Fifty Plus (50+) - Saddle height

I think I have had my saddle to low for a long long time. I have raised it about an 1" (yes I know that's a lot) and it seems more comfortable, but I'm thinking my hips may be rocking a little with each pedal stroke. Having the saddle higher definitely has given me more power on the pedal strokes. My husband said I should lower it just enough until my hips don't rock to avoid saddle sores. Does everyone agree?

My husband said I should lower it just enough until my hips don't rock to avoid saddle sores. Does everyone agree?

I've always been told your hips shouldn't rock if the saddle height is correct.

Yes. Too high is just as bad as too low. You should not be rocking from side to side.

One method of getting close to the right height is to sit on the bike on a trainer or with someone holding it securely. Take off your shoes and pedal backwards with your heels on the pedals. The correct saddle height is where your heels just start to lose contact with the pedal at the bottom of the pedal stroke.

I think it is actually better to ride the bike than lean against the wall to do the "heel test". Just get a bit of speed and pedal forward. Why pedal backwards? 2 different things than "normal" riding.

Whatever works. It's not rocket science.
Backwards pedaling allows you to be stationary. Very handy if someone is holding the bike up for you. :)
I never said anything about leaning against a wall.

With the seat post angle- Raising the saddle by even just 1" will push the saddle a bit further away from the bars and the Pedal axle. Most of us will not feel this- but the other effect is that it will push the bars 1" lower aswell- Unless you adjust for this- So watch out for the "New" ride position.

Caution-having the saddle so high that your hips rock can create some serious hip issues over time.

From Sheldon Brown (http://www.sheldonbrown.com/saddles.html):

I suggest gradually raising your saddle, perhaps half an inch (1 cm) at a time. Each time you raise it, ride the bike. If it doesn't feel noticeably worse to ride, ride it for at least a couple of miles/km.

If it had been too low before, your bike will feel lighter and faster with the new riding position. If raising the saddle improved things, raise it again, and ride it some more. Keep doing this until you reach the point where the saddle is finally too high, then lower it just a bit.

When the saddle is too high, you'll have to rock your hips to pedal, and you'll probably feel as if you need to stretch your legs to reach the bottom part of the pedal. Another indication that the saddle may be too high is if you find yourself moving forward so that you are sitting on the narrow front part of the saddle. (Although this symptom can also result from having the saddle nosed down, or having an excessive reach to the handlebars.)

It also makes a bit of difference what sort of pedals/shoes you use. If you ride with ordinary shoes, virtually all of your pedaling power is generated by the downstroke, so a good leg extension is essential to let you apply maximum power in this direction. If you use clipless pedals and cleated cycling shoes, however, you can also generate a fair amount of your power by pulling the pedal backward near the bottom of the stroke. This action also uses the large muscles in the back of the leg, and can be quite efficient. If you make use of this pedaling style, you'll want a slightly lower saddle position than for direct "piston-style" pedaling with street shoes. A slightly lower saddle position is also conducive to pedaling a rapid cadence.

According to Lemond, optimal saddle height cam be determined by, carefully mind you, jamming (oxymoron alert) a ruler high twixt the thigh with your back to the wall and barefooted. Have someone you like or at least trust, mark and then measure the height. Measure by .883, less 3 mm if using clipless, adjust fore and aft and there you have it. I tried it recently and ended up lowering my saddle by 1" and moving it forward a bit and my hamstring and knee problems have improved greatly.

I've read and did the heel on the pedal and it worked for me. I had a higher heel on my older shoes so I went with the middle of the sole. Now that I have new shoes with the lower heel, I just barely touch the pedal with my heel and it worked great for me.

If the saddle height is correct I can't see how your hips CAN rock.

Being a bit new to all this I did a quick read of this and other sites to see what people were saying about bike setup. Then I did the following:


Sat my bum on the seat and adjusted height until I reached the point where there was just a bit of bend still left at the knee with the pedal full down. (Hips won't be rocking if the legs aren't stretching, eh?)
Moved the seat forwards/back until my knee was above the pedal crank with the pedal full forward.
Adjusted handlebars for comfortable height. (Or would've, only that they were already comfortable.)


The bike has been exceptionally comfortable since. It all didn't seem like it needed rocket science or somesuch. Maybe I'll revise that opinion after I've ridden more.

heh heh....

According to Lemond, optimal saddle height cam be determined by, carefully mind you, jamming (oxymoron alert) a ruler high twixt the thigh with your back to the wall and barefooted. Have someone you like or at least trust, mark and then measure the height. Measure by .883, less 3 mm if using clipless, adjust fore and aft and there you have it. I tried it recently and ended up lowering my saddle by 1" and moving it forward a bit and my hamstring and knee problems have improved greatly.

I read that the .883 formula applied to LeMond, who had an abnormally long femur, and was not intended to be a general rule.

I ride in Levis and notice a sure clue that my saddle is too high comes when I get chafing. I raised mine until I noticed a tendency to chafe, then lowered it a bit. It seems to work for me. But, I have toe clips and ride in ordinary shoes.

