It’s not that we don’t know that the seats adjust on bikes it’s that we don’t know how one is supposed to be perched on said seat.
I adjust my car seat to suit me and it puts me kind of far back from the steering wheel and low down, due to my freakishly long torso. My mom keeps her seat high and tight to the steering wheel. I don’t know that there’s a right or wrong way to adjust one’s car seat. Everybody’s driving style is different.
I’m sure it’s different for bikes, as you’re part of the physics of the thing when you pedal it (as opposed to a car). But still, not everyone is trying to get the best physics for long distance riding. Some kids just want to cruise down the street and dump their bikes to go play in the creek.
I think most “casual” bike riders just purchase a bike from Wal-Mart or a similar big box store, where the employees are probably clueless about bikes and how to adjust them properly. At best they might just eyeball it, or maybe sit on it in the store to see if it feels comfortable.
When I’ve bought a bike from a proper bike shop the salesman was good about making sure I got one that was the right size and adjusting it properly for me. At Wal-Mart you literally just grab the bike you want and wheel it up to the checkout.
No, no swinging of the leg over. I posted a simple video above that demonstrates the starting and stopping with standing on one pedal. I couldn’t imagine doing it any other way, but our grade school had the aforementioned “bike rodeo” that taught us how to ride, how to ride on roads, how to do slow speed maneuvering, etc.
I wonder. My first bike was bought from Polk Bros (now defunct Chicago stores.) But somehow oe another my parents and I figured it out. Moreover, it seems every bike I have bought w/in the past couple of decades for myself or our grandkids has come with a booklet, describing basic setup and maintenance. I would be very surprised if cheal WalMart bikes did not come with such booklets, and if they didn’t discuss seat height.
Of course, you don’t HAVE to read them…
OK - makes sense. But I don’t understand why you have to get off the saddle. The video starts by saying, “get into the tripod position.” To my eye, the rider is ON the saddle. If they have their up pedal positioned correctly, I don’t understand why they would need to get OFF the saddle and then back ON. Instead, just step down on the pedal - which might involve slightly lifting off the saddle.
I acknowledge it CAN be done as in the vid. But I’m not sure why someone would get off the saddle and straddle the frame each and every time they stopped.
I guess maybe I (and every biker I’ve observed) is doing it wrong, but it works for me.
For me, I can’t easily stay on my seat as I have long legs and the seat is positioned where it should be. Below is not my exact bike, but it looks very similar (I have a Litespeed Tuscany as well as a Litespeed Appalachian). I can stay on the saddle with one foot down, but I’m leaning and it is just so much easier to always get off the saddle when starting and stopping. It’s also my natural way of riding a bike since I was young.
If your seat is too low, it’s easy to stay on the seat for starting and stopping.
That’s likely to be self-defeating. What feels more comfortable at first will wear you out faster and make you more sore.
When your seat is at the proper height you can lock your knee/straighten your leg completely while coasting, generally by dropping your heel a bit. It’s still slightly bent when pedaling though.
I’ve had professional bike fitting done, and I ride road racing bikes. However, I have long thighs and long arms, so my fit is somewhat atypical. Nonetheless, I have no problem just leaning over and perching on one foot while stopped, without needing to dismount. So starting up again is no big deal. Others have talked about how if you are off the saddle, you step on one pedal to lift yourself up as you start moving forward. If you’re off to the side you can always do a cyclocross remount, but that takes practice.
Something nobody has mentioned (as far as I can see, I skimmed through the music talk), is that it is more difficult to mount and dismount a bike with a proper seat height while wearing street clothes. You’re much more likely to catch your pants on the saddle and rip something. If you’re wearing skinny jeans or yoga pants that might be ok, but bike shorts are tight lycra for more reasons than just holding the chamois pad in place.
I don’t know why people here are equating biking many miles with kids just riding around the neighborhood. That photo posted above with the seat so incredibly high looks unbelievably uncomfortable for someone just riding a few blocks and hopping on and off. Google images of kids bicycles and they all have the seat lower than the handlebars.
A year or so I started having difficulty getting my leg over the seat. To me it felt like a groin pull. Got really bad during a ski trip, after which arthritis in my left hip was identified.
