Originally Posted by
Dunbar
Here's a picture, I have been raising the seat up to eliminate knee pain. The drop is just an estimate but I have a 31.5" cycling inseam and the frame is 19.5". I'm only 5'9" so I didn't think a 21.5" frame made sense. I've thought some sort of stem raiser + some 1.5" riser bars that I could rotate to tweak seat-to-bar length would do the trick.
Holy smokes your saddle is high!
I printed a picture and measured, figured out the scale of the picture vs. real life (based on the 19.5" seatube you mentioned) and used the ratio to estimate saddle height...
According to my rough calculations, your saddle height is over 33 inches from the bottom bracket. To put this in perspective, an old formula for estimating saddle height is 0.883 X inseam... which for you would be 27.8" (although I don't have much faith in this formula, it gives a decent rough estimate), so your saddle might be five inches too high! I am willing to bet that you are reaching waaay down with your feet when you pedal, or that your hips rock tremendously... both of which are generally considered bad form.
Perhaps your knee pain was not a result of low saddle height? Have you ever been properly fitted by an experienced shop? Otr at least ask them to evaluate your fit on the bike. You are so far out of whack now that I hesitate to give advice because I can't even imagine how you ride that thing how it is now.