:Originally Posted by Motobecane11 [IMG]/img/forum/go_quote.gif[/IMG]
Hey guys, when I first started riding, my saddle was about three or four inches lower than it is now, and I had trouble keeping any kind of speed. When I raised the saddle the first time, (about two inches) I saw a dramatic increase in both my speed and my endurance: I was riding faster and farther.
Well I was on my normal commute yesterday pm, and I was watching my shadow, and saw that my knees still had a lot of bend in them at the bottom of the stroke. So when I got home, I raised the saddle another inch. Should I expect to get faster again?
Not necessarily. If you're saddle was too low, then to a point raising the saddle will allow you to pedal more efficiently, maximize what you put out, but you can obviously raise your saddle too far. The rule of thumb for bend in the knee when your foot is at bottom dead center of the crank cycle is that it should be about 10 -15°. Again, that's just a rule of thumb. I'd suggest, however, that you be careful making such big changes in saddle height. Raising the saddle too much all at once can cause knee pain or injury. Another rule of thumb is to only change saddle height by 2-3mm at a time in order to allow your legs to adjust to the new geometry. Of course, if your saddle is way off in height, making big changes might be necessary. At any rate, as you closer to the optimum saddle height for you, the changes in performance you see will get smaller.
