Five steps to set up your saddle for bike touring

Try it: a starting saddle height

Put in your inside leg to get the two classic starting heights. They measure to different points, so use one or the other, then do the heel check and fine-tune by feel.

Measuring your inside leg: stand barefoot with your back to a wall and pull a hardback book up firmly between your legs, spine up, as a saddle would sit. Measure from the floor to the top of the spine. Cycling UK's video uses this method.

Why touring changes the answer

A set-up that's fine for a two-hour ride can fail on day three of a tour. Long days, an upright position and Australian heat all add up.

• Hours, back to back. Physiotherapist Phil Burt told Cycling UK that riders who had "ticked all the boxes" on set-up still got saddle sores from several long days in a row. His fix: stand up for about 10 seconds every 10 minutes.
• Sitting more upright. Your sit bones measure widest when you sit up, and higher bars put more of your weight on them. That's why upright riders usually need a wider saddle than racers.
• Hands. A saddle tilted nose-down, or set too far forward, slides you onto your hands. Over a long day, that's how hands go numb.
• Heat and sweat. healthdirect lists sweat and wet skin as triggers for folliculitis, infected hair follicles. In an Australian summer, getting out of damp shorts matters as much as the saddle.

Step 1: Width

Measure the gap between your sit bones, then choose a saddle at least 20 mm wider (Cycling UK). SQlab, a German saddle maker, adds 30 mm for an upright trekking position.

1. Put a piece of corrugated cardboard on a low, hard, flat stool or step.
2. Sit on it in thin clothes. Hold the sides and pull yourself down, or lean forward a little into your riding position.
3. Stand up, mark the centre of each dent, and measure centre to centre. Do it a few times: Ergon, another saddle maker, says to measure more than once.

Most people measure between about 90 and 120 mm. Cycling UK counts under 100 mm as narrow, 100 to 120 mm as average and over 120 mm as wide. For gravel riding, SQlab adds 10 to 20 mm, and says to go wider rather than narrower if you're unsure.

• It's a rough guide. Makers measure saddle width differently (SQlab counts only the flat, usable part), and shape matters too. The only sure test is riding a saddle on your own bike, so ask a shop about test saddles.
• Softer isn't better. If your sit bones sink into deep foam, the pressure moves to the soft tissue between them.

Step 2: Height

Start with the heel check. In your riding shoes, put your heel on the pedal with the crank pointing down in line with the seat tube: your leg should be just straight. Pedalling on the ball of your foot then leaves a slight bend at the knee.

Lean the bike on a wall or get someone to hold it. If your knee is still bent with your heel on the pedal, the saddle's too low. If you can't reach the pedal, it's too high. Cycling UK calls this "just a starting point". Then cross-check with a formula from the calculator above, using whichever one matches how you measure.

How much should your knee bend?

Sources disagree, mostly because they measure in different ways:

When you pedal, your ankle drops further than when you sit still, which bends the knee more, so a reading taken while riding comes out higher. A 2022 review led by Rodrigo Bini, now at La Trobe University in Bendigo, found strong evidence for setting height from the angle measured while pedalling. That's what a fitter with video does.

At home, the heel check holds up reasonably well. In one small study of 19 riders, it put the knee in the 25 to 35 degree range 70% of the time, against 65% for the 0.883 formula. The 109% formula missed that range in 63% and 73% of riders in two later studies.

Signs it's wrong

• Your hips rock from side to side as you pedal: it's too high. Cycling UK suggests lowering it 5 mm at a time. Rocking also causes chafing.
• Pain at the back of the knee can mean too high, and pain at the front too low. That's a rule of thumb from Park Tool and BikeRadar, not a diagnosis. If knee pain keeps coming back, see a GP or physio. healthdirect also suggests getting your bike set up professionally to help prevent knee pain.
• Mind the seatpost. Never raise it past the minimum-insertion mark. If it has none, Park Tool says to keep at least 2.5 times the post's diameter in the frame: about 68 mm for a 27.2 mm post.

Step 3: Fore-aft

Start with the saddle clamped in the middle of its rails, or with your knee over the pedal axle when the cranks are level. That's a starting point, not a rule. Then recheck the height, because sliding the saddle back raises it.

The knee-over-pedal check (often called KOPS) works like this: sit on the bike with the cranks level, and drop a plumb line (a string with a weight) from your kneecap. It should fall over the pedal axle. Adventure Cycling and Sheldon Brown both use it as a first guess. Keith Bontrager, the American wheel and component designer, says it has "no biomechanical basis at all". Dan Joyce of Cycling UK says it may suit you, but prefers sitting a little behind it.

• Moving back takes weight off your hands, but you may need to lower the saddle slightly.
• Stay within the marks on the saddle rails, as Park Tool advises.
• Bars too far away? Sheldon Brown's advice is to change the stem, rather than moving the saddle off the spot that suits your legs.
• Write it down. Park Tool measures setback with the bike on level ground: hang a plumb line from the saddle's nose and measure across to the centre of the crank.

Step 4: Tilt

Start level, measured across the middle of the saddle with a spirit level or your phone. Never nose up. If you still feel pressure at the front, try a degree or two nose down, and no more.

