Hi all, I have a size "small" Schwinn (21 Voyager) with a lady's frame.  I think it's a tad small for me- it's supposed to be suitable for those up to 5"6 and I am 5"5 exactly...  Do you think that maybe a longer seat post will help?  My knees feel like they come up just a bit too high while I'm biking...  I have short legs, too so I don't know how this bike seems small for me- of course it felt just fine when I test rode it!  I usually have the seat in just a little higher than it should be, from what I have read this is a little dangerous.

Views: 487

Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

A lot of the Schwinn lightweights from the 1980's had very short seat posts that don't allow for a lot of adjustment. It's easy enough to replace the seat post with a newer, longer alloy post. The size of the post's diameter should be stamped into the base of the post (e.g. 26.6, which is likely to be the size of your post).

I'm certainly not an expert on fit and sizing of upright bikes, but having seen you ride it, the seat already seems a bit high for you; i.e. your hips rock side to side when you pedal. A longer seat post will only make that worse. You might be able to move the saddle fore or aft to make it feel like your knees are in the right place at the top of the pedal stroke, but that's kind of the geometry of the bike.

 

You can also look into swapping the handlebar stem.  A longer stem, that you raise or lower to you liking may give you more room for your torso
And as though these suggestions haven't already led you to spend enough dough on a beat up old schwinn that doesn't properly fit you, a different set of crank arms in 170 or 175mm will surely do the trick.
I see Amber beat me to it- the current Schwinn Voyagers now are upright comfort bikes. Schwinn Voyageur 21 Women's Comfort Bike Schwinn Took All The Features Cyclists Love about The Voyageur 7 Women's Comfort Bike and Rolled Them Into An Even more feature-rich Model The Schwinn Voyageur 21. Upgrades include A New, Lighter Alloy Frame

Ash L. said:
And as though these suggestions haven't already led you to spend enough dough on a beat up old schwinn that doesn't properly fit you, a different set of crank arms in 170 or 175mm will surely do the trick.
whoa, that's a radical re-design from the 70s ones. moving your saddle back should help some.

Set your seat height by the angle of your knee at the bottom of the pedal stroke.  Your leg should be close to being straight, but you should have a bit of angle left (knee joint not locked).  Check both legs, leg length discrepancy is fairly common.  As mentioned, if you're rocking side to side, it generally indicates that the saddle is too high.

 

If after setting the saddle height correctly and getting used to it you still feel that your knees are rising uncomfortably high, shorter crank arms are the best fix.   In general, shorter legs = shorter crank arms.  I would guess your bike came with 170s.  Check the back of the arm, it's generally stamped there somewhere (around pedal hole on most Shimano). 

I have a bike that's one size (several inches) too small for me and I fixed it by getting a longer seat post and adding handle bar end extensions. It's fine now.

RSS

© 2008-2016   The Chainlink Community, L.L.C.   Powered by

Disclaimer  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service