Something that particularly upsets me is people riding with saddles that are far too low. Now, I’m a non-tech savvy cyclist by any means, but even I can tell that something’s wrong with some riders. I’ve seen some saddles so low that the riders are virtually on the ground. To illustrate, enter Bob. He’s normally a pretty happy, emotionally balanced guy:
Here’s what happens though when you put him on a maladjusted bike whose saddle is too low:
Look at his right leg! It’s way up in the sky – it’s not comfortable to scrunch up like that. He also can’t ride at a sensible speed – every stroke of his legs is a struggle, and he has to use far more energy to propel himself than if he was riding a properly fitted bike.
Every day on my rides around York, I see people who have this problem. They’re invariably travelling much more slowly than me; in some cases, they’d be faster on foot. I finally mustered up the courage to tell one such person that his saddle was too low, and he seemed happy to be told; whether or not he’ll do something about it remains to be seen. Really, it’s a shame that more people haven’t read Bicycle Design by Mike Burrows:
“The most critical dimension for the rider of a safety bike is the pedal-to-saddle distance. There are several formulas for calculating this distance. None of which you need to bother with, as they can only generalise. All you need to do is set the saddle so that your leg is fully stretched with your instep on the pedal. Your normal foot position, with the ball of the foot on the pedal, then gives a slight bend in the knee with the foot in the lowest position. The system (if you take into account shoe plates, sole thickness etc.) will get you as close to your correct height as can be done by formula.”
I can think of several causes for maladjusted saddles, but most of them boil down to riders not visiting a bike shop. A real bike shop, that is – not a supermarket selling flat-pack cycles[1]. Good bike shop staff will be able to measure up a rider and adjust the bike accordingly, and it makes all the difference to whether or not the rider enjoys cycling. Happy riders are likely to keep riding a long time; uncomfortable and unhappy riders won’t, and will ditch their bikes for alternative forms of transport.
The “bike shop” principle holds regardless of where you acquired your bike too, by the way; especially if you bought your bike on t’interwebs or flatpacked (not things we recommend, by the way) or secondhand, it’s a good idea to get someone who knows what they’re doing to adjust things like saddle and handlebar height for you. It could make riding infinitely easier and more enjoyable.
I fixed Bob up in the end, by the way. He’s much happier now, look:
I’m curious to know if this a problem this world over, or if it’s limited solely to York – have you seen people riding ill-fitting/ill-fitted bikes? Anyone ever sorted out the problem on the spot? Feel free to leave a comment 
[1]Of course, here we come back to the eternal problem: bike shops (for those who are casual cyclists) can often seem scary, intimidating places. All of the shops on Cyclorama feature lovely, helpful people though – we promise! Don’t be afraid!
There’s more on this subject in Bike Culture if you want to read on: The Fundamentals of Fit, by Mick Allan
