[kumar2007]

Originally Posted by Jeroen

With smaller wheels, with everything else the same, your feet ground distance would get less too.



Jeroen

Nope....................

Your saddle height is solely based on your inseam length, nothing else. Wheels do not come into play.

[anshuman965]

Hey Guys! Had been mulling over buying a bicycle for the last 5-6 months, followed this thread very diligently. Finally, took the plunge day before and bought the Trail 6 from Track N' Trail, Koregaon Park, Pune. Want to thank all in this thread for indirectly helping me find my 'blackbird'. And also thanks to Mr. Arun and his staff for their help.


Attaching some snaps of the beauty. Will post better snaps of rides later on! Happy Cycling!

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by kumar2007

Nope....................

Your saddle height is solely based on your inseam length, nothing else. Wheels do not come into play.

Well thats ok, we just have to differ how math and physics work.
Happy cycling

Keep those feet of the ground.

Jeroen

[phamilyman]

Originally Posted by kumar2007

Nope....................

Your saddle height is solely based on your inseam length, nothing else. Wheels do not come into play.

Agree 100%!

Originally Posted by shifu

I have started cycling really early in the morning on Sundays - like 5am or so. This way I can do a 50kms-60kms spin and come back home by 8am.

Now I need a headlight for the cycle as the sun doesn't come up by 6:30am. I don't want to spend a lot of money, but want something that lets me see the distance such that I can do 25kmph confidently. I have seen the "NiteRider", and that costs around 5k. I am looking for something cheaper - any other suggestions?

Thanks!

Try something like http://www.ebay.in/itm/Combo-UltraFi...-/262098897366 - no personal experience but what you need are such lights only.

Originally Posted by Jeroen

Well thats ok, we just have to differ how math and physics work.
Happy cycling

Keep those feet of the ground.

Jeroen

Well, most big bike shops / instruction videos agree with kumar's math unfortunately. Here's Performance bicycle:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxifl9JTeYA

With smaller wheels, with everything else the same, your feet ground distance would get less too.

Wrong again. You're confusing two fundamental things here Sir.
a. For kids cycles yes - smaller wheels (20") mean a cycle for smaller children with a necessarily smaller frame.
b. For adult bicycles - whether it is 700c roadie tyres or 26" / 27.5" / 29" wheels - the feet-ground distance does not change (in line with the principles in the video).

Here is a contrarian example which shows that you can have wheels as small as you want and still have the same feet-ground distance.

[kumar2007]

Originally Posted by Jeroen

Well thats ok, we just have to differ how math and physics work.
Happy cycling

Keep those feet of the ground.

Jeroen

In all seriousness, I'd be interested in 'your' math and physics. Could you explain how exactly a smaller wheel will change the saddle height?

Phamilyman, thank goodness someone here understands the basics about a bicycle :-)

[VintageSree]

Originally Posted by anshuman965

Hey Guys! Had been mulling over buying a bicycle for the last 5-6 months, followed this thread very diligently.Finally took the plunge day before n bought the trail 6 from track n trail koregaon park pune. Want to thank all in this thread for indirectly helping me find my 'blackbird'. and also thanks to Mr Arun and his staff for their help. Att some snaps of the beauty. Will post better snaps of rides later on! Happy Cycling!

Congratulations Anshuman! The Bike looks fabulous.:thumbup:

Enjoy your rides!

[phamilyman]

Originally Posted by VintageSree

Noob alert: sorry if I sound naive, but in my limited experience of cycling, I'm bugged with the following doubts. Can someone please help?

I ride a road bike and intend to put it to serious usage. (like 50km commute, the purpose which I had in mind when I picked a roadie.) I began with 10 km rides on alternate days to 25 km rides on alternate days now.

1. Do cleats really enhance my pedalling ?

Yes they do, for me - I got 10% faster since I'm otherwise a coasting-addicted lazy bum. But YMMV.
If you want to study research- http://bicycles.stackexchange.com/qu...-pedal-systems is overwhelming info that just says "not really". Here is one more example: http://www.radlabor.de/fileadmin/PDF...aefte_2008.pdf

Originally Posted by VintageSree

2. Should I downshift to keep my cadence high, especially when the going gets tough?

Thanks.

Always! Too much pressure can lead to chain slipping or breaking or unnecessary wear. more importantly it kills your knees - a commonly accepted cadence is anywhere between 80-100.

When you are working at a faster cadence, your knees are working less because the momentum takes some of the pressure off your knees. A good cadence for your knees is between 80-100 rpm. It is important for the condition of your knees that you keep this quicker cadence even if you are going uphill.

via http://www.thekneepainguru.com/cycli...out-knee-pain/

[VintageSree]

Thanks phamilyman.

I think I can use the cleats just for the benefit of tying my feet to the pedals so at higher cadence, my feet do not fall / slip all over the place....

For the first time today, I crossed 40 kmph on level road which I earlier used to achieve with the help of gravity. This despite on lower gear but higher cadence of 70 - 80.

[mohit]

Trying out a new bike. Was looking for a 27.5 but this Felt six70 was a crazy good deal (older stock). Contemplating whether to keep it or give it to my son.

[kshivaa]

This is a newbie question. I am planning to start doing some cycling (some health consciousness and to lose weight). As a start, did some research and narrowed on Btwin My Bike White. Wanted some feedback on if this is a good option? I am 5 feet 9 inches and weigh 95 Kg - would this cycle handle my weight ??

