I seem unable to set saddle height, any pointers?

I have mcl and knee meniscus damage in one knee.

Aha! So do you find you need to keep a more open knee angle, hence the high saddle height? In that case shorter cranks will help!

What size chainring do you have? Are you in the granny gear much?

Has anyone mentioned about trying to slide your saddle forward or back a bit? I find when riding flat pedals my foot is a bit more forward compared to clipless pedals and move my saddle a little forward to compensate.

Another thing that isn’t all equal, is things like pedal and shoe sole thickness, both can make a difference.

Lastly, as we age, we get less flexible and a lifetime of being seated starts to take affect, which cycling can then exacerbate. So, things like functional strength training, general stretching and use of a foam roller (massage) can really help loosen up and activate your glutes, hip flexors, quads, hamstrings and lower back. Try to to the above 2-3 times a week. Worked for me and I had awful pelvic tilt and lower back pain.

After a good few rides with my lower saddle my hips and back feel a lot better.

Starting to now get knee pain/feeling loss of control at the top of stroke, a strong argument for trying a bit higher now, right?

I’ve done some knee angle measurements, finding my knee angle is about 142 degrees static, closer to 137 degrees dynamic, further evidence to go a touch higher again, right?

Either *very* slightly higher, or shorter cranks.

I did have a go putting my saddle up 5mm, I got scared and put it back after though.

This was on the trainer, the feel was quite pronounced, interestingly my average cadence dropped from 91 rpm to 85 rpm, the stroke felt stronger, but knee wasn’t 100% happy still. So said to me it needed to go higher still.

Feels like I’m in the realms of being limited at both ends due to injuries, shorter cranks should bring both ends closer to each other, so should end up happier. CBA spending the money though.

Bear in mind you might just need to get used to it, knee pain after first ride out might not mean much.

My knee started sore this morning but all it took was a mental cue to pedal properly (see point someone made above about learning to pedal again). For me, the cue is not to push the pedals up and down (which brings in the quad) but to focus on pushing forward with the hip when the foot is coming over, like you’re opening up the hip rather than pushing down on the pedal.

Starting to now get knee pain/feeling loss of control at the top of stroke, a strong argument for trying a bit higher now, right?

Perhaps keep it there a while first if pain isn’t too bad, go easy and see if it settles – I think it takes a lot of hours to get used to something in a way that you know it’s not causing issues or you’re able to isolate things. You can move these things along too fast but it’s hard to change things too slowly.

All in all sounds like shorter cranks would be money well spent?