Adjusting the height of the seat and handlebars as well as their horizontal position is something you offered by some spin bikes.
But all offer the ability to adjust the height of the seat..
This allows you to adjust the bike to fit you better for a more effective and more comfortable workout.
The Methods
There are 3 ways these adjustments can be fixed in place. They do all have the same basic process of making the adjustment – loosen the knob holding the adjustment post in place and then move the seat or handlebars to where you want it and tighten it up.
Pop-Pin And Removable Pin
The adjustment pole for the pop-pin and removable pins have pre-set holes in them. In this method of holding in place you line up the pre-set hole and insert the pin into it and then tighten up the knob.
The difference between these two methods is that with the pop-pin you don’t remove the pin and knob from the pole but loosen and pull it to free the pin from the pole and then slide it into position and let the knob go to allow the pin to insert itself into the hole. You may need to move the pole slightly to allow the pin to insert itself. Once inserted you then tighten in place.
With the removable pin you undo the knob completely and remove it and the pin from the post and slide the pole to the position you want – line up the holes of post and pole and insert the pin and tighten the knob into place.
The Clamp And Lever
The clamp works a little different there is no pin to insert. Instead of knob you use a lever that locks a clamp in place to fix the pole in the place. You undo the lever when you want to move the handlebars or seat – move them and then tighten the lever to clamp it all into place.
All are effective although the lever/clamp does tend to be on more expensive bikes like the Keiser M3i Indoor Bike, pop-pins are on the more affordable bikes like the Sunny Heath and Fitness Belt Drive Indoor Cycling Bike.
How Do They Compare
The pop-pin has the advantage over the removable pin in that it is more convenient as you don’t have to remove it completely. It makes it easier to align and handle the post.
Most bikes are moving towards this arrangement because of its ease of use.
Now on to how these compare with lever-clamp arrangement. The lever-clamp has a big advantage in that you can slide the seat or handlebars to exactly where you want it and tighten it into place.
The pop-pin has the advantage over the removable pin in that it is more convenient as you don’t have to remove it completely. It makes it easier to align and handle the post.
Most bikes are moving towards this arrangement because of its ease of use.
Now on to how these compare with lever-clamp arrangement. The lever-clamp has a big advantage in that you can slide the seat or handlebars to exactly where you want it and tighten it into place.
The other two methods rely on lining up and inserting a pin into a hole. This means that you don’t necessarily get it to just where you want it positioned, leaving you with feeling that the seat or handlebars is not just in the right place – if it is the height you’re adjusting it could seem either just too low or just too high leading to a little bit of discomfort. There is also no need to be trying to align the holes.
However, there is an advantage of the pins that can have over the lever-clamp arrangement. This is about safety where there have been reports where the lever-clamp seats have slipped while being sat on resulting in injury to the rider as they’ve fallen off the bike.
It is a possibility that this is happened due to the lever clamp not being properly tightened – and this is very important to do.
With the pop-pin this is less likely to happen because of the pin being inserted in the hole and the spring holding the pin in place even if knob hasn’t been fully tightened – although this is not something to test – you may also become aware there is an issue with the seat pole rattling.
The removable pins if not tightened up fully could become loose and fall out (very unlikely but could happen)
So for all types of adjustment methods be sure to fully tighten them up for a safe and comfortable workout sessions.