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Everything You Need To Know About MTB Saddle Position | GMBN Guide To Bike Setup - YouTube
Channel: GMBN Tech
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everyone knows that having a high site
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all means it's gonna feel a bit easier
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to pedal and having a low saddle means
[6]
it's gonna feel a bit safer offroad
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but there's a lot more to setting up
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your saddle position you might be aware
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of things like your cranks your pedals
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the shoes that you ride in and even
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handlebars all make a significant
[18]
difference to how comfortable you are
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when you're setting a saddle so let's
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take a look at all of those things so
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you can get the most comfortable
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position for you ok so although we're
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going to be focusing on getting your
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saddle the correct height moving it
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backwards and forwards on the rails and
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looking at the correct angle to suit
[37]
your riding we're also going to be
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looking at your other contact points
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that means your handlebars your stem
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even your grips and also the cranks and
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the pedals on your bike the relationship
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of these three contact areas on your
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bike actually plays a huge part in your
[52]
comfort but don't worry it's not that
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complicated it's just so you can
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pinpoint any issues if you do have them
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when you're out riding on the trail so
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first up let's get that saddle height
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nailed
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[Music]
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okay so the classic method for getting a
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saddle the correct height is based
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around maximum efficiency getting all of
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the power from your legs do you think
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your legs are just big mechanical levers
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and they've got joints if you're owning
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a saddle too high you could strain a
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joint likewise if you go too low it
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could just be a bit hard so the best
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pedaling angle so starting with your
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shoes first now if you have any sort of
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cycling shoes put those on if not put on
[93]
the sort shoes that you're likely to
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ride your bike in now this is quite
[96]
important because of the fact that the
[97]
thickness of the sole ultimately affects
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how high you're gonna run your saddle
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next up get yourself a set of allen keys
[103]
or if your bottle quick-release you'll
[105]
be fine with that this one's a four
[107]
millimeter on here by the way yours
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might be a four five or a six there the
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common options available next up get
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yourself in a place where you can lean
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up against something it could be the
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garden against the fence it could be
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against a tree kitchen worktop or if
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you've got workbench all the time simply
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get someone else to help you basically
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at this point now sling a leg over your
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bike now before you make any adjustments
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ball used to do is pedal backwards until
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your favorite foot is at the lowest part
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of the stroke down on you to put your
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heel on that pedal now what you're
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looking for here is to get your leg
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completely locked out now adjust the
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saddle until or adjust your seat post
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height until your leg is locked out
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now clearly you're not going to pedal in
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this position and you've done your legs
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to be locked out when you're pedaling
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what this does though
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is enables your leg to be the optimum
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angle when you actually put the ball of
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your foot over the pedal axle and the
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optimum angle is about a thirty degree
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bend in your leg now that gives you the
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best use of your leg muscles and the
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minimum pressure put for your joints
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after all the bike is supposed to be one
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of the most efficient machines
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essentially that is how you set the
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correct saddle height however there's
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more factors involved on a mountain bike
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on a road bike of course when you're not
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changing position so frequently it's
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vital to get your saddle in the perfect
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position
