Singlespeed & Fixed Gear - Seat height and feet in clips...

I just noticed something today.. I think my feet are pointed slightly downwards at the bottom of my stroke, and thus when I pull up to stop/skid I am more likely to pull out of my straps (not that it happened, but I feel like one day it might). If my seat were slightly lower so that my feet are still horizontal at the bottom of the stroke, then I am less likely to pull out...

Before I go changing my seat height, though, I'm trying pointing my toes up whenever I need to pull up, which works better already.

What are your thoughts on this?

is it the distance, or do you just need to practice dropping your heel at the bottom of the stroke?

I've found seat height to be a tricky issue with fixed gears. The problem is, if you're trying to check your foot angle at the bottom of the stroke while stationary, you'll shift your weight to the side--dropping your heel. I didn't realize I had a problem until I had a coach riding along side of me looking at my stroke.

I am continually messing with seat height. Keep in mind that changing saddles or pedals will affect your true seat height. The best advice I can give is to be certain that you have a choice of muscle groups to pedal with. If your seat is too high, you'll feel your calves doing a lot of the work. Too low and you'll feel it in your quads.

I check seat height while stationary (leaning against a tree or something) with one pedal all the way down. Sit squarely on the saddle as you would while riding and place your heel on the pedal, directly beneath your ankle. If your knee has to bend to keep from taking a large portion of your weight off of the saddle, your saddle is too low. If your heel either doesn't tough the pedal or has almost no weight on it when seated normally, your saddle is too high. Once you get the height set in this manner, the slight bend in your knees as they pass through the bottom of the pedal stroke will be perfectly provided by the bending of your ankle that should be happening at the bottom of the stroke.

i did that once... completely pulled out while riding up to my dorm....i slammed right into the bike rack and drastically damaged my ego....boy was i red in the face