Right, the time has come to take the hacksaw to these shiny new forks and cut the steerer to length. But what length?

Generally I set the saddle height so that my leg is pretty much straight at the bottom of the pedal stroke with my heel on the pedal (i.e. a bit bent when on the ball of my foot). Then I set the bars so they are level with the saddle and put a 5mm spacer on top of the stem in case I want to raise it a bit after riding.

Anybody care to suggest an alternative before I get hacking?

Have you tried a bike fit?

Erm just go with what feels comfortable?

Leave a fair bit and stick a load of spacers above and below. Ride for a bit and you can tweak stem up and down. Then when you’ve got it where you want it then cut off the bit you no longer need.

MTB or Road?

Road – Slammed stem.

Very personal preference that one I think.

You sound like you set your up at the same kind of height as I do. But that does not mean its right.

Why not use a bazzillion spacers & not cut it at all until you have hade some riding time on it. If it just new forks on a bike your used toO then your first method is still OK.

Ignore any numpty who says “slammed” or quotes “the rules” 🙄

Thanks folks.

I did a bike fit a few years back, but that was for a road bike. Not sure I see the point for a mountain bike. What are you going to fit for? Spinning up a fireroad climb or chucking yourself down some rocky cliff? You’d want a pretty different setup for each, so it seems better to go with what feels right on the trail. I just wanted to get a benchmark of what other people were running. Not that it matters, but if I’m way off “normal” I might want to consider a change.

I guess leaving it long is the safest option. I’m just always a bit nervous of knackering myself on that bit sticking out above the stem.

Saddle height is simple – with your heel on the pedal, your leg should be straight, so with the ball of your foot on the pedal there’s a slight bend.

Handlebar height is more complicated – I have mine usually right down, no spacers, a couple of inches below the saddle, but it’s a very personal thing.

roverpig – Member

…Then I set the bars so they are level with the saddle…

you are Warwick Davies and i claim my £5.

Depends on if the fork is a keeper.
I too have recently treated myself to a new fork 🙂 Loco. This fork will be kept for many years and transferred from future frame to frames.
As such I have kept the steerer long. About 35mm of spacers on it in total. 5 below and 30 above. My not be “fashionable” but better than having a fork that limits/will not fit in future frames.

May be worth considering.

According to this, level is about as low as I’d want to go. But in practice I usually have the bars about an inch below the saddle. Maybe I should try them higher for a while.

slammed, its in the rules.

I was actually being ironic, so well done you for pointing the obvious flaw in the whole “bike fit” stratagem. However, the factors you refer to are also pertinent to your question. How do we know if you are looking for a “spinny” bike or a “chucking” bike?

As for your immediate issue, leave a bit of spare above and below the stem and use one with a little rise. You can also flip it to give you a range of heights. Once you’ve got it right, cut it if you are still concerned about the excess above the stem.

For general riding I would like a comfortable amount of weight on my hands, I dunno what fraction of my total weight it is, but it feels balanced.

Lowering the bars without extending the stem moves your centre of gravity forwards, and puts more weight on your wrists. But then you can move your saddle back to compensate that if you like.

It’s complex, just go by experience. Feel like you’re going over the bars too easily? Bars too low. Feel like you’re too upright and have a hard time getting power down? Bars too high.

Plenty of spacers above and below, ride lots and adjust as you feel necessary.

I’d also recommend you don’t just cut the steerer to suit this bike. I’m in the process of building a new bike and was pretty gutted to find that the head tube on my new frame is about 10mm longer than my old one, I’d cut the fork steerer to suit the old frame and now can’t move my fork over.

But then you can move your saddle back to compensate that if you like.

Not sure about that molegrips, once you are happy with a crank to saddle relationship your better off changing your bars & stem about to get comfy from there, you spend a lot of time on that saddle unless you DH, & getting that position wrong really messes the bike up. At least that was my experience.

I like KOP method for setting saddles though so what do I know. 🙂

Depends so much on your height, bike length, arm length to torso ratio, flexibility and type of bike!

So “whatever’s right for you”

For me, bars level with the saddle is crazy high, would be horrid to ride. The only bikes I’ve had that setup is DH bikes*. XC/enduro bikes are about that with the dropper right down, so I guess for me – about 5″ drop to the bars.

*and in that case, it’s dropping the saddle to match the bars, not raising the bars.

Houns – Member
Ignore any numpty who says “slammed” or quotes “the rules”

More aero, looks better, stiffer. But yeah do what is comfortable. Anyway I believe this is MTb related.

once you are happy with a crank to saddle relationship your better off changing your bars & stem about to get comfy from there

Yeah perhaps, but I’ve noticed differences in suspension action with saddle position.. it’s all rather complicated and you can get bogged down.

According to this, level is about as low as I’d want to go. But in practice I usually have the bars about an inch below the saddle. Maybe I should try them higher for a while.

