my knees kind of hurt after riding

[craigery]

My knees are kind of sore after riding. Is there something I could be doing wrong or is something not adjusted properly. I know my chain and gears need to be cleaned and it puts a little extra drag but that shouldnt be the cause of it.

any ideas?

[jtaylor]

I had a similar problem recently, and after research, I determined that the cause of my knee pain was an improper saddle height. Sitting too high can lead to IT Band pain (outside of the knee), and sitting too low can cause pain in the front of the knee. I'd recommend that you experiment with changing your saddle height in very small increments (1/8th of an inch at a time). Make sure you can pedal backwards with your heels on the pedals (holding onto a wall or something to stay stationary) without having your hips swivel. If you can do that, you're at the right height. Also consider adjusting your lateral seat position forward or backward. Your seat position is correct when your forward knee is directly over the center of the pedal when your feet are arranged so the pedal arms are parallel to the ground. After adjusting my seat, I have had no more knee pain.

[cheebahmunkey]

have you changed your usual cruising gears? What I mean is have you upped the gear you ride on from a lower gear in the past? Could just be that you're riding on too high a gear for your knees to handle? Or is this all moot because you haven't upped your gears?

[craigery]

I'm going to try experimenting with seat height first.

My commute is kind of hilly so I change gears often so I'm not really I have a set cruising gear.