Singlespeed & Fixed Gear - seat height

how high is too high? I like to ride way up, my legs are fully extended at the bottom of the pedal stroke. I find it makes me faster. Are there any 'rules" for seat height on a track bike?

Whatever doesn't hurt your knees.

Seriously.

There are all sorts of "rules" and people will subscribe to this fit system or another. It all comes down to what you feel comfortable with. There are some guidelines, like to let your leg fully extend on pedal downstroke (i.e. your leg should be fully extended on downstroke if you place your heel on the pedal) and/or your hip position over the BB.....but if it doesn't hurt and you feel good power transfer....go with it.

If you bounce in the saddle while spinning, it's too high. If your knees start hurting a lot, it's too low.

If you bounce in the saddle while spinning, it's too high. If your knees start hurting a lot, it's too low.

why do I have a feeling that this is crappy advice?

if you are bouncing in the saddle it just means that you are not moving your legs as fast as the pedals are going.

your knees can hurt for all kinds of reasons

I remember as long as u can wrap it around with ur hand is a good seat post height. THis is from a old-man who work in my LBS and used to race track when he was young.

I would rather say that if you are rocking your hips, your seat is too high.

basically-- if it doesn't hurt, it works...

why do I have a feeling that this is crappy advice?

if you are bouncing in the saddle it just means that you are not moving your legs as fast as the pedals are going.

your knees can hurt for all kinds of reasons

I think that actually sounds about right. Ideally your legs are like 90-95% extended at the bottom of your stroke iirc

Your legs should not be "fully exteded" while you are in the saddle. You will lose power on the downstroke.

at the last criterium i went to i paid close attention to the leg extension that guys had (during the pro class no less) and i found that it was pretty much anything from not much extension to almost complete leg extension.

after seeing this i decided to not worry too much as long as it feels comfy for me and my knees don't hurt.

i had my saddle too low for a while after i pulled my seatpost out to clean my bike. after a few days i noticed a little pressure on the front of my knees, i did the pedal the bike with my heel trick...ended up raising the saddle almost a centimeter and the funny knee feeling went away.

The best "test" I have found is this. Put your bike near a wall and mount it with the cranks at the 6 and 12 oclock positions. Without shifting your balance, the heel of your leg should be resting on the pedal at 6:00 with your leg fully extended. if your leg is bent; raise the seat. If your heel cannot touch the pedal, lower the seat. When you heel touches the 6:00 pedal with your leg fully extended, you will have a slight bend in your knee when you actually clip in.

why do I have a feeling that this is crappy advice?
Maybe you don't have a very good sense for these things?

Really, though - I simplify, but those are pretty good guidelines. And yes, "rocking" is probably a better term than "bouncing".

The next time you're out on a ride, without changing the angle of your torso, let go of the bars and try to ride no-hands. If you notice a sudden loss of balance on one side, or if you need to excessively ankle-down or overextend one leg or even both in order to stay upright, then you probably need to lower your saddle.

What I do for saddle height is raise my saddle just until I need to hyperextend my left leg in order to stay balanced while riding no-hands (cuz it's shorter than my right leg), then back the saddle down about 4mm. I find that this gives me a saddle height amazing equivalent to the heel-on-pedal method.