Saddle Height Survey - Road vs Mtb

[Wilkinson4]

Been a few threads on this but not in awhile. Just curious, do you run your MTB saddle ht the same as your road saddle ht taking into account crank length?

If you run it lower, how much lower? Currently, I run about 2 cm lower but I don't really ride a lot of technical terrain where that 'might' be an advantage.

mIKE

[Jack Brunk]

I run mine maybe a 1/8 of a inch lower than my road bike. Shoes are different and pedal engagement is as well. I found over time that if I went too much lower than I am now I would lose all my power when doing a lot of climbing. My saddle difference is the same for my geared and single speed bikes.

[Kontact]

Exact same height. I've never heard an argument for doing otherwise - does pedaling efficiency change because you have fat tires or a straight bar?

[pdmtong]

same height road and mtn

...if the trails are highly tech, manually lower the post, get a hite-rite :) or a gravity dropper type post

[rice rocket]

Yeah, I assume most do it for clearance so you reduce the chance of endo-ing.

I'm new to MTBing, and I've left mine at the same height for the time being, but I've endo'd enough that I should probably consider dropping it. :D

[Steve in SLO]

I run my MTB about 5mm lower than road. No idea why.

[Peter P.]

I set my height using the "heels on the pedal" method, so I don't actually measure or deliberately set the two heights different.

Although they "feel" slightly different it's not intentional, and I believe it's due to the higher handlebar position on the ATB and resultant change in hip angle.

[d_man16]

Uh my "road" is highest
TT/Tri is a hair lower and nose down
XC race is almost the same as Tri but about .125" lower
SS MTB very low about an 1" lower than the "road"
Commuter MTB High as my Tri

I can feel it and I'm sure there is some math (I know there is) saying this is wrong. But I go with what feels best and is most practical.

The MTB rides, I tend to get out of the seat a lot and toss my bum behind the saddle (on descents) and I bunny hop/jump over stuff frequently enough to encounter the leather on the jewels. So I drop it a little.

Mess around with it till it feels right.

There is enough of a "need" market for adjusting saddle hight in MTB's that there are seat post with this feature.

http://cdn.mos.bikeradar.com/images/news/2008/08/26/commandpostcolor-798-75.jpg

Good luck

~D

[Germany_chris]

My mountain saddle always ended up a but higher because the shoe soles are thicker and the pedals fatter..

[AngryScientist]

i dont do much mtb, but thought i would chime in with the fact that my knees are particularly sensitive to saddle height. i once had a seatpost slip a little bit and my knees were really achy after the ride, i cant imagine pedaling for any amount of time with a saddle height lower than usual (with all things like pedal stack height, saddle brand etc accounted for) would be any good for the biomechanics.