Anyone ever have there seat lowered?
 

Someone thought it was a good idea to mess with my saddle. They shifted it so its sitting on the wrong part of the rails, and lowered the seat almost ALL the way down. I didnt even realize it till today, but i think it happened two days ago. I noticed a weird creaking on my saddle, and finally had a chance to look at it today when i noticed the seat was also much lower.

Im just glad it didnt break while i was riding it, or they didnt decided to steal it. Has anyone else had the same experience?

It took you two days to notice?

Are you sure the bolt/QR was tight? I've had mine drift down slowly on a long ride and took several miles to figure out why the bike just kept feeling more and more wrong.

Yup, two days to notice, i felt something was up but it didnt occur to me what was wrong. Felt my seat creaking and didnt check it out till yesterday.

I learned to check my bike once a week for any mechanical problems. lol.

Perhaps i may have not tighthen the bolt good enough and it just gradually slipped down. The thing is, ive been having sciatic nerve problems, and this actually helped me out (but it hurt my knees more) Now im trying to figure out how i can get that comfort i was getting with the seat lowered, without lowering my seat. It seems that with the seat higher up my perineal area rests more on the saddle than my sit bones. Any ideas?Been thinking of getting a wider saddle but i dont know if that would fix anything.

Sounds to me like someone was trying to take your saddle and was interrupted. Get a saddle leash or use an old bike chain to lock your saddle rails to the seatstays.

I say have the saddle at the correct height because as you noticed, your knees began hurting. After that, you may want to tilt the saddle slightly nose up to relieve pressure in the perineal area. While it sounds counter intuitive it actually allows your sitbones to take the pressure.

Im with bragi- I can tell the difference when I move my seat one millimeter.

But you probably came close to having your seat stolen. Lemme guess: you haven't had the bike for long and you live and ride in a city. You should get a cable leash for it and strap it down..

The reason it sounds counter intuitive is because is isn't true. If perineal pressure is an issue pointing the saddle up, even a little will not help. I have seen this advice offered as an aid to relieving weight on the hands and finger numbness. I see so much advice offered here that is clearly just a forwarding of information that has not been parsed through the offerers own experience. Here is what I can offer on the subject based on my own experience:

Knee's will indeed hurt if a saddle is too low. If perineal pressure is an issue get a saddle that does not have a perineal area i.e. an anatomic or cutout saddle. Place it level or tilt it slightly up but if you tilt it down, even a little you will be very annoyed at having to constantly push yourself back onto the saddle. Bring your saddle forward enough so you can easily rise from the saddle as you go over stuff in the road. When you can lift yourself off the saddle without even thinking about it you will also be able to spin without thinking about it. Don't take my word for this, experiment, yourself. Find the correct height for your handlebars and seat and the proper amount of forward or backward set of your saddle and the proper degree of nose (up) tilt by experimenting. When you know what feels bad you will know what feels good.

H

This. Anyone who imagines a saddle theif armed with a 6mm allen key and enough time to alter the forward/backward.... hell in the time it took me to type that he would have been gone with the wind (and the saddle).

I had the saddle at a pretty good height before it got lowered, i think i had that part nailed but im still in the process of experimenting with saddle height and tilt. Havent rode since i raised my saddle back up but i got on and noticed some compression in the perineal area. Ill report back and see how it feels. Ive tried tilting the saddle up and down, and i did feel it to be more comfortable in my experience having it tilted up so that my sitbones take the pressure but no matter which way i tilt it pain just kept starting up after a while. I noticed no perineal pain when my saddle was down but like i mentioned knee pain was getting more prominent. Im thinking i might just need a wider saddle.

Im in LA, had the bike since november of 2010, but just recently started riding daily again. I have been thinking of securing it with some solder inside the allen heads (shouldnt be too hard to remove with some soldering wick and soldering gun) I just havent got around to that because i wanted to nail the position where i dont get anymore pain but i still cant get it right.

Thanks for the advice, the saddle i own currently is a Terry Fly Ti (has cutout), and the bike i own is a Giant Rapid 3 (hybrid/road? it has been referred as a road bike without the drops, and a bit more upright than a road bike) I have found that what you say about tilting it down to be true, it is really annoying to constantly push myself up on the saddle. Can you elaborate a bit on your next sentence? Im not sure what exactly you mean by bringing it forward enough to rise up easily. Does it get harder to rise up in certain positions?

I probably didnt secure it tight enough or who knows! :P It does seem like i would have gotten my seat stolen rather than lowered and tilted. Whatever ended up happening, it felt more comfortable on my perinium but less on my knees lol.

Rode to school today, and yep the pain is back. I kinda figured out what you mean by "rise up" from the saddle easily. Its not exactly pain but rather chafing, im getting some new boxer briefs in this week, hopefully these dont rise up. Hopefully no more pain after that but im doubting it. I have no idea why i didnt raise my saddle back up earlier, the difference is night and day. Guess i just assumed it was cause i had not rode in a while. The biggest difference was the handlebars obviously felt lower, so maybe i have to raise them up for a more upright position.

If you have someone in your life you trust enough to be in intimate proximity with your junk have them help you measure your inseam. I suppose you could go and buy an expensive pair of slacks and have the measuring done by a professional but I'm thinking that's overkill. Multiply your inseam measurement by .883 and that is a good starting point for a decent saddle height. That is from the top of the saddle to the center of your crank bolt (bottom bracket). Not to the pedal. I like to feel like the pedals are almost right under me. Actually they aren't they are some distance out in front but when I stand up on them and sit down the seat is right there I don't have to scootch back to find it. I commute in proper cycling shorts, flat seams! No boxers, no briefs. You can get running shorts or cycling shorts without chamois padding. Mine are padded but I have unpadded ones as well. With your seat at the right height your handlebars should be at least an inch higher, maybe even two. Four inches and even more is quite common for cruiser type bikes so two isn't anything excessive.

H

Never had it happen. I notice even a mm or two difference now days :(

title there => their
Just had to, it was driving me crazy. "there" is a location (over there), "their" means belonging to them. My brain processes "there seat" and it's like fingers on a chalkboard.

Aww, just peddle your bike to the shop and get your breaks fixed will ya :)

Thanks for this! I Will try out this form of measuring. At my current seat height i believe the handlebars are maybe half inch-inch below the seat. The position is a bit agressive (not as much as a road bike) but i found that after riding a bit my body got accustumed to it and the sciatic, or back pain is no longer their! I dont find too much discomfort in the perineal area either, but i feel i may benefit from a slight angled up tilt. Ill mess around with the saddle once the summer semester is over. Im just glad the back pain went away! :)