BFF Academy · EZ course Saddle height
Saddle height and why it's a good place to start
Saddle height is the first thing to set and for good reason. It has the biggest effect on how your legs are positioned. Moving it shifts every other adjustment, so starting anywhere else just means redoing it later. The vertical distance between your saddle and your pedals decides how far your legs can extend at the bottom of each stroke. Get it wrong and you feel it almost everywhere: your knees, your hips, your lower back, and the power you put through the pedals.
| Wrong direction | What's happening | What you feel |
|---|---|---|
| Too low | Your knee never reaches a comfortable amount of extension. Work falls heavily on the quadriceps because the hamstrings and calves can't engage through their full range. | Front of knee pressure, fatigue in the thighs, a sense of pedaling harder for not much output. |
| Too high | Your knee reaches full extension early, and your hip rocks side to side to chase the pedal at the bottom. | Back of knee strain, hip discomfort, lower back tightness from the rocking. |
In between those two modes, there's a window. The fit window idea from Lesson 1 applies here: your correct saddle height isn't a single number, it's a range you settle into.
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