Discover how you can set your bike saddle height quickly and accurately! Here, Manon shows you a step-by-step guide on how to achieve the right fit for your bike, ensuring comfort and performance so you can sit comfortably every time you go for a ride!
Fun fact π The 0.883 measurement was made famous by 3x Tour de France winner Greg LeMond, but it was actually his coach, Cyrille Guimard, who discovered it way back in the 1980βs.
Introduction 00:00
Letβs Get Started 00:29
The Heel Method 00:58
Flexibility Matters 02:08
Inseam Measurement 02:25
Saddle Angle & Position 04:43
Checks To Make Sure Everything Is Correct 05:45
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finding the optimal saddle height is the foundation of setting up your bike it’ll help ensure you have a comfortable pain-free and efficient ride there’s many different ways of going around finding your saddle height you could go down the professional route of going to see a bike fitter or you can do it in the comfort of your own home and if you have chosen to do it yourself well you’re in the right place cuz I’m going to show you a few quick and easy ways to find the right saddle height for you before we get into this I would suggest popping your bike on an indoor trainer if you have one I always find it easier because it means you can jump on and off your bike is static and it’s really easy to make adjustments and have a little ride and see how it feels just make sure that your bike is level when you are doing that or if you don’t have an indoor trainer absolutely no worries just find somewhere that is fairly quiet that you can lean up against something and also go for a little ride to make sure it feels okay there are a number of basic methods that you can use to find the right saddle height but one of the quickest ways to find it is the heel method that some of you might have used before it requires no equipment apart from an allen key to do your adjustments and it can be done in less than a minute and it’s one that is really good to find the rough ball point of your saddle height one that is really handy to do if you’re maybe going to the gym and using an exercise bike and you need to find your saddle height quickly so for this you’re going to want to put on your cycling shoes or whatever shoes you choose to ride your bike in and then you want to sit on your bike so once you’re on your bike you need to put one of your pedals at the 6:00 position so right down at the bottom then you want to pop your heel on the pedal and your leg should feel like it’s fairly locked out but you shouldn’t be overreaching to be able to reach the pedal you might need to get off and adjust the saddle height put it up or down a little bit but it should feel like your heel could just about touch the pedal once you have that locked out position you then want to put your feet on the pedals normally and clip in and then have a pedal and that should feel pretty good it is worth bearing in mind that this method doesn’t take flexibility into account so if you are not very flexible or some of your muscles are super tight you might need to put your saddle down again this is a rough ballp you still might need to adjust by a few millimeters up or down but just have a little tweak and see what feels good for you so the heel method is probably the quickest way to find your saddle h but if you found that method hasn’t really worked for you here’s another one for you so this one is done by measuring your inseam you can do this on your own or if you have someone to measure inseam you can do it that way too you just want to make sure that person um is okay getting up close and personal with you but if you’re doing yourself you’re going to need a book a measuring tape and a pencil and a calculator as well for this you’re going to want to take off your cycling shoes find a nice flat that wall let us stand up against make sure your back is against the wall and then pop the book in between your legs make sure it’s touching the wall behind you and then try and keep the book very still as you come away from the wall it’s quite hard to do and then you want to measure or take a pencil and pop a little Mark for this I’m not going to mark this W cuz I will get in trouble but it’s just where that red jersey is there and then take your measurement by putting the tape measure and bringing it to the floor so my in measurement was 75 cm I then want to take my calculator and do 75 * 0.883 and that’s going to give me a number of 66 so I then want to take 66 cm on my tape measure and measure from the bottom bracket to the top of the saddle so this is going to be quite a good test to see how accurate this method is so I’ve left my saddle height in the normal position I usually ride in to see how close it is so it was 66 cm and then you kind of just want to keep it in line with the seat post and that is pretty bang on pretty impressive that that’s really close so once you’ve set your saddle height to the right adjustment jump on your bike have a little pedal see how it feels if it doesn’t feel quite right you can always put it up