How high is your saddle compared to your bars?

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SkipdiverJohn

Deplorable Brexiteer
Location
London
3 speed roadster - bars level with saddle
Raleigh Hybrids - bars also level
MTB's - bars about one inch lower than saddle.
Dawes drop bar - top of bars one inch lower.

I like to ride in comfort and want to be able to look around easily both for safety reasons and to view the scenery. I have no intention of crippling myself by riding around with my arse stuck up in the air just to "look pro". For a non-racing cyclist aerodynamics are a complete irrelevance.
 

Lee_M

Guru
quite a bit lower, but that actually helps my dodgy neck more than being upright.

upload_2019-7-5_7-43-27.png
 

booze and cake

probably out cycling
3 speed roadster - bars level with saddle
Raleigh Hybrids - bars also level
MTB's - bars about one inch lower than saddle.
Dawes drop bar - top of bars one inch lower.

I like to ride in comfort and want to be able to look around easily both for safety reasons and to view the scenery. I have no intention of crippling myself by riding around with my arse stuck up in the air just to "look pro". For a non-racing cyclist aerodynamics are a complete irrelevance.

Aerodynamics may mean nothing to you dawdling around 5 mile rides in your double denim, but you consistently fail to comprehend that there are literally millions of cyclists out there that cycle differently to you.

I am not pro nor have ever raced, but I do long rides, and I Iike going fast, so aerodynamics do matter to me. Not all the time, but to say it is a complete irrelevance is just nonsense.

Have you never ridden into a headwind? I have. The hardest ride I ever did was a 120 mile over the Brecon Beacons into a 20mph headwind all the way. Being more aero mattered then I can assure you. I've done rides over 200 miles in a day that were easier than that. If you are just going to the shop to get some milk this doesn't matter, but on long rides it can make a significant difference. Taking less time on rides leaves more time to do other stuff, I see this as a bonus. So aerodynamics is not an irrelevance, it is just irrelevant to YOU.

This is just like your daft sweeping generalisations that nobody need spend more than 20 quid on a gas pipe tank of a bike. Yes I'm sure they are fine for what you use them for, and no doubt that bike could do long rides, but for riders that may want to do long rides in good time, other better bikes are available
 
Not measured my 3 Ribbles
But, my 'blue' is about an inch lower, at the bars, than the CGR, even with all 3 spacers in place!
(CGR has two)


Years ago, I ran the 'bars this low
Odd bar-ends, but they were an experiment (as I used it a fair bit on the road too, with slicks)


Tong Woods
(south-eastern outskirts of Bradford)
Yorkshire Mountain Bike Club event
1993 (the file states)


1990s. Mountain Bike (YMBC) Tong. 1993. 6.jpg


I later, foolishly, decided to have it revamped
Possibly 1995?
I settled on X-Lite bar ends & Pace 130 (?) 'bars a while before

1990s. Mountain Bike. Pace Research. Renovation. 5.jpg
 

rugby bloke

Veteran
Location
Northamptonshire
Not the clearest due to the angle of the bike and the clutter on my top tube, but the seat is a few inches higher than the bars. The gap was less until I had my bike fit when one of the key adjustment was to raise my seat an inch or so. It certainly fixed the knee pain problem and is just as comfortable on the drops as before.

upload_2019-7-5_9-51-56.png
 

Threevok

Growing old disgracefully
Location
South Wales
IMG_0148.jpg

The seat appears to be slightly higher than the bars, although the rise on the bars - makes the grips about the same height

It looks like a lot of seat post sticking is out, but that's mainly down to the sloping top tube, plus that double clamp helps with this illusion.

The seat post is actually uncut at 350mm, with nearly half of it still inside the frame
 
Location
London
I trust you wear your golden earings when riding that.
 

Jenkins

Legendary Member
Location
Felixstowe
With mine it varies due to the differing sizes of the head tubes over the bikes.

I've just done some comparisons and on the six road & flat bar bikes the centre of the crank to top of the saddle is fairly consistant at around 79cm, however the measurement from the fork crown to the top of the steerer goes from 24cm up to 29cm (there's a 5mm spacer above the stem, then the top cap on all of them).

Measured vertically from the floor they range from 105cm to 107cm to the top of the sadddle and 93cm to 103cm to the bars.
What's the bottom bracket height?
Remarkably consistant - 5 bikes are 28cm from the ground to the centre of the crank, the other is 30cm. The worst saddle to bar drop is on the Planet X pro-Carbon simply down to the short 165mm headtube on the large sized bike where all the others are 175mm or 185mm on the Spa
 

Shearwater Missile

Über Member
Both bikes less than an inch (2cm, 1.5cm) If I go any lower I get neck pain after about 10-15 miles,most of my rides are 20-25 miles anyway. I don`t have a flexible back, never have. It may be due to all the miles of running I have done but I do have an upright posture (mostly). We are all different regardless of age. I read the other day that Dame Judy Dench does`nt watch herself in films as in her mind she is still a young 39 year old. By the same notion, when I look at the pro riders on their bikes I feel like them and envy them, the reality is different. Perhaps I could ride with a big drop, but after a few miles the novelty would wear off as the pain in my neck increased. I think it is fair so say that ride as low ( for wind resistance) as possible with over straining. Just enjoy the ride. The pros get paid and have rub downs, we don`t.
 
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