Seat too low but back feels better! Is this common?

alexanderomahon

Am now cycling up to 40 - 50 km regularly and got more into the whole reading about bikes etc. On looking into things I can see my saddle height was too lowm namely too much bend in the legs. As a result I raised the seat in line with things i'd read and seen on youtube etc. However, although I felt confortable in the new position and the turning of the pedals felt grand at the new height, I found after about an hour my back began to feel sore at the lower sides. I put this down to uping the mileage, but the problem did not get better.

So a couple of weeks back I lowered the seat. My peddalling felt less smooth, but back pain went. Put seat back up today and after 50 minutes back pain came back.

Anyway, I was wondering do any of more experinced riders here ride with seats lower than recommended?

NB. I am 49 6ft and 14.5 stone.

07Lapierre

alexanderomahon wrote: »

Am now cycling up to 40 - 50 km regularly and got more into the whole reading about bikes etc. On looking into things I can see my saddle height was too lowm namely too much bend in the legs. As a result I raised the seat in line with things i'd read and seen on youtube etc. However, although I felt confortable in the new position and the turning of the pedals felt grand at the new height, I found after about an hour my back began to feel sore at the lower sides. I put this down to uping the mileage, but the problem did not get better.

So a couple of weeks back I lowered the seat. My peddalling felt less smooth, but back pain went. Put seat back up today and after 50 minutes back pain came back.

Anyway, I was wondering do any of more experinced riders here ride with seats lower than recommended?

NB. I am 49 6ft and 14.5 stone.

No. When you raised your saddle, did you also raise your handlebars?

Mech1

About time someone seen the light, too many cyclists trying to match the image that is somehow required.

Just do what suits you, are you entering the Tour de France this year?

alexanderomahon

07Lapierre wrote: »

No. When you raised your saddle, did you also raise your handlebars?

No

alexanderomahon

Mech1 wrote: »

Just do what suits you, are you entering the Tour de France this year?

No, currently on three year ban for doping.

07Lapierre

alexanderomahon wrote: »

No

Set the saddle to the correct height. If that means raising it by say 5cm or whatever, raise your handlebars by 5cm. You'll then have smooth pedalling and be pain free.

wersal gummage

also if you didn't already, you should make any adjustments in small increments - if you know the 'correct' position for the saddle, it might be a case of taking several weeks to get there. in spite of what lapierre says, i actually needed to raise my saddle quite a bit, lower my bars and get a longer stem. it took me about three months to do this though, one small bit every two weeks. i'm sure if i'd jumped straight to the end position i'd have been in pain and reverted back to the start.

07Lapierre

Agreed make small adjustments. Or u could always go get a professional bike fit carried out. Youll find plenty of info if you search the cycling forum for "bike fitting".

Holyboy

The best "bike fitting" IMO is one you do your self, I don't believe anyone can tell you how to be comfortable on your own bike!
By raising your saddle it will have moved slightly backwards too, so maybe moving it forward on the rails may help a bit, saddle height is probably the only hard and fast rule when it comes to bike fitting, everything else should be adjusted around that until you feel comfortable, knee over pedal axle is a farce, it makes no difference what so ever to power outage and stem/bar height will be down to whats comfortable for you, it takes a bit of trial and error but it's worth experimenting until you get it right.

As for your back pain, it sounds like you might of had the saddle height a tiny bit too high, which means rolling your hips as you pedal but I could be wrong!