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that's fore-and-aft as well as up and
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down and then the pedal dynamics go into
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that as well the reason for that is the
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fact you're doing so many miles in the
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same position and if you've got any of
[196]
those elements wrong it could put strain
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on your knees
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and cause your hips even your back
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there's lots of different effects you
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can get on mountain bikes there we
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change our position quite a lot even
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when seated we move forwards and
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backwards on the saddle a lot whether
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it's climbing a steep face and you need
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to weight that front wheel or you're
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just moving around on the saddle over
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bumpy terrain you're pedaling along so
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for that basis the next thing I want you
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to do is to lower your saddle slightly
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yeah that's right lower it we're talking
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between one and three centimeters here
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nothing too crazy now let's just assume
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you haven't got a dropper seatpost if
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you did you could just lower it whenever
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you need to but if you haven't when
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you're riding in an off-road environment
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and you've got your saddle at that full
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efficient height if you're riding on
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chattery bumpy rough terrain you're
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trying to pedal it can be really
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off-putting and quite hard as sandals
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constantly kicking you upper back there
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as you're trying to spin those smooth
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circles to get our power down if you
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lower your saddle very slightly that's
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all it's going to take between one or
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three centimetres you just know what you
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to use the power in your legs as your
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peddler to just momentarily lift
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yourself away from the saddle as you
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feel those bumps it's a really good
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technique to use it and you see a lot of
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cross country races having that
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technique as an upside
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another thing enables you to do is to
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make the transition from seated to stood
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up and back much much faster and much
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smoother it can be a little bit awkward
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when you try and get back on a full
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efficient highest saddle of course so
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there isn't one slight downside you're
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going to lose a tiny bit of power so
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just to experiment with it but then like
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I said but in one or three centimeters
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and you're lower than that then your
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legs are gonna start working quite a lot
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harder so just take that into account
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[Music]
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so just like getting your saddle at the
[306]
optimum height there is also a method
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for getting a saddle forwards and
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backwards on the rails in the most
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comfortable and the most effective
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position for pedaling so get yourself
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back in the saddle
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now sit with your cranks in the
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horizontal position with your right foot
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forwards now what you're looking for
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here is a vertical line when you draw an
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imaginary line or a plumb line over the
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front of your kneecap and they're
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running down through their axle of the
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pedal now you can adjust your saddle
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fore and aft on those rails accordingly
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to get to that and most toddlers do have
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some kind of marking system on them for
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your reference so you can obviously move
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them two or three millimeters at a time
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and that can make quite a big difference
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so that's gonna get you in the best
[345]
position for getting power down however
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on a mountain bike there are some
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different factors to this ultimately as
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well as getting power down and making
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sure your limbs aren't under any sort of
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stress all you're looking for is
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ultimate performance that means been out
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to wait the rear wheel for traction also
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weight the front wheel so you've got
