saddle adjustment
 

I'm a little confused. How do you know when you have your saddle adjusted correctly? I find when I'm about 10 miles into a ride I seem to be further and further back on my saddle. I ride with my hands very forward on my mtb bike and the saddle is all the way back.

I never was good at anatomy - the big bones in my butt are very near the back of the saddle. I'm 6 feet tall - my bike has an 18 inch frame. I feel very comfortable on the bike. I have not made any alterations to the original compenents.

Your thoughts?

Is your seat height correct? Maybe that might have something to do with it. Or maybe not.

What type of bike do you have? Sizing for mountain-type bikes and touring/road bikes is different. 6ft may mean your bike is too small and certainly the fact that you keep slipping back on the saddle would seem to suggest that the top tube is too short. As a rough check, with your elbow bent at 90 degrees, place your elbow against the toe of the saddle. Your outstretched fingers should now just reach the handlebars. My guess would be that they overlap these. If that is the case then it may be that you need either a longer h/bar stem (taking the bars further away from you) or a larger bike frame.

I have a mtb, I suspect my frame maybe too small.

thx

Ginger

What kind of mountain bike and where and how do you ride?

A real mountain bike is designed for riding up and down steep hills. They tend to be a little bit short so that you can lean forward to load the front tire on the climbs and hang off the back of the saddle on the steep descents.

If you're essentially riding on rail-trail conversions, you might benefit from experimenting with a lower handlebar position or a longer stem.

It could also be that your saddle is angled back just a bit. That would be the first thing I would check. An 18" mtb should not be to small for you if you are 6'. An 18" frame will work for someone up to 6'2" easily.

What bike do you have(manufacturer/modle)? There are 18" frames with short toptubes (for a mtb) and that could be the problem but I do not think you would have one but you may.

You could ask your question the mountain bike section since a lot of the posters there do not look here and you may get more advice.

:beer:

My bike is a gary fisher - tassajara (sp?) - I ride on country roads, some hardpack, some hills. The bike has all original compenents - except the pedals. I bought it about 7 years ago, just starting to ride it now.

thx

My suggetion would be to take it to the local bike shop (lbs) and ask them if it is set up for you. Or if you know of any experienced riders ask them. It will be much easier to figure it out with some there helping you. We can tell you what and how but actually having some one in person explain it works much better.

:beer: