While long rides always put a strain on your muscles, cycling shouldn’t be a painful activity! This being said, where should I sit on my bike saddle? How to sit on a bike saddle?
Find out in this article how to analyze your riding position on your bike and correct any poor position to improve your comfort, efficiency, and performance.
How to sit on a bike saddle?
When you ride your bike, it’s important to sit in the crook of the bike seat. Avoid sitting “out of the seat”, you will get more comfort and avoid perineal pain. This starts with proper adjustment of the height, back, and tilt of your saddle.
Discover the main steps:
Sitting on the right size bike
First of all, you’ll never get a good seat on your bicycle saddle if your bike isn’t the right size and shape for you. There’s nothing better than visiting your local bike store to help you choose the right bike for you.
Of course, you can also shop around online before you invest, which can be quite expensive. If you haven’t bought a bike yet, here are some instructions on how to choose a bike size.
If you own a bike but don’t know its dimensions, here’s how to take all the important measurements and know if it’s the right bike for you.
If your bike frame is too small or too big for you, you will never be able to sit properly. The bike frame is measured at the height of your pubic bone, near your groin.
For this measurement, use a tape measure to measure the distance from the bony prominence between your legs, just behind your genitals, to the base of your heel on the inside of your foot.
Once you have the height of your pubic bone, use a sizing guide or measurement chart offered by manufacturers to find out which frame size best fits your body. If your measurements fall between two sizes, it is best to take the smaller size so that you can compensate for the difference by adjusting the height of the saddle and handlebars.
Correctly changing the saddle position
Correctly changing the saddle height will probably solve most of your posture problems.
To find the ideal saddle height, lean your bike against a wall. Then adjust the height until the seat is high enough that when you are on the bike, your knee is slightly bent when your pedal is in its lowest position during your pedal stroke.
It’s really about finding the right knee angle. Bending your knees too much will be much harder on your joints and make your effort much less effective. Having your legs too straight also.
The bent leg should reach 80-90% of its full opening with the pedal down.
The position of your knees supports the backward movement. When you do a quarter turn forward from the top, your knee should be vertical to the front of your foot.
Having a proper bike saddle position will change your rides forever.
Put your hands on the handlebars
When you lean forward to hold the handlebars in your hands, your body forms a sort of triangle with your head facing up. This position distributes the load between your thighs and arms, allowing your back to absorb vibrations and shocks as you pedal.
Keep your elbows slightly bent so your arms can absorb the shock of your ride and keep your neck and shoulders relaxed. If you have trouble reaching the handlebars or all the possible positions on the handlebars, you can use shorter or higher handlebars.
Finally, sit properly on the bike saddle
A good sitting position is very important for bicycles, racing bikes, or mountain bikes so that you can easily change the position of your hands on the handlebars and avoid pain.
As mentioned earlier, always sit in the crook of the saddle.
If you have adjusted the saddle correctly and are sitting in the saddle recess, you should be able to bend your pelvis slightly into a more aggressive riding position if you move your hands under the handlebars.
Remember that for a quarter turn, your knee should be perfectly perpendicular to the pedal axis with the crank horizontal.
The last word
It’s not easy to know how to position yourself while riding when you’ve just bought your first road bike.
Now, by following our tips, you should be able to move from a relatively relaxed position to a more aggressive, aerodynamic position without compromising your back comfort. It is not so complicated to know how to sit on a bike saddle 😉
Knowing how to properly sit on a mountain bike or road bike, you should make sure that everything is ready before riding, check here our tire pressure calculator.