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control it's all about the dynamics of
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your position on the bike if you're too
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far rear woods when this is correct then
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you might as you want to run your saddle
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slightly forwards just to help you get
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the weight back on that front wheel and
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likewise if you're excessively tall or
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perhaps if your bike has a very shallow
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or a slack see angle on it the higher
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the state is the further away and the
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near over the rear wheel axle is going
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to get accordingly you're going to need
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to move the saddle forward to return
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that position now this is a rule of
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thumb it's a great place to start with
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and suggest doing this to get your
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saddle in a good base place now of
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course they're all going to be different
[400]
settings and different bikes and
[401]
different geometry they're going to
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affect this just for example if your
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bike has a very slack seat angle the
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higher saddle is the further out it's
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gonna get now you might have to
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excessively put your saddle forwards to
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get anywhere near that optimum position
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but just use that as a good place to
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start
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the last major part of your saddle
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position is getting that angle correct
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now this is really important because it
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can lead to discomfort if you get it
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wrong now if you run your saddle up nose
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down a lot of time if you're riding on
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the flat you're not gonna be out to get
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enough weight on that saddle and what
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happens then is you end up transferring
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a large part of your body weight
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forwards so your wrists are gonna get
[443]
that so if you've got sore wrists it
[445]
could well be because of the fact your
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saddle angle is nose-down now also if
[450]
you run your saddle over nose up angle
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in it that's also going to create your
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own different set of problems it can
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create pressure on your undercarriage
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areas which in the short term is going
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to be uncomfortable in the long term it
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can lead to numbness and extreme cases
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it can lead to medical conditions so do
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make sure that you spend the time to get
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your saddle at a good angle now the type
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of riding you're doing as well also
[473]
affect how you're going to have your
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saddle angle on a cross-country bike
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like this one fairly flat is a good
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place to start
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the predominant part of your riding will
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be flat maybe slightly uphill so you
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want to compensate for that by having a
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saddle in fact my slightly nose-down not
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much just enough to make those climbs
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comfortable and not take away from the
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power I can get down on the flat
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sections but if you look at my new proof
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here you'll see that the saddle is quite
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nose down now the top of riding I tend
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to do and that is up much steeper climbs
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often technical but I really need to get
[506]
forwards on the bike I don't tend to
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ride it around too much it has to be up
[510]
and down whereas a cross-country bike is
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up down along and over so accordingly
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this saddle is to be in a flatter
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position so make sure you do take that
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into account
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[Music]
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okay so you've got your saddle height
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and you've got a position dialed in at
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least to a good base setting but there
[530]
are some other factors that can affect
[532]
your comfort and it can be quite tricky
[533]
to figure out exactly what they are one
[536]
of them is the crank length on your bike
[538]
now if you're a road bike this makes a
[541]
massive effect but it's all about the
[543]
body geometry but like I was explaining
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with your saddle position it's less of
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an issue on a mountain bike because
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you're changing your position so
[549]
frequently however there are still some
[552]
anomalies that do make a bit of a
[554]
difference to your discomfort or your
[555]
comfort more importantly on a bike if I
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manufactures do a pretty good job of
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specking an appropriate length crank for
[567]
the style and the size of bike just for
[569]
example this is a size extra large cross
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country bike in it has a 175 millimeter
