Page 1 of 1

time trial seat hight compaired to road bike

Posted: Sun May 30, 2010 8:54 pm
by Jono1006
Is it bad to have a different seat hight on your road bike compaired to your time trial bike?

Re: time trial seat hight compaired to road bike

Posted: Mon May 31, 2010 10:20 am
by RobRollin
You should have your TT bike setup differently. Usually higher for TT, I change mine about 2cms higher for TT.

Re: time trial seat hight compaired to road bike

Posted: Mon May 31, 2010 4:47 pm
by BarryTas
When i got my bike fit for a rodie for TT the guy put the seat up 3cms. It took a week to get used to it but i don't notice it now.

Re: time trial seat hight compaired to road bike

Posted: Mon May 31, 2010 4:57 pm
by toolonglegs
Geez if I raised my seat 2 cms from my road position I would rip my achillies out in a month :shock: .
I don't understand why if you are running the same length cranks you would change bb to seat height that much?.Bring the seat forward sure but why change the height?.

Re: time trial seat hight compaired to road bike

Posted: Mon May 31, 2010 5:54 pm
by fixed
I am far less likely to stand up on the pedals when TT-ing.
More likely to sit further forward on the saddle.
I guess road bikes are set up for a variety of working postures when riding, riding in the pack, sprinting, and so the saddle height is a compromise.
Raised the seat to about two cm higher than my road bike setup. And this worked ok when using clip-ons. Now I have my TT bike I have started gently modifying one thing at a time on my bike, but more importantly is to keep the flexibility stretches going.

Re: time trial seat hight compaired to road bike

Posted: Tue Jun 01, 2010 8:27 am
by BarryTas
TLL, my seat was put forward as far as it can so then up 3 cms

Re: time trial seat hight compaired to road bike

Posted: Tue Jun 01, 2010 8:35 am
by Parrott
Yeah I have my seat on the tt bike shortened set at max forward position, nose tilted down a touch and set up a bit higher as it is forward. I end up perching right forward on the nose of the saddle also.

Re: time trial seat hight compaired to road bike

Posted: Tue Jun 01, 2010 8:47 am
by sogood
BarryTas wrote:TLL, my seat was put forward as far as it can so then up 3 cms
No one measures saddle height by how much it protrudes out of the seat tube or from the ground. The reference is either to the centre point of BB axle or pedal at its lowest point. Saddle height relates to hit to heel distance and proportions within, and that's what it needs to relate to.

Re: time trial seat hight compaired to road bike

Posted: Wed Jun 09, 2010 5:01 pm
by Richard.L
I think every time the seat moves up 1cm your saddle moves forward by .5 a cm
guessing from what the LBS told me

Re: time trial seat hight compaired to road bike

Posted: Thu Jun 10, 2010 12:01 am
by MiG
Richard.L wrote:I think every time the seat moves up 1cm your saddle moves forward by .5 a cm
guessing from what the LBS told me
If you're measuring up along the post, you'd have to have a 60 deg seat tube for that to be true. On a 78 deg TT seat tube angle that rule is very wrong; the forward adjustment would be 0.2 cm.

Re: time trial seat hight compaired to road bike

Posted: Mon Sep 06, 2010 8:19 am
by scotto
wouldnt seat height remain the same, and its the frame tube lengths and angles that change ?

Re: time trial seat hight compaired to road bike

Posted: Sun Oct 31, 2010 9:21 pm
by d413
i read a great article on slow twitch on this subject, and i think i agree with the authors theory there.
often TT seat heights are higher. very simply the reason being that you tend to sit further forward on the seat meaning you have a different measure point to where you sit. moving the measure point forward increases the angle and decreases the distance to the BB.
http://www.slowtwitch.com/mainheadings/ ... eight.html

Re: time trial seat hight compaired to road bike

Posted: Fri Aug 26, 2011 7:16 pm
by Lurkmore
My trainee always told me that the wrong seat height can force you to work harder and expend unnecessary energy. That's i remember for the rest of my life.

Re: time trial seat hight compaired to road bike

Posted: Thu Sep 01, 2011 12:52 am
by lemotea
So what is the conclusion for the seat height? If I used the seat for too high, I tend to sprain my calf. I used to put like 1 cm higher than my roadie. But actually I'm not sure either the saddle height for my road bike. I used to seek the answer in the google but seems still can't figure out up till now.

For reference, my inseam is 81.5 cm.

I used to be suggested a distance from bb to saddle about 73 cm. But actually where do you measure it? From the back of your saddle/ nose or middle? At the end I just put the distance from saddle to ground about 97 cm. (with 172.5 mm crank arm). Any suggestion for the formula?

And for TT, it's true if you get forward quite a lot, u need to have a very high saddle position, but for training, I used to get exhausted very fast and tend to get back to the back of the saddle which result the distance from the saddle to the pedals just too high and that made it not efficient. Any advice for this also?

Re: time trial seat hight compaired to road bike

Posted: Thu Sep 15, 2011 3:21 pm
by jacks1071
Jono1006 wrote:Is it bad to have a different seat hight on your road bike compaired to your time trial bike?
Mine is 25mm higher, as the seat comes foward you need to lift it up.

Re: time trial seat hight compaired to road bike

Posted: Mon Nov 28, 2011 11:51 am
by Trackfix
TT saddle height myth/ The view that the TT saddle position is higher than that of your road bike is incorrect.
If your road saddle height is correct and your saddle set back is also correct (tip saddle to centre B/B) then your TT saddle height
will be lower by 5-6mm. The reason is simple if you lower your back angle by 20 deg you extrend your leg length accordingly.
Simply stand with knee slightly bent as per road knee angle on extention, now lean forward and note what happens to your leg length.

Given that you ride (AT) a 44 deg back angle and your TT position is agressive (AT) 20 deg, it is also worth noting that the leg angle on extention and
flextion are both greater when setting up your TT position. Running your saddle to high on either a TT or Road by bewtween 6 and 10mm will result in a 20 to 25 watt reduction is sustainable power during a 40km ITT.

Gary (AT) probikefit did my TT set up and I set my PB, he is in Brisbane