Originally Posted by
Road Fan
A 1 inch saddle lift is a large amount, for me - why did you do that? I presume you raised it on a bike you have used "a lot," so what made you do that?.
Because it was 1 inch too low. <grin>
For what ever reason, when the weather gets cold I don't ride as energetically or hard as I do in the summer. In November, December and January I'm only riding a day per week and at what I can say is a leisurely pace. So lowering my saddle makes for a tad more comfort for those leisurely rides. I'd probably benefit with a cruiser style bike for the winter days, but my garage has no room. I'm quite the pack rat!
I have found that on a road bike, my ideal saddle height for high effort rides is 109% of my 34.5" inseam. For less energetic rides 106% seems more comfortable. That works out to roughly 1 inch. Don't quote me as advocating that formula for everyone. I don't like it when people use formulas and ignore what their body is telling them. However I have seen the 109% inseam stated by some as a good starting point
for a road bike.
I measure my saddle height from the top of the saddle about where my sit bones normally are to the top of the pedal when furthest away from the saddle. That lets me get my saddle height close enough when I try out bikes with various length cranks. Not that I actually do that very much.