Mountain Bike Tips: Seat Height

Cannondale's Doug Dalton offers up a quick tip to help make your mountain bike ride safer and easier.

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[vmajor]

Seat height like that would get you killed in technical terrain

[NoirMusic]

You must not be pedaling up hills much....

[MoeJae86]

@aphididae I have that same problem, my knees ached if I had it low. I can keep a more consistent stride with the seat high.

[Russwidell]

Id think it would be the other way around with the seat lower on the way up so u can get more power

[SlayerofFiction]

@vmajor depends on how technical, its where I ride and do just fine.

[SHortstuFF911]

i keep my seat the same height all the time, nice and low, if i gotta go uphill, i stand, alot easier in my opinion. i never change it because theres always 2 sides to a hill, the side u go up n the side u go down, "Oh hold on guys, theres a hill, give me 2 mins and a spanner im jst gonna adjust my seat"..lol get the fuck outta here.. with a setup like that id probably walk up that hill, god forbid id hit a bump and cop a bike seat inbetween the nuts.

[TheKeyboardKitty]

@royalconcrete1 The video is five years old.

[royalconcrete1]

@MsBixy I agree, I'm trying to adjust my seat and it seems I'm putting extra weight on my arms,....

[royalconcrete1]

good grief can cannondale afford HD?

[1982FMJ]

you have to compensate for sag on suspension bike for correct seat height this means that when the suspension is not weighted it will seem like the seat is higher than it normally would be but when you sit down sag changes. is it ok to mount a mtb by standing on one pedal to climb on the bike rather raising youre leg over without standing on one the pedal. the best technique when stopped is to stand over the top tube rather than one foot slightly resting on the ground.

[aphididae]

very few competitions have both very difficult uphills and very technical downhills + jumps...

if you're going downhill and/or jumping, lower your seat...

if you're going to do XC you're probably not going to do huge jumps and super technical downhill, so a high seat is fine.

IMO, if you're going to do climbs at all you better use a higher seat - I developed knee problems from using a too low seat in climbs, and I'm hoping they'd subside now.