Finding maximum freestyle seat height

system · July 4, 2001, 1:50pm

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I’m still playing around with seat height for freestyling. Several people
had mentioned that higher is better, and I agree. So now that I’m riding
nice and high, I can still easily pop the seat in and out the front, but
not the back. I’m fairly comfortable with seat out skills, I can do the
basics - figure eights, circles, idling, and a bit of backwards riding-
seat out the front and back.

However, seems I can only move seat in and out of the back when it’s about
2cm lower than my ideal height. Has anyone experienced this? Seems I could
take a gradual, or an abrupt approach to this, and I’m wondering if any of
you have been through this already.

The gradual approach would be to lower the seat back down to a point where
I can just barely move the seat in and out the back. Once that becomes
easy, I’ll continue to move it up in small increments, with practice,
until I get used to where I want it to be.

The abrupt approach would be to keep the seat at the max height that I’ve
settled on, and just re-learn how to move the seat in and out the back.
When I hold myself against a wall, cranks horizontal, and stand slightly
tippy-toe, the seat can go in and out the back with about an inch of
clearance, so I know it is physically possible.

Joe Merrill

–part1_e6.17c59e90.2874dab6_boundary Content-Type: text/html;
charset=“US-ASCII”

<HTML>I’m still playing around
with seat height for freestyling. Several people had mentioned
that higher is better, and I agree. So now that I’m riding nice
and high, I can still easily pop the seat in and out the front, but not
 the back. I’m fairly comfortable with seat out skills, I can do
the basics - figure eights, circles, idling, and a bit of backwards
riding- seat out the front and back. However, seems I can
only move seat in and out of the back when it’s about 2cm lower than
my ideal height. Has anyone experienced this? Seems I could
 take a gradual, or an abrupt approach to this, and I’m wondering if
any of you have been through this already. The gradual
approach would be to lower the seat back down to a point where I can
just barely move the seat in and out the back. Once that becomes
easy, I’ll continue to move it up in small increments, with practice,
until I get used to where I want it to be. The abrupt
approach would be to keep the seat at the max height that I’ve settled
on, and just re-learn how to move the seat in and out the back. When
 I hold myself against a wall, cranks horizontal, and stand slightly
 tippy-toe, the seat can go in and out the back with about an inch of
 clearance, so I know it is physically possible. Joe Merrill
 </HTML>

–part1_e6.17c59e90.2874dab6_boundary–

system · July 4, 2001, 3:08pm

However, seems I can only move seat in and out of the back when it’s about
2cm lower than my ideal height. Has anyone experienced this? Seems I could
take a gradual, or an abrupt approach to this, and I’m wondering if any of
you have been through this already.

<snip>

Rather than a gradual or abrupt approach you could try something
completely different. Learn a new way of getting back on the seat.

If you can ride seat on side, try idling in that position. It is then
possible to get back on the seat with a motion similar to a side mount
(where your leg comes forward, around the front of your saddle and then
you sit on the seat).

I have seen this done very gracefully and although technically harder it
has the advantage that your pants are less likely to get in the way.

To start with I would recommend holding the seat at the back when side
idling while doing this. Once you’ve got the hang of it you can go from
side idle to normal riding position without holding onto the seat.

This is also a nice way of getting out of crank idle.

o o Peter Bier o O o Juggler, unicyclist, programmer and mathematician.
o/|\o peter_bier@usa.net

system · July 4, 2001, 8:48pm

> However, seems I can only move seat in and out of the back when it’s
> about 2cm lower than my ideal height. Has anyone experienced this? Seems
> I could take a gradual, or an abrupt approach to this, and I’m wondering
> if any of you have been through this already.
>
> <snip>

Yeah, I had this problem when I bought my 24" cycle, which had a long
enough seat post to get it to a reasonable height. I found that the
easiest thing to do was to momentarily stall with the cranks parallel to
the ground, then stand up on tip toes and pull the seat out. This
maximises the height you can get above the seat. The stall is very brief
(much less than a second) and will pretty much happen naturally if you try
to stand up while the pedals are horizontal.

nic

system · July 5, 2001, 4:52am

— Nicholas Price <pricen01@tartarus.uwa.edu.au>
> wrote: Yeah, I had this problem when I bought my 24" cycle, which had a
> long enough seat post to get it to a reasonable height. I found that the
> easiest thing to do was to momentarily stall with the cranks parallel to
> the ground, then stand up on tip toes and pull the seat out. This
> maximises the height you can get above the seat. The stall is very brief
> (much less than a second) and will pretty much happen naturally if you
> try to stand up while the pedals are horizontal.
>
>nic

I do the same. I’ve also found if you lean your upper body forward, that
makes your legs do a better job of straightening out, thus making the seat
just a little easier to slide out.

Jeff Lutkus

Free e-Mail and Webspace - http://Unicyclist.com

system · July 5, 2001, 9:07am

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The abrupt approach would be to keep the seat at the max height that I’ve
settled on, and just re-learn how to move the seat in and out the back.
When I hold myself against a wall, cranks horizontal, and stand slightly
tippy-toe, the seat can go in and out the back with about an inch of
clearance, so I know it is physically possible.

All you have to do is learn to stand up just as you pull the seat out.
Make sure the balls of your feet are over the pedal axles for maximum
ankle extension. When the pedals are level, point your toes downward and
stand up, as you pull the seat out. You should have plenty of clearance
once you get used to the movement. Same thing to get it back in.

For seat height, Bill Jenack (Unicycling Society of America founder)
recommended that when you are sitting comfortably on your seat holding a
wall, if you put your heel on the bottom pedal you should still have a
slight bend in your knee. This leaves you a little bit of flexibility left
in your leg extension when you ride on the balls of your feet, which is
where you should for freestyle (and almost everything else). If your seat
is too high, you might be bringing your legs too close to full extension
or having to use too much ankle motion for normal riding.

I have almost never seen people ride with their seats too high. It’s far
more common to see people with their seats way too low. This usually comes
from unicycles with posts that aren’t long enough, or simple lack of
knowing how high a bicycle or unicycle seat should be.

Stay on top, John Foss, the Uni-Cyclone jfoss@unicycling.com
www.unicycling.com

“Never take a sleeping pill and a laxative on the same night” –
good advice

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<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC “-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN”>
<HTML><HEAD> <META HTTP-EQUIV=“Content-Type” CONTENT=“text/html;
charset=US-ASCII”>

<META content=“MSHTML 5.50.4522.1800” name=GENERATOR></HEAD> <BODY>
<DIV>The abrupt approach would be to keep
the seat at the max height that I’ve settled on, and just
re-learn how to move the seat in and out the back. When I
hold myself against a wall, cranks horizontal, and stand slightly
 tippy-toe, the seat can go in and out the back with about an
inch of clearance, so I know it is physically
possible. All you have to do is learn to stand up just as you
pull the seat out. Make sure the balls of your feet are over the
pedal axles for maximum ankle extension. When the pedals are level,
point your toes downward and stand up, as you pull the seat out.
You should have plenty of clearance once you get used to the
movement. Same thing to get it back
in.</DIV>
<DV> </DIV>
<DVI>For seat height, Bill Jenack (Unicycling Society
of America founder) recommended that when you are sitting
comfortably on your seat holding a wall, if you put your heel on
the bottom pedal you should still have a slight bend in your knee.
This leaves you a little bit of flexibility left in your leg
extension when you ride on the balls of your feet, which is where
you should for freestyle (and almost everything else). If your seat
is too high, you might be bringing your legs too close to full
extension or having to use too much ankle motion for normal
riding.</DIV>
<DVII> </DIV>
<DVIII>I have almost never seen people ride with their seats
too high. It’s far more common to see people with their seats
way too low. This usually comes from unicycles with posts that
aren’t long enough, or simple lack of knowing how high a
bicycle or unicycle seat should
be.</DIV>
<DIX> </DIV>
<DX>Stay on top,</DIV>
<DXI>
John Foss, the Uni-Cyclone jfoss@unicycling.com<BR-
>www.unicycling.com "Never take a sleeping pill and a
laxative on the same night" – good advice
</DIV></BODY></HTML>

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system · July 5, 2001, 9:07am

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this format, some or all of this message may not be legible.

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The abrupt approach would be to keep the seat at the max height that I’ve
settled on, and just re-learn how to move the seat in and out the back.
When I hold myself against a wall, cranks horizontal, and stand slightly
tippy-toe, the seat can go in and out the back with about an inch of
clearance, so I know it is physically possible.

All you have to do is learn to stand up just as you pull the seat out.
Make sure the balls of your feet are over the pedal axles for maximum
ankle extension. When the pedals are level, point your toes downward and
stand up, as you pull the seat out. You should have plenty of clearance
once you get used to the movement. Same thing to get it back in.

For seat height, Bill Jenack (Unicycling Society of America founder)
recommended that when you are sitting comfortably on your seat holding a
wall, if you put your heel on the bottom pedal you should still have a
slight bend in your knee. This leaves you a little bit of flexibility left
in your leg extension when you ride on the balls of your feet, which is
where you should for freestyle (and almost everything else). If your seat
is too high, you might be bringing your legs too close to full extension
or having to use too much ankle motion for normal riding.

I have almost never seen people ride with their seats too high. It’s far
more common to see people with their seats way too low. This usually comes
from unicycles with posts that aren’t long enough, or simple lack of
knowing how high a bicycle or unicycle seat should be.