or down a few millimeters but as always it does take a while to get used to a new saddle height even if it is a few millimeters up or down other things that can affect your saddle height and how your saddle height feels is the actual saddle itself and the for and after the saddle and the saddle Angle now if you have no idea how forward or backward you want your saddle I would recommend starting bang on in the middle in a really neutral position on the rails and then go for a ride see how it feels if you feel like it’s not quite right or you not quite sitting on your sit bones enough you can always move it a little bit forward or if you like you’re too far forward move it back as well again with the angle I ride with mine in quite a neutral position anyway but some people like to point it down a tiny bit but just bear in mind if you do point it Town it might make you feel like you’re falling off the front of the saddle and you feel like you need to push yourself back all the time time these kind of things do take quite a bit of time getting used to riding the bike and seeing what you like so few things to bear in mind there but now I want to move on to some visual things to look out for or to feel when you’re riding and to kind of little signs that your settle height might not be quite right so when you’re riding you want to make sure that your pelvis is nice and stable on the bike you don’t want your hips rotating from side to side as you pedal if they are it might mean that your saddle is too high and you’re overextending meaning that your hip has to compromise as well so you might want to bring your saddle down a little bit you also want to make sure that your foot is nice and neutral you don’t want your toes pointing down or your heel pointing down just a nice even foot and then last one is to make sure that you have a nice efficient pedal stroke you don’t want any dead points in your pedal stroke that again might mean that your saddle is too high and you’re going to essentially be losing power so those were some quick ways to find your saddle height but just to note you should never be in pain when you’re riding if you have pain in your knees or your hips or your foot maybe go and seek some professional advice in a bike fit or a physiotherapist they might be able to help as well but do let me know in the comments what you thought and how you find your cyle height and if you did enjoy this video make sure to give it a big thumbs up
37 Comments
What is your method for finding the correct saddle height? Let us know π
My favorite way to set up a bike is Bike Fast Fit. It's an inexpensive app that helps measure, adjust, and refine your position on the bike. Highly recommended.
Respectfully, your voice is a cross between Minnie Driver and a chainsaw, like,
Damn I want to stab myself in both ears with a soldering iron.
Is Manon pregnant?
Thanks for the tips!
So what is the .883?
Does it work in inches?
Thank you Manon.
I'm a simple man. I see Manon, I hit like & comment!
Damnnn…. Manon. ππ
Do I have to consider how big my warrior balls are when measuring my inseam?
Bruh how many videos does gcn have in adjusting saddle heights lol
2:56 Errrrrr, that's not a flat wall.
3:46 I'm curious as to why the 0.883 factor is used nowadays. When I was first getting into cycling in the late 80s the received wisdom was to use 1.09 x inseam but this was the saddle – pedal axle measurement. I used this for years but tend to settle for the 'heel' method now (caveat: I've never ridden competitively).
The modern method neglects the crankarm length which, it seems, would result in a slightly higher saddle (when compared with the 1.09 method) if you have short legs and a comparatively lower saddle for long-legged riders*. Still, I guess if it works that's fine!
*because crankarm lengths vary less than rider height, so when you add that back onto the 0.883 x inseam measurement a 165 crank will be proportionally longer on a short rider than a 180mm crank would be to a tall rider…
Your saddle is at least one inch to low imo and toe clips don't alow your clip to be far enough forward. Your knee should be at less of a angle to max your power at the start of your stroke. I have been to so many bike mechanics that say the heal method is the best. But really only if you want to tire out fast and have 12 inch thick thighs
22,222 views and 1.1k likes is as satisfying to my OCD as it is a crime against how good this video is
#TeamManon
Super helpful video Manon & gcn! These are always worth going over! Just helped our eldest when they were getting a new commuter bike. This is Super helpful for bike sizing too! I found with my Brooks B17 saddle on my Kona Sutra Touring Bike, I had to play a bit with the fore/after. A plumb line (or screw hanging from a thread if you don't have a plumb line) from the centre of the knee to the pedal spindle (ball of foot) really helped. Had to do it all again because we got Cirrus cylcles Kinekt Bodyfloat suspension seatposts. (First heard about them on gcn few years back). Keep this great content coming! Love it!
Manon is sooooooooooo sexy !!!
