New bike and ouch my knees!

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Keep slowly raising the seat 1/2" or so every week until your leg goes *almost* straight when your pedal is at the low point in its circle. As you raise your seat you will notice less knee pain.

You're not supposed to be able to put both feet on the ground and still be sitting in your saddle. Even one foot should be tricky unless you have the bike tilted. You're supposed to move forward and off your seat with one foot on a pedal and the other foot coming down on the ground. When you are stopped, you should have one foot on the ground, the other on one pedal, and your crotch over the top tube, not on the saddle.
Practice will make it easier and easier. And the knee pain will be your motivation to get your saddle up where it belongs.

Don't give up!

[wolfak]

That's a very cute bike. Everyone has great tips. It will get easier with time - just keep pedaling!

[pardes]

Platys, I know JUST what you mean. My knees don't hurt but I can't pedal as well as I could.

I'm 5'3" and have a 15" Trek 7.6 FX and I'm still trying to get the seat UP WHERE IT BELONGS. Heck, after a week of intense struggle, I finally conquered swinging my leg over the saddle and off the bike without tripping. Had the seat been higher I'd still be stranded in my driveway with one foot stuck on the top bar.

As someone said, move the seat up half an inch at a time till it's right. I doubt I'll ever get my seat all the way up like the pros but I can settle for comfort and security.

[platys]

I road my bike to the train!

Of course, I got caught in a thunderstorm and I ended up completely soaked. So now I'm sitting at work in comfy clothes bought at Walgreens while my work clothes dry out.

So, I need a poncho.

Moving the bike seat up some is helping - I"ll keep working on it. I road it around more last night, and that helped with the whole balance thing.

It is true that you never forget how to ride a bike, but you do forget, like, how to start and stop and get off and not fall down at stop lights...

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Good for you Platys!
Don't stress, just take it slowly and it will all come naturally.

[redrhodie]

Good job!

One thing that helped me (I was a too low saddle rider at first) was to watch my BF start and stop on his bike. Once I could analyze the dynamics of stepping on the pedal as I was lifting onto the seat, it made sense.

[rhyme]

This is a great thread. Lately I've started to wonder about my bike .... like the position I was in was just kind of odd - I felt like I needed a longer distance between myself and the handlebars - the natural tendency was to sit further back on the seat to give myself a little extra room to drag out, which just isn't comfortable. I wondered if maybe this is what people meant about bike geometry, and maybe this bike just wasn't right for my ill shapen body. But then I just started wondering if my legs weren't extending enough -- I felt like if I could just extend a bit more, I'd probably have a lot more power.

I mentioned it to a friend of mine who isn't a newbie, and he asked how much more I thought I could extend my legs..... I replied at least three inches to a fully extended leg.. and i could sit on the bike with both feet squarely flat to the ground. He suggested im an idiot.

Fixed it today, looking forward to seeing what its like after this.