Road Cycling - Seat Height

Can someone here pls advice me on how high my seat or saddle should be. I posted this question on another bike forum and was told that if the ball of my foot (just under my toes) are touching the ground, in which they are then I'm riding a BMX, and if my toes are just touching the ground, then you are riding a road bike or racer. Also if do adjust my seat slightly higher, where my toes would be touching the ground, then when I get on the saddle wouldn't I be stretching alot as well to get up.

Your help would be appreciated.

The generally accepted rule of thumb is to have a slight bend in the knee when the pedal is at the bottom with your feet in the normal riding position, or legs straight with your heel on the pedal. Another method is to make sure your hips aren't "rocking", when you are pedaling.

Hope this helps.

Having spent some time this spring trying to correct my saddle height, I'll offer the following observations:

Judge the saddle height with respect to the bike, not the ground (after all, you are not touching the ground when riding).

The method that worked best for me was this:

1. get a friend to help hold the bike (or you can stand next to a wall for balance or you can mount the bike on a trainer with the frontwheel raised on something to keep the bike level)

2. dress in your cycling shorts and shoes. Put your heals on the pedals and spin backwards several times.

3. Set the saddle so that when one pedal is all the way at the bottom of the stroke, your leg is straight.

4. You should be able to # 2. without your hips rocking at all.

5. After doing all this, check the fore-aft position of the saddle. If you have to readjust it, then double check the saddle height afterwards.

With this method, you should get a nice bend at the knee (I have seen 26-30 degrees posted as about ideal) when you ride normally clipped in.

While many casual cyclists make the mistake of setting their saddles too low, I would just like to warn you that setting it too high can be just as problematic. If your hips rock back and forth, the saddle is probably too high.

Best of luck.

p.s. you may want to search the forum for saddle height. There were several discussions of it earlier this spring.

I've found that the traditional formula, 0,883 * inseam (on bare fett), works quite well for me. I've got 90 cm inseam and my saddle should be at 79,5 cm according to the formula, and it's at 80 cm on my both bikes and it feels good to me. Last summer before I knew anything about the "science" of fitting, I rode with my saddle at 82 cm. That was too high, I had to ride with my toes pointing down and it didn't feel as comfortable as it should. Try this "0.883 * inseam" method, if you don't find it comfortable, then try something else, it's also a personal preference thing.