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My sit bones are 95mm apart suggesting I "should" be riding something like a 130mm saddle. However the most comfortable saddle I have by a long way is Fabric Scoop Radius which is 155mm. I can sit on that all day and I've done the SDW in a day on it twice including once on a rigid bike. I've tries a few other 150 mm saddles recently, a Specialized Power saddle that came with a bike and a Fizik Aliante and a Terra Argo in the hope that I could find something as good as the Scoop but with a cut out. The Aliante was the best of them and I did manage an 80 mile ride on it but it wasn't a lot of fun. The issue I have is pain in the sit bones themselves, I have very limited natural padding! Â
I've also got a good few 140mm saddles lying around and from them I know that nothing with a flat cross section works. I have another Scoop Radius in 142mm which I used to use on the road bike and that was really good, I've done a a number of 100 mile rides on that including back to back days. I've currently got that on the turbo trainer and what I'm finding is that it doesn't feel great unless I sit forward on it.
It's made me wonder if it's worth trying a 130mm saddle and I was curious to know if anyone has found that they can use wide or narrow saddles but not what seem to be the most common widths around 140mm
I'm happy with the way my bikes are set up, I realised a few years ago that I seemed to be very sensitive to saddle set back so I take my time getting that just right and I also know I seem to need a radius profile saddle. I've a new bike on order that comes as standard with the Terra Argo so I've asked them to leave it off the build as I know I wouldn't even want to ride to the shops on it! I could just buy the 155mm Scoop for the new bike but I'm curious to see if there is something even better out there and whether a narrower saddle than I've ridden before might be the answer.
If I were answering this post I'd tell myself to wait till the new bike arrives and then book in with the Giant Centre in Shoreham where they do saddle testing sessions which would cost me a lot less than keep buying different saddles. So please feel free to also suggest the bleeding obvious 😂Â
I was measured at 142 - and absolutely suffered (proper misery) cycling LeJog on a Specialized (Toupe? IIRC) saddle. It was my first multi-day trip, and that's when the problem revealed itself.... else I wouldn't have known.
I went to a Selle Italia 130 (ish), completing numerous trips without any issue - so that's my go to road/gravel saddle.
Either I was measured incorrectly, or there's something about the shape that suits me better despite it being narrower. I guess you can try different things, and see what you get on with best (but that's not the cheapest way of doing things).
My MTB came with the Specialized power saddle (but I'm not sure what the width is). I'm getting on with it fine, but I'm only riding for a few hours at a time. Feels dead comfy though, and I'm tempted to try it on a long distance trip.Â
Width is just indicating where the main sit bone padding is but some models will extend that outwards or inwards depending on their shape. I did a bike fit with saddle pressure mapping recently, as was curious if there was a saddle out there which suited me better than my usual 155mm Spesh Romin (which is OK but I've never found particularly comfortable after a couple of hours). I tried 8 or 9 saddles in the end but none worked as well, the second best though was a 140mm Selle Italia model which surprised me given the width but the sit bone padding extended out a bit as the shape didn't drop acutely at the sides.
After also trying Albion bib shorts I was surprised just how much difference a really good pair of bib shorts makes (I've also had Assos, Castelli and some other premium shorts in the past but they were never as good), I get the discomfort now (although even then less noticeable) around 4-5 hours instead of 1.5-2.
Specialized power 168mm work for me on my mountain bikes, but was painful on my gravel bike where I ended up with a selle smp vt30, which I think is 148mm.
Sit bone measurement isn't the magic solution it is sold as, I think bike fit james (youtube bike fitter) is actually quite scathing of it.
SQ Lab's site is useful for understanding this stuff even if you don't want one of their saddles.
You need to bear in mind that the part of your sit-bones contacting the saddle will vary with your riding position, so in an upright stance - mountain bike, touring, shopping or whatever - you'll need a wider saddle than you would riding on the road with an aggressive, forward-canted position that sits you on the narrower portion of your sit bones as you rotate forwards.
It's not quite as simple as just measuring your sit-bone width and then choosing a saddle, riding position also comes into it. I ride a 130mm SQ Lab seat on gravel and road bikes, but 140mm on my mountain bikes and could possibly go wider.Â
I'm prepared to believe that variation in the exact shape of people's hip-bones will also have an impact on this, so some people might have a wider variation between upright and road race positions than others, but that's just a wild guess.Â
Sit bone width depends on tilt angle. As you rotate forwards the contact points are slightly wider. I have a 130 Power on the TT bike which was comfy over 100 miles on its first ever ride. I also like an Arione for the forward and aft movement. Forward for more power on the rivet (which it doesn’t have btw). Also riding 140 Argo Vento. Nothing wider though.Â
I reckon you should be able to feel you sit-bones a bit, even if this comes across as slight discomfort. I wonder if, when using a narrower saddle than predicted, you're bearing lots of weight on perineal soft tissue which may bode badly for your sex life (either gender) if you do long rides and don't shift your weight much