Stay on top, John Foss, the Uni-Cyclone jfoss@unicycling.com
www.unicycling.com

“Never take a sleeping pill and a laxative on the same night” –
good advice

------_=_NextPart_001_01C1056C.49D9EC70 Content-Type: text/html

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC “-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN”>
<HTML><HEAD> <META HTTP-EQUIV=“Content-Type” CONTENT=“text/html;
charset=US-ASCII”>

<META content=“MSHTML 5.50.4522.1800” name=GENERATOR></HEAD> <BODY>
<DIV>The abrupt approach would be to keep
the seat at the max height that I’ve settled on, and just
re-learn how to move the seat in and out the back. When I
hold myself against a wall, cranks horizontal, and stand slightly
 tippy-toe, the seat can go in and out the back with about an
inch of clearance, so I know it is physically
possible. All you have to do is learn to stand up just as you
pull the seat out. Make sure the balls of your feet are over the
pedal axles for maximum ankle extension. When the pedals are level,
point your toes downward and stand up, as you pull the seat out.
You should have plenty of clearance once you get used to the
movement. Same thing to get it back
in.</DIV>
<DV> </DIV>
<DVI>For seat height, Bill Jenack (Unicycling Society
of America founder) recommended that when you are sitting
comfortably on your seat holding a wall, if you put your heel on
the bottom pedal you should still have a slight bend in your knee.
This leaves you a little bit of flexibility left in your leg
extension when you ride on the balls of your feet, which is where
you should for freestyle (and almost everything else). If your seat
is too high, you might be bringing your legs too close to full
extension or having to use too much ankle motion for normal
riding.</DIV>
<DVII> </DIV>
<DVIII>I have almost never seen people ride with their seats
too high. It’s far more common to see people with their seats
way too low. This usually comes from unicycles with posts that
aren’t long enough, or simple lack of knowing how high a
bicycle or unicycle seat should
be.</DIV>
<DIX> </DIV>
<DX>Stay on top,</DIV>
<DXI>
John Foss, the Uni-Cyclone jfoss@unicycling.com<BR-
>www.unicycling.com "Never take a sleeping pill and a
laxative on the same night" – good advice
</DIV></BODY></HTML>

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system · July 5, 2001, 9:07am

This message is in MIME format. Since your mail reader does not understand
this format, some or all of this message may not be legible.

------_=_NextPart_001_01C1056C.49D9EC70 Content-Type: text/plain

The abrupt approach would be to keep the seat at the max height that I’ve
settled on, and just re-learn how to move the seat in and out the back.
When I hold myself against a wall, cranks horizontal, and stand slightly
tippy-toe, the seat can go in and out the back with about an inch of
clearance, so I know it is physically possible.

All you have to do is learn to stand up just as you pull the seat out.
Make sure the balls of your feet are over the pedal axles for maximum
ankle extension. When the pedals are level, point your toes downward and
stand up, as you pull the seat out. You should have plenty of clearance
once you get used to the movement. Same thing to get it back in.

For seat height, Bill Jenack (Unicycling Society of America founder)
recommended that when you are sitting comfortably on your seat holding a
wall, if you put your heel on the bottom pedal you should still have a
slight bend in your knee. This leaves you a little bit of flexibility left
in your leg extension when you ride on the balls of your feet, which is
where you should for freestyle (and almost everything else). If your seat
is too high, you might be bringing your legs too close to full extension
or having to use too much ankle motion for normal riding.

I have almost never seen people ride with their seats too high. It’s far
more common to see people with their seats way too low. This usually comes
from unicycles with posts that aren’t long enough, or simple lack of
knowing how high a bicycle or unicycle seat should be.

Stay on top, John Foss, the Uni-Cyclone jfoss@unicycling.com
www.unicycling.com

“Never take a sleeping pill and a laxative on the same night” –
good advice

------_=_NextPart_001_01C1056C.49D9EC70 Content-Type: text/html

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC “-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN”>
<HTML><HEAD> <META HTTP-EQUIV=“Content-Type” CONTENT=“text/html;
charset=US-ASCII”>

<META content=“MSHTML 5.50.4522.1800” name=GENERATOR></HEAD> <BODY>
<DIV>The abrupt approach would be to keep
the seat at the max height that I’ve settled on, and just
re-learn how to move the seat in and out the back. When I
hold myself against a wall, cranks horizontal, and stand slightly
 tippy-toe, the seat can go in and out the back with about an
inch of clearance, so I know it is physically
possible. All you have to do is learn to stand up just as you
pull the seat out. Make sure the balls of your feet are over the
pedal axles for maximum ankle extension. When the pedals are level,
point your toes downward and stand up, as you pull the seat out.
You should have plenty of clearance once you get used to the
movement. Same thing to get it back
in.</DIV>
<DV> </DIV>
<DVI>For seat height, Bill Jenack (Unicycling Society
of America founder) recommended that when you are sitting
comfortably on your seat holding a wall, if you put your heel on
the bottom pedal you should still have a slight bend in your knee.
This leaves you a little bit of flexibility left in your leg
extension when you ride on the balls of your feet, which is where
you should for freestyle (and almost everything else). If your seat
is too high, you might be bringing your legs too close to full
extension or having to use too much ankle motion for normal
riding.</DIV>
<DVII> </DIV>
<DVIII>I have almost never seen people ride with their seats
too high. It’s far more common to see people with their seats
way too low. This usually comes from unicycles with posts that
aren’t long enough, or simple lack of knowing how high a
bicycle or unicycle seat should
be.</DIV>
<DIX> </DIV>
<DX>Stay on top,</DIV>
<DXI>
John Foss, the Uni-Cyclone jfoss@unicycling.com<BR-
>www.unicycling.com "Never take a sleeping pill and a
laxative on the same night" – good advice
</DIV></BODY></HTML>

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