Shops and saddles

[creadinger]

Quick question for all of you who have worked in and around shops…

What is the frequency or percentage of times you see mechanics move a saddle up or down I’m assuming to facilitate ease of putting the bike in the maintenance stand? Then how often is it that a saddle is just left at the new level or someone may attempt to put it back at the level that it was but possibly get it way wrong anyway?

I just picked up my bike from the shop and I think they raised my saddle an inch or so. Riding home 2 miles was pretty uncomfortable, but since I wasn’t wearing my bike shoes, it was difficult to tell if I was just crazy or what. When I got home I put my bike shoes on and using the wall for support found that my leg was dead straight at the bottom of the pedal stroke. NO one rides like that! I’ll have to do some short test rides this evening to get it back to where I think it should be.

Am I wrong in thinking that saddle height should be considered a sacred position and no one but the owner should modify it without risking death from fire and brimstone?

[Judd]

Weird. I can’t think of a reason that they would fiddle with it if they weren’t doing something specific to the seatpost or saddle. And you’re tall enough that there should be plenty of seatpost room to clamp in the stand.

I’m curious too.

[Harry Meatmotor]

@creadinger 187950 wrote:

Quick question for all of you who have worked in and around shops…

What is the frequency or percentage of times you see mechanics move a saddle up or down I’m assuming to facilitate ease of putting the bike in the maintenance stand? Then how often is it that a saddle is just left at the new level or someone may attempt to put it back at the level that it was but possibly get it way wrong anyway?

I just picked up my bike from the shop and I think they raised my saddle an inch or so. Riding home 2 miles was pretty uncomfortable, but since I wasn’t wearing my bike shoes, it was difficult to tell if I was just crazy or what. When I got home I put my bike shoes on and using the wall for support found that my leg was dead straight at the bottom of the pedal stroke. NO one rides like that! I’ll have to do some short test rides this evening to get it back to where I think it should be.

Am I wrong in thinking that saddle height should be considered a sacred position and no one but the owner should modify it without risking death from fire and brimstone?

Nah. No fire and brimstone. If a mechanic needs to expose more seatpost to fit in the clamp, which happens quite often, they should do 2 things:

1) mark the seatpost’s original position with a small piece of tape, or a dab of grease
2) turn the seatpost about an 1/8 turn from straight, so it’s obvious the post has been moved from the original position

A lot of new seatposts (especially aftermarket) come with markings directly on the seatpost – it’s usually pretty easy to count the number of exposed marks to re-align to the original position. Also, shame on you for not having your basic measurements written down somewhere, e.g., center of BB spindle to top of saddle along seat tube, saddle fore-aft position, stack, reach, crank arm length, etc.

[pmf]

I cut a small triangular shaped piece of electrical tape and stick it on the seat post with one of the edges right where the post meets the frame. I do it on all my bikes and my wife’s bike that I do have to expose more post to get it into a work stand clamp. Its also handy to monitor whether your post is slipping.

[dasgeh]

@creadinger 187950 wrote:

Am I wrong in thinking that saddle height should be considered a sacred position and no one but the owner should modify it without risking death from fire and brimstone?

On a road bike, I agree that saddle height should be considered a sacred position and think that the owner should make sure they know what their optimal height is and make sure it’s set correctly after letting others use or repair their bike.

[lordofthemark]

This happened to me last time I was at Phoenix. I noticed it immediately on leaving the shop (it was pretty dramatic, and I am on the short side) took it right back and they adjusted it properly back for me. No harm, no foul as far as I was concerned.

[creadinger]

@Harry Meatmotor 187952 wrote:

Nah. No fire and brimstone. If a mechanic needs to expose more seatpost to fit in the clamp, which happens quite often, they should do 2 things:

1) mark the seatpost’s original position with a small piece of tape, or a dab of grease
2) turn the seatpost about an 1/8 turn from straight, so it’s obvious the post has been moved from the original position

The recommendations make sense to me! But the weird part is, as Judd said, they didn’t need to raise my saddle. They clamped it with no problems in front of me while we went over the work I needed done. And I failed to convey this originally but this confuses me now because it has literally never been an issue before.

I do have 2 small score marks (scratches really) on the seat post where I like the saddle to be. They’re a couple of millimeters apart and it’s possible they didn’t see them, but I guess a disclosure would be nice – “we moved your saddle and it may not be exactly where you like it.” And keep in mind the shop was dead the 2 times I went in this week. I was the only customer and I had conversations with the same employee both times. I understand how in a month the shops are flooded with people and conversations like that won’t happen.

I like this shop. They’ve done good work so far. It was just a bit jarring, literally, to realize my seat post was off by an inch suddenly and for no reason.

[Author]

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