How high should my bike seat be?

I've read a few articles that say if you should lean against a wall and peddle backwards with your heels then you should raise the seat so that your heel only just touches the pedal on the downstroke. Any thoughts on this? does it make a difference if you have clip ins? ( I don't )

In general the heel on the pedal idea is a standard starting point. Everyone has their preference for exact seat height within a fairly narrow range. The idea is that your saddle should be high enough to allow you to pedal with just a little knee bend at the bottom of your pedal stroke while never locking out your knees. This makes for a more powerful, less tiring riding position. You ride with the balls of your feet on the pedals.

If your saddle's too high you will rock on the saddle making for a very uncomfortable ride and can injure your butt and knees. If your saddle's too low, it will put a lot of pressure on your knees and could cause injury riding hard or long. Also it's much harder to pedal with your knees bent too much.

The vast majority of people ride with saddles far too low. Some people even think you should be able to touch your feet on the ground while seated - that's a sure sign your saddle is too low.

it depnds on how tall u r

i would ust say have your leg extended on the down stroke, but not locked out.

also. when you are in mid stroke, there should be a 90 degree bend in your leg

you should almost have your knee fully extended on your down stroke. For some good info go to http://sheldonbrown.com/saddles.html#hei...

Good question Joe - I am currently re-evaluating mine!

The 'Heel method' which you describe is certainly the one most commonly used, It's a good starting point but I'm not convinced it's the most effective.

The '109% method' (based on inseam measurement) doesn't work for me ! - Nor does the 'LeMond method'

The ball of the foot on the pedals, with a slight bend at the knee on full extention is correct ( As M R also states,- various issues can arise if incorrect).

If you change saddle or pedal type, you should always check your seat height.

I am playing around with a protractor at the moment ('Holmes method') - trying to find the optimum knee angles, call me picky if you like but I do ride some hard miles and want to get the best out of my cycling whilst avoiding injury.

Do as MR says for general riding though!

Hope this helps.

EDIT: Matt Kevin - it's interesting to note that you are "really proportional between legs and torso" ???? (whatever that means) and your friend "rised his seat" whilst you lowered yours????

Before you start calling serious cycling science 'ridiculous'!
Consider the fact that companies such as Litespeed often take upwards of two hours to size you for a new bike !!

There are variables regarding proper saddle positioning such as length of tibia and femur (although you seem to think arm length is important to saddle height??).

Thanks for your opinion though, as with all contributors.

EDIT2: Mark S - It's nice to see that you have taken some time to evaluate seat height, The reason I'm playing with mine is, I have just read of a study that claims too low a seat height can decrease time to exhaustion by as much as 12%!

As they say "Every little helps" - Cheers!
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What size is the frame, and what style of seat do you use. The dimensions are slightly different for the newer, I-beam saddles.

I rise it as high as it's comfortable to me. I don't use any methods to do so because- thing that works for you might not work for others.
It depends on a lot of things- what is the balance of your body- what makes the most of your height- the legs or the torso? what size your bike is? what size your bike is proportionally to your body? how long are your arms? what type of pedals do you use? and so on......


In my opinion, the height of your seat must be as high as it feels good to you personally. Without going deep into findind the right method to rise the seat (ridiculous), after some time you'll figure out what works the best for you.
like... I rode in a team and my mate rised his seat as high as possible, I used it much lower, although we're totally the same height, the only thing- his legs make most of the height while I'm really proportional between my legs and torso so I didn't need the seat as high as him..... simple
happy ridin'

Use the "heel test" that you've described as a starting point. A "point to ponder" is that most people I know like their seats a bit higher than that. A seat that is just right when starting feels too low by about 1/4 inch after they've loosened up. However, YMMV.

You want to feel comfortable throught the entire pedal stroke. If you feel that your hips are rocking when you pedal, your seat is too high.

HTH

In general the "heel method" will get you pretty close. There are a lot more factors in setting up the saddle than simply the height. Even pro's will regularly fiddle with their setups. Back in the eighties I was a member of a group study at the OTC that measured the effect of saddle height on power output. The findings were very surprising in that it showed that even fairly significant changes in saddle height, made no noticeable change in power output. Changes of a centimeter or more in elite cyclists made no difference. After years of racing at an elite level, and always tinkering with my setup, I have found that the setup of the shoes, cleats, and pedals, are more important than the setup of the saddle. Use the "heel method". It will get you close enough. On the other hand, getting your shoes setup correctly, is a whole lot more difficult. I could write a book on that subject.