Saddle height vs. bar height

What is current best thinking on where saddle height should be in relation to
bar height. I was discussing this with some fellow cyclists today and they
maintained that they had to be the same height. My view was that for mountain
bikes the bar was usually a little lower than the seat.

It was a fairly trivial debate! What is the modern thinking on this issue and
is there a distinction between road bikes and mountain bikes?

Cheers,

Steve

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Email steve 'at' shodgson 'dot' org 'dot' uk

On Thu, 18 Aug 2005 17:58:28 +0100, Steve Hodgson
wrote:

What is current best thinking on where saddle height should be in relation to
bar height. I was discussing this with some fellow cyclists today and they
maintained that they had to be the same height. My view was that for mountain
bikes the bar was usually a little lower than the seat.

It was a fairly trivial debate! What is the modern thinking on this issue and
is there a distinction between road bikes and mountain bikes?

Cheers,

Steve

On my tourer, bars are about 2" lower than saddle, on road bike some
4-5" - on both, saddle nose points slightly downwards to accomodate
gonads (can I say that here ?)

Tony

in message et, Steve
Hodgson ') wrote:

What is current best thinking on where saddle height should be in
relation to bar height. I was discussing this with some fellow cyclists
today and they maintained that they had to be the same height. My view
was that for mountain bikes the bar was usually a little lower than the
seat.

It was a fairly trivial debate! What is the modern thinking on this
issue and is there a distinction between road bikes and mountain bikes?

Not much. Your saddle should normally be quite a bit higher than your
bars for optimum performance - I have the saddle about 50mm higher than
the bars on all my bikes. If you're doing stunty jumpy stuff or lunatic
downhilling you probably want the saddle lower than the bars, but you
won't get back up the hill that way.

--
(Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

;; ... exposing the violence incoherent in the system...

Steve Hodgson wrote in
al.net:

What is current best thinking on where saddle height should be in
relation to bar height. I was discussing this with some fellow
cyclists today and they maintained that they had to be the same
height. My view was that for mountain bikes the bar was usually a
little lower than the seat.

It was a fairly trivial debate! What is the modern thinking on this
issue and is there a distinction between road bikes and mountain
bikes?

Yes, air resistance is much more of an issue for a roadie so they will
generally have the bars very low, much lower than the seat. I guess
mountain bikers'll put them where they have most control over steering and
balance?

For normal everyday cyclists there isn't really a rule and bar height
varies with type of bike, fashion and individual rider comfort - there's no
'should', tho level or slightly higher is normally regarded as more
'relaxed' than below.

Tony wrote:

(can I say that here ?)


I don't think anyone has ever expressed an objection to using it but if
you are worried you could always write it as "t**t"



--
Tony

"I did make a mistake once - I thought I'd made a mistake but I hadn't"
Anon

in message , Tony
') wrote:

On Thu, 18 Aug 2005 17:58:28 +0100, Steve Hodgson
wrote:

What is current best thinking on where saddle height should be in
relation to bar height. I was discussing this with some fellow cyclists
today and they maintained that they had to be the same height. My view
was that for mountain bikes the bar was usually a little lower than the
seat.

It was a fairly trivial debate! What is the modern thinking on this
issue and is there a distinction between road bikes and mountain bikes?

On my tourer, bars are about 2" lower than saddle, on road bike some
4-5" - on both, saddle nose points slightly downwards to accomodate
gonads (can I say that here ?)

Interestingly after I fitted tribars to the Dolan I found I needed to
raise the saddle a further 2cm and, for the reason you state, tilt the
saddle down. Always before I've had my saddle horizontal and had assumed
that a tilted saddle would be uncomfortable but it Just Works[TM].

--
(Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

;; When your hammer is C++, everything begins to look like a thumb.

in message 63, Mark
Thompson ') wrote:

Steve Hodgson wrote in
al.net:

What is current best thinking on where saddle height should be in
relation to bar height. I was discussing this with some fellow
cyclists today and they maintained that they had to be the same
height. My view was that for mountain bikes the bar was usually a
little lower than the seat.

It was a fairly trivial debate! What is the modern thinking on this
issue and is there a distinction between road bikes and mountain
bikes?

Yes, air resistance is much more of an issue for a roadie so they will
generally have the bars very low, much lower than the seat. I guess
mountain bikers'll put them where they have most control over steering
and balance?

It's just the same issue. Look at this photo:
URL:http://www.stewartry-wheelers.org/wheelers/pictures/gareth_sm.jpg

If you want to go fast on a mountain bike, you'll have the seat high and
the bars low. Gareth, in that photo, is the fastest cross country
cyclist in Scotland this year by some margin.

--
(Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

IMHO, there aren't enough committed Christians, but that's care
in the community for you. -- Ben Evans

Steve Hodgson wrote:
What is current best thinking on where saddle height should be in
relation to bar height. I was discussing this with some fellow
cyclists today and they maintained that they had to be the same
height. My view was that for mountain bikes the bar was usually a
little lower than the seat.

It was a fairly trivial debate! What is the modern thinking on this
issue and is there a distinction between road bikes and mountain
bikes?

Keen riders of both tend to have the bars lower than saddle, some by just
a few mm, some a good few inches.

Whatever, saddle height should be set for what's best for pedalling and
arse-comfort, then bar height set after that for whatever provides the
desired comfort, aerodynamics or handling. Some of the riders who don't
mind speed being compromised will have the bars as high or higher than the
saddle. Reach is just as important as height, though.

~PB

Simon Brooke wrote:
It's just the same issue. Look at this photo:
URL:http://www.stewartry-wheelers.org/wheelers/pictures/gareth_sm.jpg

If that's your '10' course then serious kudos for getting anywhere near
30 mins..

...d

;-)

BikeFit just recommended that this average proportioned male of 173cm
male have a drop of 8 cm for "sport/road riding". Back in realityville,
I tend to have the bars about level to 4cm lower (10 cm lower on the
track bike but the frame is small).

I think comfort is the driver, my wife has her bars about 8cm higher,
but she has short arms.

Saddle is absolutely level, measured by spirit level. For aerobars one
may tilt down placing more weight on the arms which are better
supported than without bars. Sore wrists will ensue otherwise.

regards
daren
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