I have no intent of doing any racing or speed drives, and would mainly be on only normal Chennai roads, and hence ruled out MTB's.

thanks
Siva

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by kshivaa

This is a newbie question. I am planning to start doing some cycling (some health consciousness and to lose weight). As a start, did some research and narrowed on Btwin My Bike White. Wanted some feedback on if this is a good option? I am 5 feet 9 inches and weigh 95 Kg - would this cycle handle my weight ??

I can not really comment on the bike as Im not familiar with it. On loosing weight though. My experience is you wont really loose weight by exercising alone. If you really need/want to loose weight you need to do more then exercise. Maybe check your BMI first to get some understanding on how much your weight roughly out to be.

http://bmicalculator.cc/?gclid=Cj0KE...Is8aAoEm8P8HAQ


I have found exercising in combination with a good healthy diet works the best. At least for me.

Good luck, no matter what riding a bicycle is a healthy exercise!

Jeroen

[phamilyman]

Originally Posted by kshivaa

This is a newbie question. I am planning to start doing some cycling (some health consciousness and to lose weight). As a start, did some research and narrowed on Btwin My Bike White. Wanted some feedback on if this is a good option? I am 5 feet 9 inches and weigh 95 Kg - would this cycle handle my weight ??

I have no intent of doing any racing or speed drives, and would mainly be on only normal Chennai roads, and hence ruled out MTB's.

thanks
Siva

Yes it can - its a MTB btw.

Most hybrids / MTBs are supposed to take upto 110-125KG (check mfr specs).

Expand your budget and get a much more fun to ride firefox flipflop / LA Sovereign Cheetah instead. They have slick tyres and will give you much more speed - but double the cost.

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by kumar2007

Nope....................

Your saddle height is solely based on your inseam length, nothing else. Wheels do not come into play.

I think two different things are getting mixed up. Saddle height and 'feet to the ground'.

Saddle height is measured from the crank to the sadle. As you say wheel size doesnt come into play. Largely depend on your inside leg measurement.

Your 'feet to the ground measurement' depends largely on two factors, the saddle height and how far the crank is of the ground. The first is depended on your inside leg measurement, the latter is very much depended on the design of the frame.

In fact if you google something 'bicycle saddle height' you will find dozens if not hundred of calculators and or video's all claiming the same. You would be very hard pressed to find one that calculates how far your feet are of the ground. That is at best an afterthought. Although, given that saddle height is based on your inside leg measurement, frame sizes tend to be standardised, it works out pretty much for everybody, ie the average.

If you take a bicycle frame with 28' wheels and stick in 26" wheels, the saddle height according to the above remains the same, obviously.

However, your feet will be a little lower to the ground, obviously.

These days, at least in the Netherlands just about all regular road bicycles, so come with 28' wheels. Many manufacturer used to produce both 26' and 28' version, so on the same frame you could get a different wheel size. Typically these different wheelsizes were available on only the lower frame sizes.

Some used a cut off point. So below a certain frame size you would always get 26" wheels . So smaller frames, meant smaller wheels and for a given saddle height, based on your inside leg measurement, your feet will get closer to the ground. That is unless you go for a very different sort of frame all together.

Just try this for experiment, put ten different makes of bicycles together, they need to have the same wheel size, and within reason similar frame measurements. You will see a difference of the measurement centre of crank to the ground. On all those bikes a given person would have the same saddle height, but from model to model there would be a somewhat different feet to the ground.

Thats why it is important to try different makes of bicycles and not get to stuck in only the saddle height. I dont know how big a selection of bicycles your typical Indian retailer would carry. I'm fortunate coming from the Netherlands where we have huge retailers which would carry hundreds if not thousands of bicycles in all frame and sizes. My wife must have tried 15-17 different bikes (all with 28") untill she found the one that made her feel the most comfortable.

I will be back in the Netherlands most likely for the new year and I will take some pictures of all our bicycles showing the difference in crank height to the ground

Jeroen

[kumar2007]

Originally Posted by Jeroen

I think two different things are getting mixed up. Saddle height and 'feet to the ground'.


If you take a bicycle frame with 28' wheels and stick in 26" wheels, the saddle height according to the above remains the same, obviously.

However, your feet will be a little lower to the ground, obviously.


Jeroen

So many things wrong with your post. Let me start with the 3 biggests mistakes.

1. The 'feet to the ground' is something you came up with. It's not something used in regular bike fitting terms

2. You can't put in 26" wheels into a frame designed for 28" wheels, so the frame which was designed for 26" would have the appropriate change in the BB height.

3. Yes the bottom bracket does vary in height between different bikes. It is called the BB drop. The more the BB drop, the stabler is the bike but with less around clearance.

To use your term of height of feet from the ground? That would depend solely on saddle height which is measured either from BB center, or some measure it from the bottom pedal stroke to saddle.

You are pretty confused about these concepts. Really, ask me what is your confusion and I'll help you out.

What exactly do 'you' mean by feet to the ground distance. What do you have in your mind? What measurement?

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by kumar2007

You are pretty confused about these concepts. Really, ask me what is your confusion and I'll help you out.

I have been confused and wrong many times before. So good of you to offer to help out, but I think I will leave it at that. Clearly you and I live in very different universes when it comes to a simple thing as bicycles, or language, or definitions or measurements or whatever. I'm cool with that.

You say your thing, I'll say mine, but I dont think pursuing this debate is going to enlighting anybody, so I will happily refrain from that. Lets wait for some other, new, bicycle related posts and see if we have something to add.

Keep peddling and get that saddle height right! Who knows where your feet will end up!?

Cheers.

Jeroen