why do DH racers ride with such high seats???

PB Forum :: Downhill
why do DH racers ride with such high seats???
Author Message
flag DanPells
Posted: Apr 8, 2008 at 6:52 Quote
I ride DH with my seat fairly high. I am on a hardtail, but i find if i get into a rear wheel slide that i dont want, i can lean onto the seat and the drift stops.

I also find it helps slightly with distributing my weight evenly on the bike.
flag spag
Posted: Apr 8, 2008 at 6:59 Quote
the1nonlyj wrote:
also the BB is much higher on some DH bikes than others meaning ure gona need ure seat that little bit higher to accomodate for it...

so even though it looks sky high its not nessercerily that far form the BB, and dont forget when ya sit on it and the bike takes ure weight uve got sag in the suspension which will lower the seat height a weee bit.

actually the bb is lower on a downhill bike, my orange 224 had a lower bb then my dob...

most downhill race bike have somewhere around a 0 to +15mm bb height, comparable to most bikes.

Free ride bikes tend to have a higher bb for better pedaling abilities over rocks.

and when you measure the seat hight you are measuring from the center of the bb to the top of the seat. so bb height has nothing to do with how high the seat is.

on my orange i had 2 seat height positions, my frame was a 15" for reference. one as low as possible without hitting the tire, about the equivalent of a 16" frame with the seat slammed. my racing position was about the equivalent of a 19-20" frame with a slammed seat, the reason was for pedaling only, when doing a race run there are sections where you have to pedal and you need to conserve energy for the rocky sections that follow
flag makechanges
Posted: Apr 8, 2008 at 7:15 Quote
jmsxtreem wrote:
PNWrider wrote:
it might sound stupid but i have no idea why
basically for pedaling eficiency, aswel as bottom out control of the rear wheelCool
pretty much and your standing up mostly so wen u do sit down its good to be able to pedal
flag calgaryrider
Posted: Apr 8, 2008 at 7:51 Quote
Ok, there are several reasons for having the seat up and I'll put them all into one post:

1) Linear travel - most race bikes will bottom out at least once on a race course, we prefer not to have our seats smashed against our tires, therefore they stay up.

2) Pedal efficiency, if you have to sit down and pedal in a section its easier to do it on a seat that is at an appropriate height than one that is slammed, example, go for an xc ride with your street bike and sit down the entire time, your knees will love you.

3) Control - you can pinch the seat if things are getting zesty in a rock garden.

4) Flats - this is a personal one, but for me since I ride flats instead of clips, I can pinch the seat with my legs and change foot positions on the fly.

5) Lastly, because we race, and were not concerned about looking trendy, if that was the case our bikes would all be decked out in white deity components.
flag shondo
Posted: Apr 8, 2008 at 8:04 Quote
calgaryrider wrote:
Lastly, because we race, and were not concerned about looking trendy, if that was the case our bikes would all be decked out in white deity components.

Oooh......nice shot at the jibbers.Beer
flag downhilldro
Posted: Apr 8, 2008 at 8:04 Quote
pedaling efficiency is the biggest part for me. balance is another, ever try ridding without a saddle or post? and like mentioned before, if you look at the stem height on most dh bikes w/ "high" saddles, it matches pretty well, most of the time the stem is even higher. this is an ideal set up for these bikes
flag g10ry
Posted: Apr 8, 2008 at 8:04 Quote
calgaryrider wrote:
Ok, there are several reasons for having the seat up and I'll put them all into one post:

1) Linear travel - most race bikes will bottom out at least once on a race course, we prefer not to have our seats smashed against our tires, therefore they stay up.

2) Pedal efficiency, if you have to sit down and pedal in a section its easier to do it on a seat that is at an appropriate height than one that is slammed, example, go for an xc ride with your street bike and sit down the entire time, your knees will love you.

3) Control - you can pinch the seat if things are getting zesty in a rock garden.

4) Flats - this is a personal one, but for me since I ride flats instead of clips, I can pinch the seat with my legs and change foot positions on the fly.

5) Lastly, because we race, and were not concerned about looking trendy, if that was the case our bikes would all be decked out in white deity components.

thats pretty much sums everything up Wink
flag OilCanRacer
Posted: Apr 10, 2008 at 13:35 Quote
everybody has different heights and leg lengths.

keeping the sadlle high enough to clear the rear tire on full compresion is the minimum.
high enough so you can pedal or rest sitting down is (to me)just a poor excuse for being outta shape. or lazy. i ride alot of xc to keep my pedaling strength high so i can blast thrru all the pedaling sections.

somewhere in the middle is best so you can use the seat as a lever or another contact to weight or unweight the bike in tricky sections with the inside of you legs.
its easy to get pushed out of shape in the air after a turn and off camber jump. a quick tap from your inside thigh to your seat will get the bike pointed back in the right direction and save your landing. happens so fast that you almost don't notice it.
also i use the seat as a guide when doing long drifting corners on haw far to lean or getting feedback to what my rear tire is doing. weather it is sticking or starting to slideout. then i can adjust my hips and outside elbow to change weight on my tires.


with you seat too low or too high you can't really do these things. also too high and you can't get behind your seat to save yourself on steep declines. most riders crash over the bars. if you don't believe me, look at most crash videos.
flag plumslinger
Posted: Apr 10, 2008 at 13:54 Quote
Yeah one bad thing is if your front wheel get caught on a root then your seat can buck you over the bars if you cant get your weight over the back quick enough.
flag andyjacko123
Posted: Apr 10, 2008 at 13:55 Quote
so wen ya stack it uv got a last resort..
flag fantaman
Posted: Apr 11, 2008 at 11:00 Quote
i thougth running your'e seat as low as possible is better for more freedom in movement on every ride but when you drop and bottom out that isn't good.My sadle was ript into pieces after bottom outs.Still i used to have my seat low but it depends on the DH track.
flag fortune
Posted: Apr 11, 2008 at 11:50 Quote
OilCanRacer wrote:
everybody has different heights and leg lengths.


high enough so you can pedal or rest sitting down is (to me)just a poor excuse for being outta shape. or lazy. i ride alot of xc to keep my pedaling strength high so i can blast thrru all the pedaling sections.


So you are saying most, if not all pro racers are unfit? if you watch them race you will see in open sections they will sit down and get back onto the gas. On short open sprints yes they will stay standing but when its a longish section you will see they are straight down on the seat resting and conserving engery for when they need it.
flag morewhitenoise
Posted: Apr 11, 2008 at 11:58 Quote
i have my saddle high, like at crotch height so its just inbetween the tops of my knees for extra control and grip.
but i am soo lank that it looks stupid.
stood up its really usefull, and sat down its still an unefficiant pedaling position.
flag zach-f
Posted: Apr 11, 2008 at 14:41 Quote
you can hold the bike steady with your legs, and it helps when you need to pedal.

it takes a while to get used to but in the lond run it helps alot!

and then v10 pictured earlier is probably race ready.
flag chatua
Posted: Apr 11, 2008 at 15:51 Quote
The only reason is because it's always easier to pedal the more upright you are, just like the way XCers have their seats so high.

I never ride with my seat too high though, always end up smackin my balls when I lean too far back and come back in, lol.

 


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