There are a variety of adjustments to the position your saddle is set in that you can make to help support comfort when you ride.   These include Alignment, Height, Tilt and Reach. Some, like alignment are defined, others are more individual.  You will need to try and understand what position supports your comfort in the best way.

You need to align your bike saddle so that it sits perfectly in the ‘middle”.  This means that when you look down at your bike seat the middle of the nose of the saddle should be in the middle of the top tube of your bike frame.

How should it feel? You should be able to sit on your seat and not feel pressure on one side more than the other.  You should feel like you are sitting evenly on both sides of the seat.

Deviation from this alignment, even very slight, will increase pressure on tissues and structures that aren’t supposed to be taking pressure. It is very easy to bump your saddle out of alignment and, if you have a slightly stronger side, pedalling can pull your saddle out of alignment.  You will need to regularly check alignment… before you go for a ride or if you are feeling an overload of pressure on one side.

You are looking for a height where you have a slight bend in your knee. If you are a numbers type of girl you are going for a 25 to 35 degree bend from a straight leg i.e when your foot is at the bottom of the pedal stroke. A good trick is to set the height of your seat so that your leg is perfectly straight when the heel of your foot is on the pedal at the bottom of the pedal stroke. When you then position your foot on the pedal as you would normally to ride (that is the ball of your foot on the pedal) – this should have created a slight bend in your leg and a comfortable height to ride at.

How should it feel? You should be stable and comfortable in your seat when pedalling – no rocking your hips from side to side – and your leg should be “nearing” straight at the bottom of your pedal stroke. Trial a new height and see if it makes a difference to your comfort.

Note: It is also a myth that you should be able to touch the ground with both feet while seated on the bike but with that said some people prefer to be able to do this and most children need and want to be able to do this.  Read our story about getting up off your seat to help you with the idea of raising your seat height.

You are looking for a tilt that is neutral (horizontal) or slightly nose down. Women tend to find comfort with a 2-3 degree forward tilt. The tilt of your seat affects where your body makes contact with the seat so you want to feel as though the majority of your body weight is going down through your sit bones (the bones you can feel when you sit on your hands) and not through your pubic bone, soft genital area or onto your handlebars.

How should it feel? You should be stable and comfortable in your seat and not feel like you are pushed to the back or onto the front of the seat. There should be no feelings of compression in your genital region and any tenderness from a long ride should be felt on your bones. Do you feel like your hips are in a position that your body can maintain with ease? Remember we don’t want constant shifting around. Trial a different tilt and see if it makes any difference to your comfort.

Underneath your seat are seat rails and you can move your seat forward or back along these rails. This moves the seat closer or further away from the handlebars therefore affecting your reach.  It also affects the angle your leg drops down – the relationship between your hip and your ankle.

How should it feel? You are looking for a placement that feels right for your body shape (length of your back) and the type of riding that you enjoy doing (competitive vs cruising).  You want to feel like your leg is over your pedal and giving you good power.  Please read Chi Riding – Pedaling 

When your seat reach is not right it is fairly obvious as you will have the sensation of over-stretching (handlebars too far away) or being cramped (handlebars too close). If these sensations are not fixed with the small adjustments that you can make to your saddle, you may have to look into your bike frame size or your handlebar stem (these are bike fit issues).