Bicycle Saddle Height

Find your ideal bicycle saddle height and protect your knees.

This app will allow you to calculate your ideal bicycle saddle height (BSH) according to your body anatomy.

The calcs will take in account the knee angle when the pedal is at the bottom and at the top and also the crank length, the pedal and shoe heights to help protect your knees from injuries.

If your bicycle is a road, mountain, trekking, cross, single speed, city, recumbent or even a trike or a velomobile you can use this app to achieve your saddle height for different bikes and equipment.

To find out your BSH, 12 parameters are necessary:

P1 - Total Height with Shoes

P2 - Total Height

P3 - Seated Height

P4 - Upper Legs Width (or HJCR Height)

P5 - Knee Height

P6 - Ankle Knuckle Height

P7 - Ankle Knuckle to Ball Foot (or to Axis Pedal Center)

P8 - Pedal Height (Flat or other type )

P9 - Saddle Minimum Height

P10 - Saddle Position (back or fore)

P11 - Crank Length (50 to 300 mm)

P12 - Seat Post Angle (0 to 90 degrees)

For the Greg LeMond and Hamley-Thomas methods, 1 parameter is necessary:

P13 - Inseam

This app will give 6 Setups to set your saddle and 4 of the most common Methods available for comparison.

The SETUPS are:

S1 - Best Performance

155 degrees knee angle with pedal at bottom

S2 - Best Beginner

145 degrees knee angle with pedal at bottom

S3 - Cycling Shoes - Max Ankle Angle

Max available leg extension with cycling shoes

S4 - Flexible Shoes- On toes

Max available leg extension with flexible shoes

S5 - Optimum crank - Expert

New crank length 155 knee angle at bottom + 70 at top

S6 - Optimum crank - Beginner

New crank length 145 knee angle at bottom + 70 at top

The METHODS are:

M1 - Greg LeMond

Saddle Height 88.3% your inseam

M2 - Hamley-Thomas

Saddle Height 109% your inseam minus crank length

M3 - Heel

Heel with the pedal at the bottom and knee locked

M4 - Holmes-Pruitt

Knee angle 155 degrees with the pedal at 6'o clock

The 6 setups and 4 methods will give you the following 7 Outputs:

O1 - Saddle Height

O2 - Maximum Frame Size

O3 - Actual crank length or Optimum Crank Length (only setup S5 and S6)

O4 - Knee Angle at Top

O5 - Knee Angle at Bottom

O6 - Ankle Angle at Bottom

O7 - HJCR (Hip Joint Center of Rotation) to BB (bottom bracket)

You can use this info to set your ideal saddle height, but remember that everyone's anatomy is different and using a standard crank length (170/175 mm) might not be the best solution for you!

In the "Settings" you will be able to change the knee and ankle angles according to your preferences. You'll be able to save your own parameters, your friends or family, and edit or calculate it later on.

The parameters can be in mm (SI) or feet and inches (imperial) and must be defined in the "Settings".

Protect your knees and enjoy cycling more!