Since then, I’ve pretty much been trying to mount while standing on a step or a curb. When thinking about this thread I realized that for whatever reason I ALWAYS mount from the right side, swinging my left leg over. A lightbulb went off and I thought, “Gee, why don’t I try it from the OTHER side.” Still not exactly smooth and painfree, but more doable than from the right.
With me and my wife - and I assume others - as a kid our bikes spelled freedom. Sure, we rode it “a few blocks”, but also on longer trips. So we didn’t change the seat up and down between different types of trips.
And - at least for many of us, there is nothing uncomfortable or inconvenient about having the seat at the proper height. And there is no clear benefit from having it too low, while there is a clear disadvantage.
I agree that the set-up of the road bike pictured is unlike anything I see kids ride. Back in the day we all rode road bikes, but today it is (almost) all hybrids.
Glad my kid is teaching HER kid differently. Next week is their spring break, and grampa is going to get in a couple of 10-12 mile rides w/ his 8 yr old gddtr (who rides her bike to 3d grade - with the seat properly adjusted)!
That video demonstrates the way I start and stop. I start with one foot on a pedal the other on the ground I push off lift up and sit down on the seat.
When I’m on the seat my feet don’t reach the ground. When I stop I lift my fanny off the seat stand up and put a foot down.
I ride a cruiser (Jamis) so it’s more upright sitting position not crouched way over. Only a 7 speed but has tall tires and boy does it zoom along. It is a step through but a tallish frame I still have to lean over the bike to step through it. It’s still the most comfortable bicycle I’ve ever ridden.
I biked many many miles on my bike as a kid. I had some Huffy ten speed and then an eighteen speed. I just put the seat where it was comfortable for me. It wasn’t anywhere near that high. I’m not doing the Tour De France here. I’m just biking around the flat streets of Chicago. And who the hell reads the manual that comes with their bike? I don’t even remember seeing one.
Look damnit, who are you to decide what is comfortable for you? We have experts for that. They are wearing $500 worth of Lycra, do they are easy to identify. Just don’t get them started on “cadence”.
I do not remembering reading any official bicycle instruction manual. I just bought a copy of Leonard Zinn’s book. He gives advice like
After a few hours on the bike, you will be most aware of one component on your bike: the saddle… Nothing can ruin a good ride faster than a poorly positioned or uncomfortable saddle.
First of all, the frame size— he says to stand over the top tube and lift the bike straight up until the top tube hits your crotch. The wheels should be at least 1 inch (2 inches for a mountain bike) off the ground. This is to avoid getting nailed in the crotch, among other things.
When your foot is at the bottom of the stroke… lock your knee without rocking your hips. Your foot should be level, or the heel should be slightly higher than the bottom of your foot. Formula: 1.09 times your inseam length should be the length from the center of the pedal spindle when the pedal is down to the top of the saddle where your ass bones contact it.
Sheldon Brown mentions that a slightly lower saddle height may be useful if you are using cleated shoes+clipless pedals, versus flat pedals and street shoes. I personally do not have enough experience to really comment, except that if you are clipped in you can indeed put some force in on the upstroke.
Or, you know, because that’s awkward as hell and you can’t bend over to measure the air gap between you tires and the ground while you have a bike lifted up between your legs…
…stand over the top tube and confirm you have at least 1 inch of clearance between your crotch and the tube.
I was just viewing the videos on the Jamis website. Omgosh the riders knees were practically hitting their elbows and their legs stayed completely bent while pedaling. They looked dopey tbt.
I’m in Switzerland, and pedal-less trainer bikes, aka balance bikes, have been common for decades. I regularly see a little girl pedaling her bicycle on my way to work. She looks like she’s in kindergarten or even younger. I looked at one local sporting goods shop and the smallest bicycle they have has 12" wheels and is recommended for 3 or 4 years old. And that store explicitly discourage training wheels.
I know at least one of my friends bought a convertible bike for his kids. The bike started out as a balance bike, and then he added pedals when the child was ready.
Bicycling for commuting, also for school, is really common. But I can’t tell if the seats are too low. The bicyclists are typically moving too fast.
