Seat Heights



nashy_88

New Member
Jul 10, 2004
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I ride a Medium 22" compact frame and am just wondering what benefits are gained from placing seat higher rather than fairly low?

Being a newbie im not to sure on any of the techinque aspects to cycling but am wondering if i should heighten or lower the seat height...

Background info, im 16 male, dont mind cruching big gears, live close to lots of hills and most rides encounter a few decent hills, relatively fit but seeing results with more and more riding, been riding for a few weeks, bout 5 10" and 78kg...
 
a good starting point is
raise the seat till your foot on the pedel is level with the groung while siting on the bike and you leg is almost straight
at this time you will have to tiptoe to touch the groung with both feet
 
Try it out and see what's comfy, but be careful of knee pain. At the first sign you should consider repositioning your saddle height. Generally, pain in the front of the knee - lift the saddle, pain in the back of the knee - lower it.
 
John Picton said:
Try it out and see what's comfy, but be careful of knee pain. At the first sign you should consider repositioning your saddle height. Generally, pain in the front of the knee - lift the saddle, pain in the back of the knee - lower it.


By having your saddle at different heights can also work different muscles, by having the seat high you will be mostly working your calf muscles but by having the saddle lower down you will work your thigh muscles. I tend to have my saddle a little lower than what i used to as i want to define my thigh muscles more, and seeings that they are a lot larger muscle it seems like the obvious area to work on to strenghen me up when it come to endurance and hill climbing. Ive been told a lot of people tend to have their saddle too high up thinking thats the best posisition to be in, but they end up with too defined calfs and a lack of thigh power.