When I got my new bike the saddle seemed very low, although set by the experts at the LBS by eyeballing me rather than measuring me. They probably were thinking in the paradigm of riding with clipless pedals, even though that bike came with clips on the pedals.

I agree, your hips should not rock from side to side if the saddle height is correct.

It is more complex than seat height... It is bicycle fitting, and there the answers are clear. According to the standard answer in the Road Cycling forum:

You should never even consider riding a bike unless you pay someone at least $100 to fit the bike to you, or you to the bike. Preferably $250 and up, since that is what the people who really know what they're doing charge. Be sure to wear the same jersey, shorts, gloves, shoes and socks you plan to wear while riding the bike, and eat the typical pre-ride meal. Any deviation invalidates the whole process.

There is only one acceptable way to determine proper fitting on your own, and it is only good for limited use until you can get a real fitting done. Make the appointment for the true fitting before doing the self-adjustment. The temporary method is to go to one of the web sites that have you measure every possible body part (including ears and tongue) and sticking to their specifications exactly! Avoid using the French style or anything but the most aggressive position (4+ inches drop from seat to bars) and you may survive the 10 day wait until you can see the professional fitter.

To do anything less will mean major injury and a total loss of sex appeal to members of the opposite sex. I'm not sure if the latter problem impacts same sex, so I don't know if this is an issue for gay and lesbian riders or not... If you fall into that category, you should go ask in Road Cycling and ask. They aren't the bunch of homophobic testosterone junkies they appear to be at first.

(BTW - I do enjoy the Road Cycling forum, so take the above humorously please!) :D

Sheldon's advice seems sound. (Big surprise, huh?) I see kids riding with their saddles too low all the time. Sometimes it's because they've grown. Most of the time it's because they like to put their feet down without getting their butt out of the saddle. It's amazing how much easier pedaling gets when it's adjusted properly.

It is more complex than seat height... It is bicycle fitting, and there the answers are clear. According to the standard answer in the Road Cycling forum:

You should never even consider riding a bike unless you pay someone at least $100 to fit the bike to you, or you to the bike. Preferably $250 and up, since that is what the people who really know what they're doing charge. Be sure to wear the same jersey, shorts, gloves, shoes and socks you plan to wear while riding the bike, and eat the typical pre-ride meal. Any deviation invalidates the whole process.

There is only one acceptable way to determine proper fitting on your own, and it is only good for limited use until you can get a real fitting done. Make the appointment for the true fitting before doing the self-adjustment. The temporary method is to go to one of the web sites that have you measure every possible body part (including ears and tongue) and sticking to their specifications exactly! Avoid using the French style or anything but the most aggressive position (4+ inches drop from seat to bars) and you may survive the 10 day wait until you can see the professional fitter.

To do anything less will mean major injury and a total loss of sex appeal to members of the opposite sex. I'm not sure if the latter problem impacts same sex, so I don't know if this is an issue for gay and lesbian riders or not... If you fall into that category, you should go ask in Road Cycling and ask. They aren't the bunch of homophobic testosterone junkies they appear to be at first.

(BTW - I do enjoy the Road Cycling forum, so take the above humorously please!) :D

Wow...............That's a lot of money and as BluesDawg said, it's not rocket science. Fitting may be good to help in buying a new bike, but here, the bikes bought and all that has to be done is adjust the seatposte. Just about all of the already mentioned methods will get you within the ballpark for proper fit. After that, 1/4" of movement has significant results, don't go too far too fast.

Don't rock, thats too high.

Be careful: you will, at the least, have hamstring problems that will cause you to lose some riding time if your saddle height is too tall.

Once you're in the ball park go with very small changes up and down and combine that with small back and forth changes.

I'm a "toe pointer" in that when I'm riding hard I automatically rotate my foot and push with the balls of my feet so that my foot is pointed down a lot. That means that if I do the classic leg fit test it looks like my seat is too high. But if I lower it to meet the "standard" then my knee is still too bent at the bottom of the stroke. Which is just to point out that it's a personal fit issue when it comes down to the last few small adjustments.

For me I found that the hip rolling deal is easy to feel if you just pay attention. Lower the saddle in 1/8 to 1/4 inch increments until it goes away but still have the right leg extension that doesn't result in your knee clicking to the locked position.

I think I have had my saddle to low for a long long time. I have raised it about an 1" (yes I know that's a lot) and it seems more comfortable, but I'm thinking my hips may be rocking a little with each pedal stroke. Having the saddle higher definitely has given me more power on the pedal strokes. My husband said I should lower it just enough until my hips don't rock to avoid saddle sores. Does everyone agree?

I think your husband has it right, unless you have a fitter measure your knee angle. High enough that the front of your knees don't hurt, low enough that your pelvis does rock and cause saddle sores, low enough that the back of your knees don't hurt.

This method worked pretty well for me, until I tried to adjust fore/aft based on feel. Finally I got fitted, and the fitter set my saddle height based on my knee angle (30 degrees), and the saddle fore/aft based on KOPS. It works very well for me, except a little extra weight on my hands.

Road Fan