Seat Height?

Have a 26" Muni, however have a slight knee pop in my left knee when pedaling. It will fade if I focus my weight in the seat…however I think moving the seat up/down should minimize any popping. Right now my seat cant go up anymore without it affecting my pedaling and balacing (maximum, anymore I cant sit)

I have read some story’s where lowering it actually fixed the problem. Any suggestions?

Also Im running 137mm cranks, its great for muni but I need some speed. Should I up the wheelsize or shrink crank size?

I made out 4.8mph average, with 8.8mph top speed on my last ride. lol

As we delve into winter, remember to keep your knees warm. I have issues with tight-fitting fabric pulling my kneecap in an odd direction when I bend my leg, so I can’t wear anything tight. I have moved on to some novara cycling pants and my knees have been much happier in the cold.

Moving the saddle up, should in theory (as long as you aren’t reaching for the pedals) decrease the stresses on your knees, and alleviate your problem. If the saddle is all the way up already, my next suggestion would just be to ride a little easier, or go up a crank size. If you have a brake, focus on using it instead of your legs to slow you down.

For muni, I like a 29er with 150s, or 125/138s if I’m feeling particularly frisky or am on a smoother track where I don’t need as much of a safety net.

I absolutely understand the need for speed, but until that pop in your knee goes away, you may make it worse by riding harder, at least in my experience.

Is that something that has been persistent your entire life, or is just now popping up? It could need some rest.

There are specific stretches you can do for knees to help with this issue. If you go see a physical therapist they can tell you exactly what to do. One thing you might try is to concentrate on keeping your 2nd toe directly above your knee (the toe next to the big toe). I’ve been told this helps reduce knee pain as well as icing your knees for 15 minutes after rides.
Rob

You have to figure out if you suffer from the ITB syndrome or not.
If it is the case, (this is what I suffered from one year ago during a 50km ride that I couldn’t finish, and then during the few months that followed until I discover that I had to lower enough the seat. then it never happened again) you’ll have to lower your seat so that your knees are never flexed less than a certain angle (generally it’s around 30°).

To make it simple, the ITB rubs against the relief of the external knee bones, this means that the ITB goes from under the bone to above, when your knee is flexed less than a certain angle, then more than this angle, and so on, rubbing (or being compressed, there is a debate) against the bone at each passage.
After few km you start feeling the external part of you knee burning, and if you insist you just can not keep on.
So to avoid this you have to manage to make this rubbing never happen, so if your knees are always flexed more than those, lets say 30°, you’ll never have this rubbing.

By looking yourself through a mirror you can see and feel this hard band that goes from above you knee bones to under it when you flex and stretch you legs.
Thus you can see how much flexed you legs have to be so that the ITB stays under the knee bones. Then you measure the distance between the floor and your crotch (your feet have to be distant from each other the same distance than when they are on pedals, but in the same line).
this distance will be the maximum distance between the top of the seat and the top of the pedal in low position (6 o’clock position).
For me it was about 82/83cm depending of what shoes I use.
Each time I set the seat higher the ITB syndrome comes back after few km.

I hope it will help you.