Should the seat be lower for jumping than distance riding?

Skippii · October 20, 2004, 8:05pm

For going several miles at a time, I like my seat so that when the pedal is down, my leg is almost completely straight (but not quite). When I jump like that, I can’t get higher than 2 or 3 inches. With the seat lower, I can get maybe 5 inches. Still sucks, but a little better. Does my technique just suck, or do a lot of you keep your seats lower for jumping?

onewheelwizzard · October 20, 2004, 8:30pm

A lower seat post is undoubtedly better for hopping. With a high seat post you only get as high as your legs can carry you, but with a lower post you can pull the uni farther up than your actual body is going, resulting in extra height.

Catboy · October 20, 2004, 9:40pm

Actually for Seat out hopping, your Seat post should be set(from what I, and many others do) to wherewhen you seat out your arm is just barely fully extended and you dont have to hunch alot… So a higher seatpost works better, having it too low sucks…

gerblefranklin · October 20, 2004, 10:13pm

Re: Should the seat be lower for jumping than distance riding?

To be brutally honest, if you can only hop about 5", then it doesn’t matter how high your seat is, the limit is gonna be your technique. I can get around 12" seat in even when my feet can barely touch the pedals at the bottom of the pedal stroke. I get around 16" even when the seat is at my nipple height when I’m seat out. A good rule of thumb later if you really want to get into trials is you should have your seat low enough that if you fall you won’t nut yourself, but high enough that when seat out, and in you “home” position of hopping or stillstanding seat out, you aren’t overly hunched over, but you still can’t really stand up straight. But right now just do what feels comfortable, adn practice. You should be able to get at least 12" seat in before you have to even think about seat height. Basically, your uni should be no different than your feet. How high can you jump without ticking your legs, while just standing? Take like 0-3" off of that, and you have how high you can jump with a tall seat on your uni. The same goes for sidehops seat out. I can do about 34" on my feet, and 32" on my uni, if that gives you any idea.

Skippii · October 21, 2004, 4:26pm

Re: Re: Should the seat be lower for jumping than distance riding?

Originally posted by gerblefranklin
[B]

To be brutally honest, if you can only hop about 5", then it doesn’t matter how high your seat is, the limit is gonna be your technique. I can get around 12" seat in even when my feet can barely touch the pedals at the bottom of the pedal stroke. I get around 16" even when the seat is at my nipple height when I’m seat out. A good rule of thumb later if you really want to get into trials is you should have your seat low enough that if you fall you won’t nut yourself, but high enough that when seat out, and in you “home” position of hopping or stillstanding seat out, you aren’t overly hunched over, but you still can’t really stand up straight. But right now just do what feels comfortable, adn practice. You should be able to get at least 12" seat in before you have to even think about seat height. Basically, your uni should be no different than your feet. How high can you jump without ticking your legs, while just standing? Take like 0-3" off of that, and you have how high you can jump with a tall seat on your uni. The same goes for sidehops seat out. I can do about 34" on my feet, and 32" on my uni, if that gives you any idea. [/B]

Thanks! That’s exactly what I wanted to know.

Now I just have to figure out what I’m doing wrong.