When I was putting my rear mud guard on the other day I marked off the seat height with some tape. That tape promptly fell off and I've been making minor incremental changes to my seat height ever since. Am I being ridiculously touchy or do all we high performance athletes get so fussy about it. Are you happy with ball park or does it have to be exact?

I'm probably happier with ball park than I ought to be. Considering your knees, you may want to be exact. Some people consider it a good investment to get a professional fitting for their bike.

You are not being over fussy imho, I went through the same procedure when I got my road bike, it took a while but I finally got it just right, I would ride for half an hour or so and then adjust by ~2mm.
[B]TIP when you get it right mark it with a permanent marker or (cringe) scratch a mark around the post.

I'm pretty picky about mine.

Years ago I measured from the top of my seat to the lower pedal spindle with the crank parallel to the seat tube. I had that number tattooed in mirror vision on my forehead. You should have that done too.

I mark mine with electrician's tape; not fail-safe, but works pretty well.

Check this out. from nashbar for $2 It is called a seatpost reminder. Don't have one but this thread reminded me of it.

I am underly fussy. Last fall I put my seat down a bit so I wouldn't be falling as far on the ice. Now the post is stuck in the tube (or is it the other way around?) but so far I've been too lazy to get it unstuck. Except I did download Sheldon Brown's 15 tips for unsticking a saddle. The seat height doesn't bother me too much on shorter winter jaunts, but will probably be a problem when I take longer rides in the warm weather. I guess we're all different in how much "offness" we can tolerate.

Kind of picky here, as you might have suspected! I've got a knee that bugs me if the seat isn't adjusted exactly so. I carry Allen wrenches in case I need to adjust the post during a ride.

That seatpost reminder doohickey is a good idea, but I tend to change saddles frequently as I'm on a Holy quest for one that I can ride for 4 hours without consequence!

BTW--ever see how a lot of teenagers ride those little stunt bikes and BMXs? Their seats so low that their arses are dragging on the ground! It seems like that would hurt after a while, but their knees are young and still under warranty. They do stand up to ride much of the time.

I never understood that. I remember when I lived in Atlanta I was at a pub soaking down some ale and there was some tall lanky guy that must have been a good 6 foot. He was riding one of those BMX bikes down the street. All I could think of in my pie-eyed state was that it reminded me of the clowns at the circus when they ride those little itty bitty bikes.

I think that lad was probably training for a century on his BMX.

Yeah, what is it with those BMX bikes. They look like the most uncomfortable bikes you could get. There's a miasma of kids riding these things around town (and walking them passed me on my uphill leg the little bastards). They don't appear to be ridable up hills and as Ash points out, their knees are up around their ears, reminiscent of those monkeys riding bikettes in the circus.

They are b****y fast down hill though, so low there is very little drag.
I also cringe at the seat height, looks painfull.

I use automotive touch-up paint. Works well, especially if you're one to remove the seatpost often (to fit in the back of the car, ferinstance) ... I've also heard that scratching the seatpost isn't too good for it; structural integrity and all....

If that tiny, barely visable scratch affects the "structural integrity..." then I have a lot more to worry about.

I have been advised that scratching or etching is NOT a good idea if the seat post is made of carbon. True?