Cycling UK Forum

Ok so I noticed this last year when I did my first tour with 7kg of gear at the back, and I noticed it again yesterday when I tested my setup with about 16kg of gear at the back.

My saddle is quite high, and to get on it, I have to lean my bike at an angle of about 20 degrees to swing my leg around the back of and onto the saddle whilst holding the handlebar with my hands. I imagine this is how most people get on their bikes. This is fine when the bike is unloaded.

When the bike is loaded at the back, if I try to do the same, I find I have to apply a great force to hold the handlebars rigid to avoid the bike toppling over. This force goes through the headset/stem area and possibly the fork and the front of the frame. It doesn't feel healthy at all and I imagine I would break something there if I did it enough times.

So most of the time I try to avoid it by adopting a different way of mounting the bike, by standing facing the side of the bike, raising my leg 90 degrees to get it over the top tube, and once I am stood over the top tube, I can easily get on the saddle. This way I can keep the bike straight and not have to lean it. But it feels considerably more awkward and a bit comical. Perhaps if I were a gymnast or a sprint hurdler it would be easier, but I lack flexibility when it comes to obtuse leg raises..

Is this logical? Am I right to avoid putting too much force through the front of the bike by not leaning it? Or is it a sign something is wrong with my setup?

I got in the habit of putting my leg over the top tub when I had a child seat on the bike most of time. I considered getting a step through frame, but I never bothered. I still find myself putting my foot over the top tube most of the time, though.

If you have trouble throwing a leg over the back, how about throwing it over the front - maybe you have more flexibility in that direction. Assuming you are right sided, stand to the left of the bike holding the saddle with your right hand and the bars with your left. as you throw your leg over the front of course you need to release the bars at which point it can be handy to turn the bars a little to the left. This is the method I've seen used and so have used myself for 40 odd years of riding machines where throwing a leg over the back is not straightforward i.e tandems and tricycles. Now that we have hidden brake cables it is much easier than when we had exposed cables looping upwards; something I am grateful for as I get older. This method may not work well if you are using straight bars because of the increased arc you'd need to throw your leg.

22camels wrote:I find I have to apply a great force to hold the handlebars rigid to avoid the bike toppling over. This force goes through the headset/stem area and possibly the fork and the front of the frame. It doesn't feel healthy at all and I imagine I would break something there if I did it enough times.

Cannot possibly be a problem else we would be worried about riding out of the saddle and so putting more weight on the front.

I tried that.. you mean throwing the right leg over the handlebars? It's certainly more difficult than putting it over the top tube, which is lower than the bars.

I have no trouble at all throwing the leg over the back, provided I lean the bike a bit, but I find when the bike is loaded the back of it wants to fall over unless I hold the bars very steady. This force, that I say goes through the front, is more of a sideways torque - I don't think it's the same as the weight you put on the front when you ride out of the saddle.

I used to have this problem before I bought front panniers. The weights so much on the back that the front bars want to jump up when I started to mount the bike. Since I got the panniers the load balanced up more, and now leaning the bike at an angle is more the problem due to the sheer weight...
My solution is to mount it like a horse, stand next to the bike, put left foot onto the left pedal, and using this swing my right leg over. Naturally I use a handy fence or somethng to lean the bike against while doing this.
Maybe this is relevant, maybe not. Either way its not graceful but good luck!!!

Emma

A major problem for me is restarting on very steep hills, the ones you have to 'tack' up. If there's no traffic around. I ride across the hill and start to zigzag as soon as possible to avoid riding on the wrong side. It can be quite scary

My bike has a sloping top tube, I just step through.

By my calculations, leaning the bike 20deg. will reduce the effective saddle height by just 10%
(leaning it 45 deg will halve the effective saddle height)

You are right, it's more like a 35-40 degree angle. The height of my saddle from the floor is around 20cm longer than my inseam.

+1 for front bags helping balance the bike for getting on and off. Its one thing i like about my Chameleon, all the weight is low and i can easily mount/dismount without much leg and bike swinging!

That said, on unloaded and full size bikes i generally swing over the back to get on and over the front to get off - occasionally i might slide off the back, usually after a hard ride where standing on two legs is difficult let alone balancing on one!

I have a bit of a problem with this. If possible I use a kerb to give me extra height or just make sure the bike is not on a high spot. I then have to concentrate on throwing my leg high enough to clear the pannniers/tent and saddle. By the end of a tour I could probably get a place in The Royal Balllet.

I really don't think those forces you are talking about would damage anything. What a loaded touring bike goes through in normal riding probably subjects it to much greater stresses.

Can be a game on uphills with big loads, but just do a rolling mount/dismount. Easier and quicker than all of this get on and then get started.

One of the few things I don't like about my recumbent tourer is I can't combine mounting and leaving in to a single action, though with under-seat steering a rolling dismount is fairly easy.

The biggest loads I carry are on the 8 Freight, but that's easy. As well as a low tube it has the Burrows Powermatic Deluxe handlebar-activated centre stand and a parking brake!

Pete.

A couple of weeks ago I caught my shoe-lace on a gear lever (downtube type) while mounting my bicycle, which had some heavy extra luggage that day. All ended up flat on the road, and being in the heart of the West End there was a large audience to my incompetence...

A couple of weeks ago I caught my shoe-lace on a gear lever (downtube type) while mounting my bicycle

Bravo. Two days ago I meant to step on my left pedal and swing my right leg over the saddle. I don't know how I managed this but I stepped on the left pedal and rolled over my right foot with the rear wheel. The swinging over the saddle came to an abrupt halt. Honest.

rolling mount/dismount? Is that the one where you put the front foot on the pedal, and push off three times with the back foot before swinging it over? I was never very good at that even unloaded.

I am not convinced those forces that are put on the front of the rear-heavy bike when you lean it at 35 degrees holding the handlebars rigid, are so insignificant. Granted a touring bike can take a lot, but there are some things it's not designed for. Depends on the material I guess, I have an alu frame with a carbon fork.

Anyway I will try to assess it more carefully next time I have a chance to see what force is going through where.