[573]
crank I'm six four three so this is
[576]
actually perfect for me however some
[579]
people have different body geometry of
[580]
their own if you've got shorter legs you
[582]
might want to run a 170 millimeter crank
[584]
and also there's other factors of
[586]
mountain bikes too because they're not
[588]
just about spinning those cranks around
[590]
we've actually got a tach wad of terrain
[592]
that we're riding my new proof reactor
[594]
for example has a much lower bottom
[596]
bracket than this bike it's designed to
[598]
be ridden over quite aggressive terrain
[600]
by comparison so accordingly even though
[603]
it's the same size bike in an extra
[605]
large it comes with a 117 milk crank the
[608]
reason for that is it has a bit more
[610]
ground clearance to be honest I
[611]
personally prefer 175 but it does work
[614]
okay on that bike now crank claims
[616]
differences can make a difference to
[618]
your comfort on a bike but only really
[620]
at the extreme end if you've got shorter
[622]
legs or longer legs and you're riding
[624]
over a shorter or longer crank it can
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cause discomfort but can be tricky to
[628]
figure out what it is so if there is a
[630]
feeling you're guessing your legs made
[631]
maybe you feel like you're extending
[633]
your legs too much then almost certainly
[635]
it will be your crank length so just
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take that one into account
[643]
okay so going on with the theme of the
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cranks is your pedals now you get two
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main types of pedals you get check those
[650]
pedals and you get flat pedals now let's
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start with the flat pedals the biggest
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thing you're gonna have to contend with
[656]
here is if the pedal actually fits your
[659]
foot if you have exceptionally large
[661]
feet and you're running quite a small
[663]
pedal you might find that the edge of
[665]
your foot actually sits over the edge of
[667]
the pedal so you can get cramp in your
[669]
foot if you're running flat pair of
[670]
shoes but also this can lead to knee
[672]
pain and this can be hard to sort of
[674]
determine this come from your pedals
[676]
because of the fact that your Saddler is
[678]
normally the source suspect for that now
[680]
just for example Warford just show you
[681]
here you've got two flat pedals they're
[683]
the same model of pedal and one is
[685]
substantially bigger than the other
[687]
now although they're recommended for
[688]
different sized feet that's there is
[690]
down to preference but this is a good
[691]
example of showing you that a bigger
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foot might not be suitable for using the
[695]
smaller pedal and of course if you've
[697]
got a small feet why have a massive
[699]
pedal that does weigh a bit more and
[700]
takes up space when you can have one the
[702]
fish or foot so that is just a small
[704]
thing to take into account but let's
[706]
take a look at clipless pedals next now
[708]
alright so they're not directly involved
[710]
with your saddle comfort but because the
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fact you're spending a lot of time
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pedaling you're definitely going to feel
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discomfort for the saddle if you've not
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got this right now only wrong we told
[720]
you about moving your saddle forwards
[721]
and backwards by using that plumb line
[723]
that runs around the front of your knee
[724]
and down through that pedal axle you've
[727]
got to take into account if you're
[728]
running Clippers peddlers you go cleats
[730]
on the bottom your shoes if you're going
[731]
to run your cleats forwards or backwards
[733]
you need to correlate that with your
[734]
saddle position so wherever it just
[736]
makes you make here you need to
[738]
compensate for that on the top now
[740]
something that can give you you need
[741]
discomfort is if you've not got your
[743]
cleats quite straight or if you've got
[745]
them overly in or outboard now of course
[748]
we're all different we all have
[749]
different size for you all have slightly
[751]
different stances and they all have a
[753]
different effects on how you set them up
[754]
no one person is the same if you've got
[757]
especially big feet for example you
[759]
might find that you're rubbing your feet
[760]
on the crank arms or on the chainstays
[762]
of your bike if that's the case you need
[764]
to map the cleese as far inboard as
[766]
possible to move your foot away from the
[768]
crank and if they're still not enough
[769]
you might need to consider axles with a
[772]
bigger key factor
[773]
how this axle here is slightly longer
[775]
than the one on this side I can't
[778]
actually run the shorter axles because
[780]
my feet rub on the crank arms I always
[781]
have to run the wider ones does make a
[784]
big difference but also by having a foot
[787]
in a wider stance if you've not got all
[789]
of the other parts of position right you
[791]
can be adding strain to the inside of
[793]
your knees and lastly but definitely not
[802]
least is your cockpit position that's
[804]
right everything you do in front of the
[806]
bike is directly gonna affect your
[807]
comfort on that saddle if you're too
[810]
stretched out not only can they put too
[811]
much pressure on your undercarriage but
[813]
can also put loads of weight on your
[815]
wrists which can be really uncomfortable
[816]
you can also have the opposite effect if
[818]
you're too cramped up I don't mean about
[820]
cramped up is you're sitting upright
[822]
which means you can put undue pressure
[823]
on your sit bones what that's going to
[826]
do is well it's just being slightly
[827]
uncomfortable in the long term is it's
[829]
certainly going to show up if your
[830]
saddle is not the right one for you of
[832]
course every saddle every Anatomy were
[833]
all different so it's really important
[835]
to get these things right now Henry's
[837]
made a video all about cockpit setup the
[840]
link to that is in the description
[841]
underneath this but just a few things
[843]
just for you to sort of get your head
[845]
around if you have a wide bar it's gonna
[847]
lower you down and stretch you out if
[849]
you have a narrow bar it's gonna bring
[851]
you back up the same goes for having a
[853]
high bar or low bar with stem length if
[856]
you have a long stem you're going to
[857]
typically be more stretched out if you
[859]
have a short stem you're gonna be quite
[860]
high up so just think that everything
[862]
you're gonna do is gonna have a slightly
[864]
different effect on both your positions
[866]
in front of the bike but also how it
[868]
feels when you're sat in that saddle
[870]
it's quite a lot to it than meets the
[872]
eye well there you go that's everything
[874]
you need to know about getting your
[875]
saddle set up for performance and for
[877]
comfort now if you are struggling with
[879]
the comfort side of things a bit and
[880]
it's possible you're not on the right
[882]
saddle if that's the case you should
[885]
geek out watch the video that's hanging
[886]
around over there somewhere
[887]
tells you everything about how saddles
[889]
are made and why some of us find certain
[891]
designs more comfortable than others and
[893]
as always if you've got any suggestions
[894]
for more videos for us to make for you
[896]
let us know we love your suggestions see
[899]
you later
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