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Dial in saddle height with LeMond, Holmes, or Hamley.

Calculate cycling saddle height from your inseam using the three formulas that actually have research behind them - LeMond, Hamley, and Holmes. Enter inseam in cm or inches, see all three numbers side by side, pick the one that matches how your bike fitter measures, and chase it down with an Allen key. Free, no signup, runs in your browser.

inseam 82 cmbecomessaddle 71.7 cm

Defaults to 172.5mm - the road standard. Most cranks are stamped on the inside arm.

Saddle height results

  • LeMond

    Inseam × 0.883

    72.4 cm

    Saddle to top of pedal at 6 o'clock, with the heel.

  • Hamley

    Inseam × 1.09

    89.4 cm

    Saddle to center of bottom bracket (jig-style).

  • Holmes

    Inseam × 1.09 − crank

    72.1 cm

    Adjusts Hamley for crank length.

How it works

  1. 1

    Measure your inseam

    Barefoot, book between the legs pressed firmly upward, measure floor to book spine. Centimetres or inches.

  2. 2

    Pick a method

    LeMond (0.883 multiplier), Hamley (1.09 from BB), or Holmes (1.09 minus crank length).

  3. 3

    Adjust and ride

    Set saddle so the center-of-saddle to center-of-bottom-bracket distance matches. Test, tweak, settle.

What you get

  • LeMond (0.883 x inseam), Hamley (1.09 x inseam), and Holmes (1.09 x inseam minus crank) side by side
  • cm and inch toggles for inseam and crank length so you do not have to convert anything
  • Optional crank-length input for the Holmes method - matters if you ride 165s or 175s
  • Renders the spread between methods so you can see how much you are guessing
  • Works offline - your numbers never leave your device
  • No signup, no upsell, no ten-question survey before you see the result

The math

Three published methods, all built on the same measurement.

LeMond and Hamley: a multiple of inseam

Both methods take one measurement and scale it by a fixed factor. Your inseam is the only input either of them reads.

LeMond = inseam_cm x 0.883
Hamley = inseam_cm x 1.09

A fixed multiple knows your inseam and nothing else - not the ratio of your femur to your tibia, not your cleat position, not the stack height of your shoes. Two riders with the same inseam can want different saddle heights. Ride the number, then move it.

Holmes: Hamley, corrected for crank length

Hamley measures to the center of the bottom bracket, so a longer crank carries the pedal further from that center at the bottom of the stroke. Subtracting crank length is what keeps leg extension the same when the cranks change.

Holmes = (inseam_cm x 1.09) - crank_length_cm

The crank field above takes millimetres - 172.5 is the road standard, and most cranks are stamped on the inside of the arm. Change the crank without changing the saddle and your leg extension changes with it, which is the whole reason this correction exists.

When to use this

Use this tool when you are setting up a new bike, when your current bike fit no longer feels right, or when you are comparing what a fitter told you against what the textbook formulas predict. It is a starting point, not a final answer - the 5-10 mm window between LeMond and Holmes is precisely the window in which most riders end up. If you are inside that window and not in pain, you are probably fine. If you are way outside it and your knees hurt, the formula is telling you something useful.

How it works under the hood

All three formulas are just inseam multiplied by a constant. LeMond uses 0.883 because Greg LeMond standardized it in the 1980s after his own fits with Cyrille Guimard - it measures from the BB center to the top of the saddle along the seat-tube axis. Hamley independently arrived at 1.09 in early sports-physiology research using the same reference points; the higher number is because Hamley measures further (to the top of the saddle rather than the pedal-stroke equivalent point). Holmes adjusts 1.09 down by the crank length to correct for the fact that longer cranks put your foot further from the saddle at the bottom of the stroke - it is the most mechanically honest of the three when cranks are non-standard.

Common mistakes

The big ones: measuring inseam off a clothes tape, measuring to the wrong point on the saddle, ignoring crank length when you ride 165s or 175s, and changing too much at once. Bumping the saddle 15mm to chase a number is how people end up with weeks of knee pain. Move 5mm, ride three rides, reassess. Another classic: dialling saddle height perfectly then never adjusting setback - height and setback interact, and changing one without the other is half a fit. Finally, do not chase comfort that does not exist - some saddles will never feel right at any height, and a different saddle is the answer.

Frequently asked questions

Which saddle height formula should I trust?
LeMond (0.883 x inseam) is the most quoted starting point and is what most bike shops have used for forty years. Holmes is the upgrade - it subtracts crank length, which actually matters because your foot finishes at a different height depending on whether you are pedalling 165s or 175s. Hamley is what most modern fit jigs show: 1.09 x inseam from the bottom-bracket center to the top of the saddle. If you are calibrating against a real fit you got somewhere, match the formula to the measurement method that fit used.
How accurate is a formula vs a proper bike fit?
Within 5-10mm for most riders, which is usually inside the comfort window. A real fit accounts for hip mobility, leg-length asymmetry, cleat position, and how your knee tracks under load - none of which a formula can see. Use the formula as a starting point, then bracket up and down 3-5mm over a few rides until knee feel and saddle pressure settle.
What if I get knee pain after changing saddle height?
Front-of-knee pain (patellar) usually means saddle too low - your knee is over-flexing at the top of the stroke and the patella is grinding. Back-of-knee pain (hamstring/popliteal) usually means saddle too high - your knee is hyper-extending at the bottom and the back of the joint is stretching. Adjust 5mm at a time, ride three rides at the new height, reassess. Bigger jumps blow up your whole fit.
How do I measure my inseam properly?
Stand barefoot against a wall, feet roughly shoulder width. Press a hardcover book firmly up into your crotch as if you were sitting on a saddle. Measure from the floor to the top edge of the book spine. Do it twice and average. Pants-inseam off a tape from a clothes shop is not the same number and will give you a saddle height that is 1-2 cm too low.
Does saddle height change between road and gravel bikes?
Saddle-to-bottom-bracket distance should stay close to identical across your bikes - that is the whole point of having one formula. Reach and stack will differ, and you might run a few mm lower on a TT bike for hip-angle reasons, but for road/gravel/MTB on the same cranks, match the saddle height to within 2mm and your knees will thank you.
Should I measure to the center of the saddle or the nose?
Center of the saddle, along the line from the bottom-bracket axle through the seat tube extended to the top of the saddle. Most modern saddle shapes have a sit-bone platform a bit behind the nose - measure to that platform center, not to the very nose, or you will end up too high.
How often should I revisit my saddle height?
After any major fit change (new shoes, new cleats, new saddle, surgery, big weight change), check it. Otherwise, once per year - tendons and hip mobility shift slowly, and what fit you at 25 may not fit you at 35.
What about KOPS (Knee Over Pedal Spindle)?
KOPS is a fore-aft fit metric, not a saddle-height metric. Set saddle height first using one of the formulas, then adjust setback so your knee is roughly over the pedal spindle at 3 o'clock. The two adjustments interact a little - if you move the saddle back, the effective height to the pedal increases by a few mm.

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