Leg straight on saddle? Noob question

[mcshroom]

Bottom bracket - for this use actually the middle of the axle through the bottom bracket that joins the two crank arms together.

 

[SpokeyDokey]

I've just raised my saddle an inch or so using the 109% method. I've got size 12 feet though so wondering if I'll need to raise it a touch more.

Anyone else used this method and got any thoughts/tips pro/con?! I started cycling about 4 months ago and have done about 1100 miles and found that I was doing really well on the flat but struggled like mad up the hills. From what I've read the higher saddle position should help this so will see how it goes!! Hopefully get to try it in the morning weather permitting!!

Yes - works fine for me.

Long feet could well make a slight difference - just play around a few mm at a time and see what suits you.

 

[Cycleops]

I've just raised my saddle an inch or so using the 109% method. I've got size 12 feet though so wondering if I'll need to raise it a touch more.

Anyone else used this method and got any thoughts/tips pro/con?! I started cycling about 4 months ago and have done about 1100 miles and found that I was doing really well on the flat but struggled like mad up the hills. From what I've read the higher saddle position should help this so will see how it goes!! Hopefully get to try it in the morning weather permitting!!

I believe the 109% method came from research done at Loughborough University in the sixties with well known racing cyclists of the day. It was concluded that 109% of inside leg measurement provided the most efficient transfer of power.

 

[aerobrain]

I believe the 109% method came from research done at Loughborough University in the sixties with well known racing cyclists of the day. It was concluded that 109% of inside leg measurement provided the most efficient transfer of power.

Yeah although they didn't calculate it using mechanics etc. It was basically the average of the elite cyclists they tested I.e. some were higher, some were lower. I think the conclusion was 109% was the best place to start.

 

[slowmotion]

I'm a big fan of Christopher.......
[media]
]View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAl_5e7bIHk[/media]


Using his guidelines, I can just about sit on the saddle and put both sets of pointy toes on the tarmac, but I have size 11 feet so that might help. I find it far more comfortable to stay in the saddle and lean the bike over so I have my left foot firmly planted flat on the road. If there is a handy kerb to plonk my foot on, so much the better.

Of course you could always lean on the shiny wing of the Audi that stopped next to you....

 

[Misusawa]

When I bought my bike from Halfords, the guy who built it seemed a little confused looking when i asked him to raise the seat to a better height for me. I have it just above backside height when I'm standing in front of it.
The normal position I've noticed in Newcastle's east end is to have the seat as low as possible making your legs bent and straining the knees... Its no wonder not many people cycle here.

 

[annedonnelly]

Thanks mate - I should have prefaced my post saying that I only recently got into cycling (last time I properly cycled was when I was a kid in the 90's!).

So let me get this right - if I come up to a traffic light and need to stop, I should be sliding myself forward off the saddle and then standing? I've been looking at what other folk do and there seems to be a wide variety of behavior so not sure what's correct!

Or you may be able to tilt the bike slightly one way (I go left) and reach the ground with that foot. I don't like the getting off the saddle method.

 

[aerobrain]

Well test ridden the new saddle height, lifted it about an inch and just beaten my pb over my hilly 24 mile route and I know I'm not at my fittest! Wish I'd done it BEFORE Ride London, d'oh!!!!

 

[Nigelnaturist]

Yes - works fine for me.

Long feet could well make a slight difference - just play around a few mm at a time and see what suits you.

It's why there are different crank lengths..
You could also try the Lemond Sizing Method Which is to take the inseam and multiply by 0.883 measured from the centre of the B.B. to the top of the saddle. This is unaffected by crank length unlike the 109% rule, as with shorter cranks you should be able to spin higher, but longer cranks give you more leverage. Others may give better advice than me on that, as I haven't tried shorter cranks yet.

 

[Nigelnaturist]

I've just raised my saddle an inch or so using the 109% method. I've got size 12 feet though so wondering if I'll need to raise it a touch more.

Anyone else used this method and got any thoughts/tips pro/con?! I started cycling about 4 months ago and have done about 1100 miles and found that I was doing really well on the flat but struggled like mad up the hills. From what I've read the higher saddle position should help this so will see how it goes!! Hopefully get to try it in the morning weather permitting!!

Size of you feet shouldn't make much difference as you still have the ball of your foot over the axle of the pedal, though moving you saddle forward or back to obtain the correct angle of the leg might. The thickness of the shoe/cleat combination might have a bigger influence.

 

[vickster]

If you are new to this cycling lark get into the habit of unclipping one side as you approach the junction. For safetys sake more than anything else and there is nothing worse at a junction than a circling cyclist getting in the way of a car or falling onto one.

Learn to unclip the left, assuming you are in the UK, your foot will be on the pavement, or at least not in the road! I stay in the saddle mostly, but lean to the left

 

[shouldbeinbed]

I'm another leaner I cant touch the floor with the bike straight up but get to a tippy toe stance quite easily on either side.

@harrow1977: noting you're a newbie & not having seen anything else of yours, do you use cleated cycling shoes & clipless pedals (the SPD or Look type ones) that you lock the cleats on the soles of your shoes into? & get the notion of unclipping your foot being to disengage the shoe cleat from the body of the pedal?


If you use normal flat pedals, unclipping is not something you'll be doing, simply taking your foot off the appropriate pedal is the same thing. apologies if I've missed other posts and am teaching granny to suck eggs.

 

[boydj]

Learn to unclip the left, assuming you are in the UK, your foot will be on the pavement, or at least not in the road! I stay in the saddle mostly, but lean to the left

But when you are stopped at a junction you should be in primary and well away from the pavement

 

[vickster]

Not where I stop, in ASL where possible. I am happier there, not going to stop in heavy traffic in the midde of the road and antagonise drivers, whatever the rights and wrongs from a cyclist PoV

 

[cyberknight]

I have tried both the lemond, 109 % and heel on pedal and for me the last one gives me the closet to my best feeling and comes close to the lemond figure , in fact a few at the club reckon my seat is to low even though my heel is just on the pedal when straight so all of the calculated methods there is a bit of latitude either way .
eg for me i have my saddle at 69 cm from BB with 170 mm cranks so 86 cm to cranks .
inside leg 78 cm
109% = 85.02
.883 = 68.8
I always refer people to ...
http://www.jimlangley.net/crank/bikefit.html