Saddle up riders

With the increase in popularity of saddle dropper seat posts I am wondering how many people set their saddle at one height for a ride and leave it there? I don't even have a QR on my seat clamp, the post does not get moved during a ride. Am I part of a dying breed?

very rarely move my saddle, certainly not on the XC bike

I find it's VERY rarely necessary on UK trails……

Never move mine

i used to but i dont tend to bother now

Tend to lower mine for thrutchy technical steep stuff. And have you ever tried riding a pump track with your saddle up? 🙂

afraid i move mine fairly often. its alright keeping it at one height for epic xc and easy trail centre stuff, but mid peak district etc. theres some proper steepies. wouldn't wanna go down them at full height….

hard to bunnyhop more than 3 inches or so with full height post if you ask me. unless you have retractable nuts…

Set height years ago and not moved since.

Do people really buy these things for UK trail riding?

No qr here either. I'll set it for a ride. A rocky trail centre ride might see it 1/2 or 3/4 inch lower than SDW, say.

if youve tried some of the trails in calderdale with the saddle up then your a brave chap 😉

Mine's up and down! Must me my short legs and my love of speed! 'Speshally round Calderdale!

never move mine…not even for morzine…

xcstu that is the wrongest thing i have ever read…

wrong wrong wrong.

i bloody hope you are trolling.

if youve tried some of the trails in calderdale with the saddle up then your a brave chap

Do you need to buy a £150 seat post to ride there? 😉

no but you could lower it

If I ride trail centre stuff then normally I am out for a ride and it stays put as I like to keep a good flow.
If I am riding local stuff then I tend to make things more interesting by lowering the saddle and give the bike a good thrash on the downs (DH Styleee).
Depends on what you ride I guess.

Mine's up and down like someone with bipolar.

Which is a pain, as I don't have a qr at the moment

Depends how i'm feeling. If i'm just going out an a steady ride and not giving it full beans then it stays where it is, the ride flows better.

But on alot of rides we tend to stop at the top and if its a decent dh coming up lower the saddle and give it some, more of like riding a series of dh's linked by climbs than a flowing ride if you get what I mean..? Drops and jumps aren't too much fun with your seat up.

All depends on what type of rider you are and the terrain you ride.

DH bike saddle stays put at the same height all the time, just low enough not to get in the way when giving it some but high enough so that it can be used to control the bike with the inner thighs…

😀

used to have a QR, ditched it to save weight ;p

As for not being able to bunny hop? Are you on crack and/or spd's? I can bunny hop pretty much as high with the saddle up as if its down.

If I lower it it just feels wierd on the straight bits, although I once did an entire 20 mile XC ride with the seat dropped (bolt snapped) and I used to do 10mile interval circuits on the BMX, sprint 60seconds, rest 60 seconds untill you pass out or get home, bear in mind you physicaly cant sit on a BMX and you realise how good a training too just riding one is!

With my old bike, I couldn't get my butt past the saddle if it was up in efficient cycling mode, so I used to lower it often.

With the new bike I can get my weight behind the saddle even when it's right up, so I suspect I will be lowering it a lot less.

It seems to have quite a lot to do with the geometry of the bike as to whether you can get your weight far enough back on descents (butt behind the saddle) or not….

It would have to get really really extreme before I even thought about moving it. Getting back behind the saddle is just fine. I think for regular riding around, including little jumps pumps and drops, just having a set saddle height is way better – because it stops you getting all equipment focussed and makes you just ride.

Yo-Yo here. But i'm fully rigid so need the extra room to absorb the bumps.

I've never tried riding with mine lower, ever!

few trails in the uk i lower it, from memory devils staircase and ciaran path (SP?), snowdon and laggan black.

remains just as high for most of the rest of the time. lower it at the top of the climbs in the alps though.

Occasionally I lower it. I hate getting mashed bollocks when getting off the back of a raised saddle though.

I never change my saddle height. If you can get of the back of a saddle then there is no real need to.

I lower mine for hammering down steep rocky stuff. Yea, I could leave it up and mince down I guess? Suppose it depends what floats your boat. Cant see how you soak up a jump or drop if your saddles firmly wedged up your crack. Please, explain just how you do this and keep your weight centered? No really, pics and vids or it dosent happen.

Up and down like a tarts knickers.

Sure I can ride DH with my saddle up, but I can ride one hell of a lot faster with it down… Every inch I drop the saddle is another inch of the best sprung, best damped, rear suspension travel there is.

I did buy a go-go gadget seat post for the mega last year, but it was heavy and crap so took it straight off again afterwards. Seat QR is more than quick enough outside of a race situation.

If you can get of the back of a saddle then there is no real need to.

I find the riding position off the back of the saddle just horrible. Straight arms, straight legs, weight way too far back for proper control. Bleugh.

Mine's up if I need to climb, otherwise dropped as far as it'll go!

Grimy – why would the saddle be "up your crack"? Standing up on level pedals gets you the length of your crank over the saddle, plus you then move back as required.

Right down to almost BMX height when going at it downhill, all the way up to efficient pedalling XC jey height for everything else bar the very occassional slight drop when getting proper slow and technical.

3 heights…….in descending order.

Climby
singletracky
downhilly

I'm not saying I get them all at the right times though!!!

Not in the UK, got long legs though

Never move mine but keep it pretty low all the time which does make climbing harder..but there you go.

In my experience a lot of riders use the "hang-on I've got to adjust my saddle" as an excuse to have a breather at the top of a climb 😀

On the XC bike it stays up for 95% of a ride, drop it out the way if I find some drops/jumps I fancy having a quick go on

On the FS I used to leave the saddle up as much as I could, the sensation of just about to go over the bars got old though trying to ride stuff with more sudden gradient changes (eg multiple sections of stairs). That and wanting to be able to learn to ride/absorb 3' drops. I bought a (5") dropper post as my frame only has about 3" of saddle drop with the seatpost cut as much as possible, and use it quite a bit, a lot of those times may only be dropping it 1-2" though, so I can still pedal reasonably effectively
As above I could mince my way down stuff, but its more fun to drop the saddle a bit and try jumping off stuff, moving weight around a bit (quickly) and going faster

tbh i didnt drop it as much before i bought a dropper but use it alot now . Im trying to get better at tech riding so its good to have. For me anyway but each to their own. Like all things bikey personal preference

If the trail goes down, so does my seatpost.

Yep, put the seat down when going downhill most of the time – it's just easier and more fun, as you have far better control of the bike underneath you.

It frightens me when I see people going off drops and over jumps, etc., with their seats right up as it's an accident waiting to happen (body weight in the wrong place). I've seen a fair few stacks as a result of it.

why add 500grams to my bike?

Trail centers I do lower slightly epics up more and thus save 500grams of weight.