Good rule of thumb there but there are so many variables (bar rise/sweep, stem length & rise, a few mm on the saddle rails etc) all you can do really is get a bunch of stems and bars and see what feels good.

I put my Yelli in ‘trail’ (as per the pic) last night, by flipping the stem up (I usually run it down), but found I prefer the bars a bit lower and longer, even on the trailsy bits of the ride.

Even rolling the bars back or forwards a couple of degrees can change the feel.

Horses for dem courses.

(Or perhaps I am over-analysing 😉 )

Then I set the bars so they are level with the saddle

too high for me, but if it’s what YOU like do it.

On my road bikes i’m very precise. On my mtb it’s what I feel comfortable with. I use knee over pedal as a starter (as per road bike), and a 25 degree knee bend. What this means is that my axle to saddle height is 74cm. I set my bars at what feels right, and I use Ergon grips. I disagree with molgrips about liking weight on my wrists. But the Ergon grips allow no bend from forearm to knuckle, so perhaps there is more weight than I think taken through the palm.

Personally, if it isn’t a huge amount, I wouldn’t bother cutting, just shift the spacers above the stem. Also there are so many riser bars, that height isn’t that important. What matters is whther you want to use the forks on your next bike, because you won’t be making the steerer longer.

Thanks folks. That’s enough analysis for me. Wouldn’t want to overdo it:-)

Fortunately these are 26″ forks, so will be basically worthless by next week whatever I do.

Not sure I fancy a big bit of steerer sticking out of the stem, but I’ll flip the stem and set the bars level (plus 5mm spacer on top). Then I can always flip the stem back up if I need to go higher and there will be plenty of spacers below to go lower.

I always have about an inch of spacers either above or below or inbetween. I don’t think that’s too much.

Saddle height is simple – with your heel on the pedal, your leg should be straight, so with the ball of your foot on the pedal there’s a slight bend.

There is no scientific basis to this, and depending on the shoes you use you get vastly differing results.

As for bar height alot depends on what and how you are riding, I run my cross bike bars a few mm higher than on my road bike, just because you want to be able to move the weight of the front at times. Look at downhill bar height and compare to xc racers again vastly different.

It’s all about how you personally prefer your bike set up, but since you asked, I always aim to have a single 5mm spacer on top of the stem so that the steerer can run all the way through the stem. My current bike has a long headtube so there’s nothing under the stem. I’d guess the bars are 2″ below the saddle. That feels about right to me for a trail bike. They are a comfy height for climbing and with the saddle dropped they feel high enough for steep and/or fast descending.

Saddle height is simple – with your heel on the pedal, your leg should be straight, so with the ball of your foot on the pedal there’s a slight bend.

I don’t think holds true for everyone, especially on a MTB. Just checked and my saddle’s getting on for an inch lower than this – and that’s with a dropper post on there (but all the way up, obviously).

Thanks folks. That’s enough analysis for me. Wouldn’t want to overdo it:-)

Have you analysed stem length and bar width yet? If not you need to do that first. (eg I find as the bars get closer, they can go lower).

Horse before cart Mr Pig!

oh and crank length, which affects seat height (which affects bar height) too, I mostly run 170mm cranks now.

Like a few others have said how tall you are + leg torso ratio makes standard bar heights a bit wrong.
I would guess that most of us over 6′ have bars slightly lower than the saddle on normal MTB’s.
My 20″ C456 with 150mm forks has 40mm of spacers under the stem and the bars are still at least an inch below the saddle.
On the other hand Johnclimber off here has his bars somewhere in space compared with his saddle, but he’s a shortarse 😉

Right, my all singing all dancing computer model of the ideal mountain bike is almost finished. Just another handful of factors to model then maybe I can think about riding the damn thing.

Actually, I have picked up some interesting stuff from this thread. Thanks folks.

If I get the saddle at a happy pedalling height, then bars are pretty much bang on level with the saddle for me.

I think “straight leg with heel on pedal” is actually a bit higher than optimal.

I’ve noticed watching pro roadies (which admittedly, is not us) they seem to be lower.

I think this is to reduce the time in the cycle that the knee is closed or open, which is the low power part of the pedal stroke.

The theory behind running shorter cranks for shorter legs is the same.

On my SS, where if I’m sitting I’m spinning (and if I’m standing, it doesn’t matter) I certainly run my saddle a tad lower.

How long before we get the dropper stem? And then dual control so as your seat goes down your bar goes up. 🙂

About level works for me for xc riding.

Yeah and if you could connect the dropper stem to one of those electric suspension bikes that French company are doing (Lapierre?), that adjust hundreds of times a second, your dropper stem could automatically drop when you hit a root and rise after.

Finally, riding a bike down a mountain will feel like sliding down a smooth carpet. They’ve nailed it.