I was wondering how most set up their saddles with respect to fore / aft position (forward / backward). Im getting coccyx pain and was thinking about changing the position. Is there a performance consideration?
Thanks!
With standard four bolt saddles like KH ones I always set the seat as far forwards as it can go, with the bolts as far back in the slots as they can be. It is just my preference but I have asked other people who do similar. The aim for me is to have the saddle slightly tilted up at the front.
With the T-7 handle the rails allow much more fore-aft adjustment and I used to have it somewhere in the middle. I don’t use it any more and I didn’t find that type of adjustability to be useful.
Do you mean front of seat highest or lowest?
Thanks for the help.
On my freestyle about in the middle. On my 29" just a little shy of all the way nose high, but that seat has been modified to have a flatter nose. I set my 29" so I’m sitting evenly between all 4 sit bones.
You get Coccyx pain when sitting on your Uni saddle? Do you really slump in the saddle or something? When I sit up straight my coccyx is a couple of inches above the saddle. Are you getting pain while you ride, or after?
Edit:
Well I just googled and it seems coccyx pain while cycling is fairly common.
from this site: http://www.sportsinjuryclinic.net/cybertherapist/back/lowback/coccyx_pain_coccydynia.htm
Causes of coccyx pain
* An unstable coccyx which causes chronic inflammation.
* A fall or direct trauma to the base of the spine.
* Repetitive strain or overuse, particularly from cycling or rowing.
* Muscle spasm or tightness in the pelvic floor muscles, gluteus maximus, prirformis or adductor magnus muscles. This pain is often distinguished as is eases when sitting rather than getting worse.
* Problems following surgery.
* Childbirth.
What can the athlete do?
* Avoid sitting down if possible. Sitting is likely to aggrevate the injury and inhibit healing.
* If you have to sit, use a cusion with a whole or slit cut out to accommodate the coccyx and take the pressure off it.
* Apply hot or cold therapy to the area. Some therapists advise hot, some cold. Different approaches may be more successfull for some than others.
* For an unstable coccyx the injury will usually heal by itself over a period of weeks or months.
* Visit a doctor or other medical professional.
As someone who is battling knee pain with bunches of stretches and exercises, I found it interesting that coccyx pain could be an overuse injury. Upping my mileage from parking lot riding is what set off my knee pain.
There are also sites with special bicycle seats. Looking at those might give you and idea of how you could modify your own seat.
A sharp bread knife (does not have to be super expensive) cuts the foam used in seats pretty easily. A V shaped cut would be pretty easy to do.
What kind of seat do you have?
Wow, once again amazed at peoples help, thanks.
I have a Nimbus Muni 24 with a Stock gel saddle. Its my first uni. My coccyx has been hurting since I started 2 months ago. I have the saddle in the centered fore-aft position. I was gunna try the nose up position.
Im a Physical Therapist. If you are having knee issues, please feel free to explain to me and I could hopefully help you. Maybe I’ll start another thread on it so others could benefit. I’ll just start that thread tomorrow after work.
Thanks
I keep my saddle as far back as possible (with the front of the saddle as far down as it will go). Although, I’m not really sure that my experience will be very useful to you because I’m female so my anatomy is different (and the whole reason of adjusting my seat the way it is is to get pressure off of the sensitive areas).
FWIW, I’ve been having horrible coccyx pain from my bike seat as well. It’s a hybrid bicycle and I am thinking I need to get a narrower saddle (like what is common on road bikes). I haven’t noticed any long-term effects, other than soreness for a day or so after riding). I don’t have this pain on my unicycle. I ride with a converted air saddle.
It’s your thread so I guess we can hijack it. No big knowledge here just the kinda guy who researches everything he hears about that he doesn’t know much about.
The idea for a knee thread has been tossed around and there are a couple floating around but I don’t think a dedicated thread would have traction beyond a few days.
I’ve read just about every website I can find on quite a few different knee ailments and the stretches and exercises for them. I keep changing the rehab routine to try new things and discard things that don’t seem to help and as the pain has moved around and I have figured out what it isn’t. Or to put in another way as one bio-mechanical problem has been resolved I move on to the new one that has been revealed.
For instance in the last few days I’ve decided the glutes and hip flexors need more work (strengthening) than I’ve been giving them.
Really what I’m getting back to is the whole body integration that I enjoyed in Gymnastics and Martial arts. I didn’t intend to do that but that is what has happened as I keep going after more causes of chronic knee pain. Not really chronic, more like revealed through overuse.
The above is just a highlight of what I do, my rehab routine typically takes about an hour and goes from stretching my feet up to learning to engage my Transverse Abdominus and level my pelvis.
I think it’s fascinating how much is connected to the knee in some way. If not directly, something connects to something that attaches to the knee or terminates where another muscle begins.
Now the pain behind my knee cap is gone and I just get a little pain where the quads insert to the Patella when I do a braking action on the Uni or once in awhile when getting up from a deep knee bend. If I had to say I would say its the rectus femoris that is the one pinging. I get a little bit of irritation of the medial meniscus but I’m not sure what is causing that since I don’t do get any irritation while doing any of my stretches/exercises. I have a feeling that it might be a by-product of leg adduction exercises.
I ride pretty much pain free now, but If I try to do any hills my knees let me know it the next day. So I’ve been leaving them out as I continue rehabbing this old man’s body. I"ve recently added Idling practice back in and that is giving me a little bit of irritation like I mentioned above when I do the ‘braking’ part of the idle.
If you think you have something more specific I can do for some irritation right at where the the quads insert to the knee let me know otherwise thanks for the offer and If I feel like i’m stuck, not making progress, I’ll let you know.
I too have the seat slid all the way forward (nosed up). it’s the only way I found to be able to actually position my sit-bones comfortably on the back of the saddle.
I just picked up a KH street saddle with a v-notch cut into it. wow, that’s comfy. 
Level 12?
I did the child birth thing twice. Never had coccyx pain. My sister, however had a baby that broke her coccyx and broke the baby’s collar bone. Now THAT is pain.
I do not like the nose of my seat set high. I would prefer a more flat seat. I just purchased a kh street saddle to try. I’m hoping it will improve distance riding. I like my seats set as forward as possible.
so apparently this seat position thing isnt based only on gender. i have it pointed up and forward, as most guys here do. but so far the two female posters have said opposite things. maybe natosha has a extra bone near her pelvis.
Thanks for the input. I see the Doc tomorrow for my pain-in-the-ass!
Im thinking of getting a split KH maybe…
I mean the front highest. I’ve used washers to raise the front of the seat before, and I’ve seen people bend the front of their seatpost so it angles upwards a bit, but I think that the Gel seat may not suit all body types. It may be more suited to smaller people due to the curvature. There is only so much moving it back and forwards can do.
The street saddle is a lot flatter than the gel, and the 2010 model has a groove in it for added comfort. Some people ride with bike seats and handlebars- it might be helpful to have less padding. Ken Looi shaves almost all the foam off his seats and rides for ages.
Make sure your seat height is perfect- for both knee and butt pain it may help. When the pedal is at the lowest position your leg should be nearly straight, so that you only raise out of the seat a tiny bit. (unless you like low seats)
i put mine on backward and rode around untill my pedals fell off. it was cheaper then buying a speedo jobbie.