• Nose up presses on the nerves between your legs, which Cycling UK warns can lead to pain or numbness.
• Nose down slides you forward and loads your hands and wrists.
• How far down? Cycling UK's guide for women says one or two degrees at most. Phil Burt suggests two or three. Bicycle Network says level or slightly lower at the front is usually best.
• Measure it properly. Stand the bike on level ground with both wheels at the same height, and lay the level along the middle third of the saddle, because saddles curve at each end.

Step 5: Test it loaded, one change at a time

Ride the bike as you'll tour on it, with your bags, shoes and shorts, on a few longer rides before you go. Write your settings down first, then change one thing at a time in small steps.

• Note your saddle height, setback and tilt before changing anything.
• Change one thing at a time. Advice on step size runs from 1 mm (Cycling UK) to about 1 cm (Sheldon Brown).
• Give each change a few rides. If it isn't better, put it back.
• Do at least one long ride fully loaded, ideally an overnighter.
• Don't make big changes just before a multi-day ride.
• Start the tour with shorter days, as Adventure Cycling suggests.
• Pack the hex key that fits your seatpost clamp.

Our guide to loading panniers has a loaded test-ride checklist for the rest of the bike. For a first long test on gentle gradients, try the Wadandi Track, or pick a first overnighter in WA. Before something as long as the Munda Biddi Trail, do several back-to-back days.

Numbness, soreness and saddle sores

Some soreness in your first days back is normal, and so is a little numbness on a long ride if it goes when you stand. Numbness that lasts after the ride, or sores that get worse, aren't.

Phil Burt says skin and tissue toughen up with riding, and that about 25 to 30% of riders get some kind of saddle sore whatever their position. Adventure Cycling describes saddle sores as abrasions or rashes caused by friction. The usual causes are doing too much too soon, the wrong saddle, hips rocking, underwear seams, sweat and grime. Burt adds that shaving or waxing can lead to infected hair follicles.

Numb hands can come from pressure on the nerves that run through your wrist. Adventure Cycling suggests padded gloves, straight wrists, slightly bent elbows and a light grip. Check the saddle isn't tilted nose-down, too.

Padded shorts, skin and the first week

Wear padded shorts with nothing underneath, wash them after every ride, and get out of them as soon as you stop.

• No underwear under padded shorts: the seams rub.
• Snug, not loose, so the pad doesn't move around. Skip fabric softener when you wash them.
• Clean every time. Adventure Cycling says wash them before each wear. On tour, that means two pairs, or rinsing one each evening.
• Chamois cream helps on long days.
• Get out of wet shorts straight away, wash gently and let the skin air. On multi-day rides with no shower, wet wipes help.
• More padding isn't always better, says Cycling UK.

Leather saddles

Brooks says its leather saddles are broken in when the leather is flexible and has two dimples from your sit bones. If the back flexes more than 5 to 6 mm, tighten the tension nut a quarter to half a turn, never when the leather's wet. Keep it out of direct sun and heat, which matters on an Australian tour.

Common mistakes

• Saddle too low. Cycling UK says most people ride with it too low. Others push it too high, chasing power.
• Setting the height in socks rather than the shoes you'll ride in.
• Mixing up the formulas. 0.883 measures to the crank centre and 109% to the pedal axle. Use one, not a bit of each.
• Nose-up tilt.
• Raising the post past its minimum-insertion mark.
• Underwear under padded shorts, or sitting around in wet ones.
• A big change the week before a tour.
• Ignoring numbness that lasts after the ride.

Sources

1. Cycling UK: Dan Joyce, Saddle soreness: how do I get a comfortable saddle? and How to do your own DIY bike fit; Victoria Hazael, How to make your bike more comfortable; Video guide: how to set the correct saddle height; How to choose the right saddle; Rebecca Charlton with Phil Burt, Ask the expert: what can I do about saddle sores? (2020); Jessica Strange, Guide to saddle comfort for women.
2. Adventure Cycling Association: Olivia Round, Saddle sores: what they are and how to prevent them (updated 2026); Laura Killingbeck, Make it fit: saddle adjustments (updated 2026); Don't put up with wrist pain.
3. Park Tool: How to adjust a bike saddle and seatpost; Road positioning chart; How to remove and install a seatpost; Thinking about your ride (2008).
4. Sheldon Brown: Saddles; Keith Bontrager, The myth of K.O.P.S.
5. Bini R, Hume P, Croft J. Effects of bicycle saddle height on knee injury risk and cycling performance. Sports Medicine, 2011 (summarises Hamley and Thomas 1967, Holmes et al. 1994 and the LeMond formula).
6. Bini R, Priego-Quesada J. Methods to determine saddle height in cycling and implications of changes in saddle height in performance and injury risk: a systematic review. Journal of Sports Sciences, 2022.
7. Ferrer-Roca V et al. Influence of saddle height on lower limb kinematics in well-trained cyclists: static vs. dynamic evaluation in bike fitting. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 2012.
8. Peveler W et al.: heel method vs formulas (2005); 2007; 2011; static and dynamic knee angles (2012).
9. healthdirect: Cycling and your health; Boils; Abscesses; Cellulitis; Folliculitis; Peripheral neuropathy.
10. Bicycle Network: Getting started; Bike touring basics.
11. SQlab: Trekking saddles, Gravel ergonomics advice, Saddle width system. Ergon: Measuring your sit bone width. Brooks England: FAQ.