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Can anyone recommend a really low stack saddle and/or a low 27.7 seatpost? That aren’t too expensive.
I’m trying to figure out how to drop the ride height of my daughter’s new bike (Vitus 20+) for the short term while she grows a bit.
I’ve got some smaller tyres to fit on there initially which drop the bike about 15-20mm compared to the huge 2.6 Crown Gems (which we’ll save until she’s a bit bigger and the weather is less bleak for a 5 year old).
any help greatly appreciated
Shorter cranks will also reduce the effective seatpost length. So will thicker pedals or shoes with thicker soles.
I can’t afford cranks as well. I was thinking a seatpost and saddle would be the cheaper option. Also the cranks won’t help with standover.
she’s a tad less confident than her twin brother who’s more of a ‘it’s ride or die time’ and just rides whatever. She’s more cautious (to start with) and hates change. He just wants to go as fast as possible.
I’ve ordered some NP Urchin pedals and picked up some secondhand 5Tens so that’s those 2 bases covered.
Nukeproof Horizon Enduro saddle is low. Something like 35mm compared to 50mmish on a Fabric saddle I also have. Obviously it's their most expensive saddle and I don't think the cheaper ones are as low...
Trek 20" kids cranks are around £20 and offer a long and short pedal position. I'd wager that is less than a saddle + post. But yes doesn't alter standover (though neither does a seat post/saddle change).
I found a WTB SL8 to have a lower stack than my regular saddles (spoon-a-likes).
They are pricey except when CRC happen to have your width in their sales.
Standover is ok. It’s more saddle height while she gets confident on a new bike. Like I said, she’s fussy and takes a while to get used to new things.
https://www.giant-bicycles.com/gb/approach-saddle
Got one of these, I think, which came off a neighbour's bike. Feels very flat and is the only one that let's me have my dropper fully raised.
Nukeproof Horizon Enduro saddle is low.
Yeah - I tried one of those when trying to get a magic combination once. I've ridden a lot of saddles, and the Horizon is the single least comfortable saddle I've ever used by a very wide margin.
Looking at the pics on the Vitus site, the saddle seems very tall. I'm about to head to my shed, and will see if there's a scuffed Islabikes saddle in my bits box still. If there is, I'll stick it in the post to you.
The only other thing I'd suggest is a dropper - which you can shim down or leave dropped.
Brand X does an external 27.2 dropper that we used for both our boys' bikes when they were riding with 27.2 seat tubes. They're (relatively) cheap, completely bombproof and resale is healthy on account of the small diameter - if I were doing it all again, that would be what I'd add to every bike before anything like disc brakes or suspension forks.
One other thing - you mentioned she's five OP; is this bike too big for her. The recommended rider heigh is 120-136cm, inside leg 52-61cm. While you can really drop the saddle and post combo and use shorter cranks (which is an excellent suggestion, by the way) sorting out reach might be critical as well. Spec says a 50mm stem, so you could probably find something that cut at least 15mm off the reach as well.
BMX one piece saddle n post could possibly get lower if you can get a seat post shim the right size, that's a cheap eBay option, the nukeproof enduro saddle drops about 8mm lower than their other saddles, not a big amount but currently on sale at £35 at CRC, I personally find them comfy but I'm not a 5yo girl.
@bentudder. That would be great if you did have one.
Yeah, the bike is too big for her but we’re waiting for her to grow a tad more. Just trying to figure ways to get her on it a little earlier as there’s no way she’s going to let her twin brother have his much earlier than her. Her inside legit is about 2 or 3cm too short so the plan is to de what we can do to make it fit in the short term.
I figure it’s little things like this that we do to our own bikes to get them just right (saddle, stems, seat posts, cranks, bars etc) so worth playing with for them (if it doesn’t cost too much).
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/335067385774?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=WtqMHoyGSdK&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=AOH8sI9PQZW&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY
Might be worth a shot for £15. Stack height 46mm
See if you can get hold of a real old-school design seatpost<br />Evil Jeff seems to sell 'em:
post like this<br />clamp like this
Then turn the clamp bit upside down and you can pretty much get the rails below the top of the seat-tube
(... but I might have one in the garage, if I didn't leave it on the daughter's bike when I moved that on - I bet somebody's got one)
I can’t afford cranks as well
take a look at aliexpress. they have lots of short cranks. the chances are the 20” came with cranks far too long for a 5 year old.
i did this on my son’s 20 incher and it made all the difference. his ears weren’t by his ears when he was peddling. he was so pleased he regularly tells the neighbours, along with “and he’s been to whistler” and “and he can fix a puncture!” what can i say?
Nukeproof Horizon Enduro saddle is low.
Yeah – I tried one of those when trying to get a magic combination once. I’ve ridden a lot of saddles, and the Horizon is the single least comfortable saddle I’ve ever used by a very wide margin.
Conversely i find it fine for comfort. Charge Knife has the same stack height if you can find one second hand i think. I find the Knife pretty uncomfortable though.
Just measured. 5.5cm stack on pivotal saddle and post. Over 7 on everything else. 8cm on the one the Vitus 20+ came with.
Do you know which pivotal seatpost and saddle you have?
Good to know there’s smaller options out there.
Yeah, the cranks are 114 which seem ok for their legs.
One's a Tioga post and whatever saddle the lbs had in. The other is an inspired bikes saddle and post from them as well.
Not much difference between them in terms of stack. Get on eBay. search for slim ones avoid the fat ones - you'll start to send the difference pretty quickly as you look at the pictures.
And we've literally just come in from the road, getting littlest pedalling for the first time! 😀
Going back to when I was messing around for similar for my daughter. I used an old type of seat post like this https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/372560417620?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=boHiRHp4R1e&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=KPj6Sx9wTbi&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY
And an old style seat clamp, like this
The seat clamp can be turned upside down and allows the saddle to be fitted in a lower position.
On my daughters bike, the saddle rails where about 15mm from the quick release clamp on the seat tube. Saved about 20mm in height
Awesome. I’ll take a look. I probably have one of those knocking around in my parents’ barn.