Mountain Biking - To drop, or not to drop...

This poll is directed towards XC & and light freeride or all moutain guys, but feel free to coment never the less.

You have been climbing for hours, now at the summet looking at the thousands of feet of decent below of you, do you lower your seat?

Simply, do you drop your seat for more controll on decents?

My seat remains dropped at all times.

I did it once on a super-sketchy stair-stepped rocky dowhill through a ravine. That was the only time, and it only threw my balance off. Mostly I just get my ass behind the post.

My seat remains dropped at all times.

Yea, but do you climb over 2500' of moutain over the couse of 3+ hours.

I have considered dropping my seat on technical trails and I push myself back over the saddle when I think I'm going down something steep. Slamming it? no....lowering it a few...sure.

edit: my version of technical that is :D

Just to clearify, not for really steep and rough things(when your going slow); But when your going realllllly fast over bumps and ruts(this is when it gets sketchey for me)

I would drop my seat, it dosn't take much to lower it, and you need it lowered when going off-road...but I cant stand it lowered when flat riding !

cant drop lower than it already is...

My seat only goes about 2" lower and then the end of the seatpost does into the shock, so no I don't lower my seat when I do go down sketchy dh. If I'm gonna eat it, well then so be it, nothing I could do to stop it.

If I'm specifically going out to bomb hills and do drops then I switch out my seatpost/seat for a shorter post and the big 'ol padded seat that came with the bike.

I ride XC but I still drop it some compared to where I'd get full extension of my legs because I stand up so much of the time and it can get in the way.

Low as i can go, I turn my knees inward riding flat, I get off my seat on inclines.
Too hard to change the seat, take 100's of lbs pressure to close the clamp. QR steel bolts wreck.

Maybe elongate your stem? I stretch over my frame to areo, as long as you don't compress your stomach muscles, and can still drive hard.
Your seat has to stay foreward to keep the knee in line with the spidle action.
I'm lucky a bit as my frame is long and the incline is not too rad.

Practice getting off the seat, moving the bike under you and in front.

IMO, jazz, scooby, gravy etc.

If the downhill includes stairsteps or (to me) other hairy might-go-over-the-bars stuff, yes, a 3" drop of the post makes a big difference. If it's just fast down hill riding, no, I just get low and back behind the seat.

my shizz gest slammed whn we hit them jups mang

umm, yes?

Is this a trick question or something? I mean it's not exactly a secret that you can't climb as well with the seat down or that you don't have as much dh control with it up.

Or is it? http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v246/pinit/88151755.gif

If the downhill includes stairsteps or (to me) other hairy might-go-over-the-bars stuff, yes, a 3" drop of the post makes a big difference. If it's just fast down hill riding, no, I just get low and back behind the seat.

Do you consider 1' deep dips and 1' high bumps when going 20+mph "hairy might-go-over-the-bars stuff"?
Because thats when I start to feel like I not in controll.

My group rides XC with plenty of hills. There is only one of us that changes seat height for climbs or downhills and he is always the last down and the last up. The rest of us have the competence to ride the trails with the bike set up for climbs, because that is where you gain ground.

Just as a thought, How do racers set their bikes up for off road--saddle high for the climbs or low for the dowhills? I can just imagine a racer stopping to adjust saddle height every time he comes to a hill.

umm, yes?

Is this a trick question or something? I mean it's not exactly a secret that you can't climb as well with the seat down or that you don't have as much dh control with it up.

Or is it? http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v246/pinit/88151755.gif

:D...I agree completely. I slam mine down at the top of a descent and raise it for a climb (even then I never do the full extension thing, you never know on a mountain when a fun descent will start screaming your name)

My group rides XC with plenty of hills. There is only one of us that changes seat height for climbs or downhills and he is always the last down and the last up. The rest of us have the competence to ride the trails with the bike set up for climbs, because that is where you gain ground.

In the situation you describe, as well as when racing, I agree - it's impractical to stop and constantly fiddle with seat height. However, the original question stated 1) you've been climbing for hours and 2) you have thousands of feet of descent ahead of you. In that case, it would be impractical *not* to optimize your setup by dropping your seat, which both lowers your center of gravity and transfers weight to the rear wheel.

My group rides XC with plenty of hills. There is only one of us that changes seat height for climbs or downhills and he is always the last down and the last up. The rest of us have the competence to ride the trails with the bike set up for climbs, because that is where you gain ground.

Just as a thought, How do racers set their bikes up for off road--saddle high for the climbs or low for the dowhills? I can just imagine a racer stopping to adjust saddle height every time he comes to a hill.

I haven't seen a WC race on tv that had a section steep or fun enough (jumps and drops) to bother dropping the seat. There is a race here that encompasses 10 of our single tracks and guys are raising and lowering seats all the time. They are the ones winning in this case (then again the ones not doing it are out of towners not used to the longer, 30min to 2 hours, sketchier descents)

i just leave it up, although i hardly get 2000 foot ascents/descents!
damn England

I leave mine up. I typically ride down rock gardens with 1'-2' drops and scree everywhere. I figure that if I can't ride it with my seat up I must be doing something wrong. Usually, all it takes is balance, brake modulation, and exercising control over my body position/center of gravity. Besides, if I'm on an easy DH, I like to be able to upshift and crank out some more speed. Now I just need to find some rock-proof glasses....

My seat remains dropped at all times.
Ditto that.

Yep, seat goes down when I get to the top of the mountain.

for XC, I keep my seat lower then most anyways. but if i'm climbing a giant hill, say six miles of all up, I'll raise it way the hell up. standing up won't help because those kinds of hills are gravel, so you loose traction.

then when I get to the top of the hill, I'll lower it back to were it was. I don't think I go 20 miles an hour coming back down the hill. I ride a hard tail, not sure if that matters or not. but one thing I have found is, when we are riding trails that are that high up (way way up the mountain), going fast can cause you to fly off a cliff. so I tend to ride a bit conservatively.

my seat is as low as it goes already :(

my seat stays the same no matter what I ride... I keep it so i can get full leg extension while sitting on the seat. at home in WV, the place i ride has about a 20 minute uphill before you get to a trailhead. I keep it high all the way up and then on the downhill i keep it high and just get off the back...

I ride with my seat about an inch lower than what would be considered proper height for a XC set-up (full extension, but not locked knees) anyways on my mountain bike. However, when I've got a long climb or a flat trail, I raise it to this point. When I'm riding more technical stuff and steep drops, I'll drop it another two inches.

I'm a firm believer and user of a good quality quick release.