I think you can compensate for a low saddle but a high saddle may be a problem whose only solution is to be lowered. I have some bikes with a lower saddle and some with a higher one and I find it beneficial to ride in multiple positions. Lower saddle will give the knee joints more stress I find
Great video. The calculation was really helpful and confirmed my estimate was pretty on the money. Depending on crank length there will be some fine adjusting.
Good video but there's a couple of issues with the methods shown. The first method doesn't take into account the stack height. This can vary nearly 10mm between the different types of pedals/cleats. It also is kinda assuming that you are riding in road bike shoes which have essentially no depth between your heel and the shoe heel. Mountain bike shoes can easily have 15-20mm of heel that road bike shoes don't. The second method doesn't allow for variations in crank length. With crank ranges between 160 and 180mm there is a 20mm range that isn't accounted for. The inseam measurement method should be used and scaled to suit the pedal position at 6 o'clock rather than the centre of the BB.
The Badgerβs method was to raise the saddle height by increments until your hips rock, then take the saddle back down the last increment.
Whatβs the reason to calculate yy x 0,883? Whereβs the 0,883 coming from? Thank you β€
Manon the best π
I'm a simple man, I see Manon on the thumbnail and click to learn about anything.
the .883 method is called the Greg Lemond method and he apparently rode 175 cranks.
So maybe it'll end up a bit on the low side for shorter riders?
With my fore foot in the peddle, I adjust the height Just to the point where my knee can adopt 2 positions easily i.e. fore and aft with out any tension forcing it back to straight. For a quick adjust and go, I use the heel + 1/2cm method. I found this latter method in one of Lance Armstrongs books.
Im of the opinion you should always have a slightly forward tilt on the saddle since your hands will alway impart a little force backwards.
The bike shop messed up my saddle height. I spent one-day readjusting it.
Awesome & Thanks π
@gcn Does the inseam x 0,883 method works for all heights? Does it work for Conor? Whats his inseam and saddle height? Thanks for the video.
Can you please explain how you can take your inseam *0,883 ?
It dosnt take the crank arm length in regard?
Surely @4:30 this is not how your feet usually sit? You look like a ballerina.
Itβs hard to see whatβs important in a video. Itβs not as easy as it should be. If the persons got good body awareness, theyβll be able to tell when itβs close to right when itβs a little off, but not when itβs way off usually. So itβs important to get it close first. That said, most people have their seat to high, including those set from using motion tracking software. This is under pedaling load. So the important thing youβre looking for at full leg extension, or straightness, you want a smooth full extension moment, if the person has full control over that movement their height is either right or too low. When the extension is too much and you have a knee βflickerβ as it extends back, if the knee angle gets too straight to where the quad overpowers the hamstring, then the seat is too high. That said, itβs better to start off too low than too high. When itβs too high, you will have body asymmetry compensation (one leg shorter, hip differences etc), but if itβs low, there wonβt be body compensation. So my suggestion is, do the heel technique shown in the video, but from that measurement, lower the seat 15-20 mm, and start from there. Ride on a trainer or road for 20 mi, then every 3-4 minutes raise the seat 3mm. If you have decent body awareness of what your legs are doing, you get to a point where you feel youβre not in full control of your knees at the bottom of the stroke, usually just one. As soon as you feel that asymmetry difference, you want to lower the seat back down 2-3mm, and ride at that height for a while.
In addition to my other post, itβs important to mention that crank arm length is just as critical as seat height. If you set your seat height to where it should be at the bottom of the pedal stroke, itβs very possible if youβre a short leg person on a bike with too long of cranks, that youβll have an issue with the pedal bringing your leg up too high into your gut or putting your leg at a mechanical disadvantage at the top of the stroke, maybe making your knee kick out to the side. So if youβre 5β7β or shorter, youβll likely benefit from cranks 170mm or shorter, and if youβre shorter than 5β6, you definitely want to consider 165mm arms.
Manon <3
I haven't felt the need to adjust my seat height for ages, i hit the wall sits reasonably hard this week and felt i needed to raise it by a couple of mm.
Very educational and well explained, will definitely use this.