Title says it all. Are you better off being too high or too low?
chris
For me, when my seat slipped on one of my bikes ( my computrainer/road/beater bike ), the result was knee pain.
Raised the seat, and the pain went away.
Too high, and you’ll be rocking side to side and will/should know it.
It seems I am rocking a bit. I also noticed I was toeing off a bit much. I have been having some ITBS on one leg and questioned whether it was from having to reach on the pedal stroke. Lowered the seat a bit today and we’ll see what happens.
chris
If you are toe-ing then you should focus on extending through the whole pedal stroke. If this causes you to rock then you are too high. It may not though, you just may having a hard time pushing through the pain your quad is sending out so you are not pushing through the entire pedal stroke. It isn’t necessarily indicative of a ‘high’ saddle IMO.
IIRC A. Coggan has said that you should err on the side of too low.
IIRC A. Coggan has said that you should err on the side of too low.
At least w/in reasonable limits, that does seem to be true from an efficiency perspective. In terms of injury risk, though, I don’t know which is worse (i.e., too high or too low).
So if I lower 3cm, should I move my seat back slightly as well? Approximately how much?
chris
FWIW I finally did that greater trochanter measurement (96-100% IIRC) to adjust my road bike saddle height, and wound up lowering it by more than 1". Funny thing, I went to translate that to the TT bike, and that’s where it already was… I’ve certainly seen no negative effects and my lower back now feels better.
For me, a low seat leads to quad cramps fairly quickly. I’ve had 2 bikes FIST’d by diffferent fitters. Both came out with similar seat heights. Both lead to cramping legs. I found when I raised the seat about 1cm, no more problem.
During the bike portion of a local tri, I felt like I had no power on the hills (which weren’t very big). No pain or fatigue, I just wasn’t able to put any force to the pedals. I was being passed by people in walking shorts and
t-shirts on mountain bikes. When I checked out my bike after the race, I found that my seat post clamp was broken and the seat had slipped all the way down.
Re: too high or too low - You’re not better off with either although I prefer to be on the high side of the workable range.
Too low makes you much more prone to injury. If it is too low you end up putting more pressure on the kneecap at the top of the pedal stroke which can lead to patella tendonitis. This happened to me and it took 6 mths of rest and then physio to get my knee back to the point that I could ride. Was refit on my bike with seat raised considerably and haven’t had any issues in 3 years.
Too high and the knee can hyperextend but this is something you will catch before it is a problem.
how did you not know that during the race?
I’ve seen both cause pain… Seems like too high leads to ITB problems fairly quickly… The person may not be rocking. But I’ve also seen too low cause knee pain quite often. “Within reason” some people are natural toe pointers, and some ride naturally with the heel dropped. Some are in between. If you try to set up a knee angle on a toe pointing person with his heel dropped he/she will probably end up with a “too low” saddle condition, and most people will pedal how it’s most natural… so…
Toe pointer that prefers a “more open” knee angle will have a much taller saddle height than the “heel drop” guy that prefers a “less open” knee angle…
A fit bike is the best way to figure this sort of thing out, you can do it on a regular bike, but several saddle height changes in rapid succession with knee measurements are best.
For me I get the following pains:
Seat too high - pain behind the knee
Seat too low - ITB pain
So for me it’s 6 or one half a dozen of the other. So I try to keep my saddle at right height all the time.
how did you not know that during the race?
I was pretty sure that was the problem but it was a short ride and I had no tools so it didn’t make sense to stop and make sure.
I think mine is slightly on the high side of what would be considered a good fit. I’ve tried lowering it a tad, but my bad knee notices the difference right away… it feels like the kneecap doesn’t get ‘relieved’ with enough extension and it hurts front & center.
That is where my pain was as well.
It’s interesting to read your post, don’t know what your experience level is in fitting.
I just had a fit done and the fitter raised my saddle by just over 2cm which is a ton in my opinion. I was at 778mm and he put me at 801. Now then I have two bad knees and surgery is something I want to avoid repeating a 3rd time.
In some respects it’s more comfortable, but I feel a loss of power. Maybe I will take some adjusting/break in time, but I will wait and see. At the very least the fit was worth it b/c he fixed my knee diving at the top tube with my extreme varus in the right knee. My cleats are positioned properly and my knee doesn’t hurt.