Do I have a saddle problem? Recommendations?

[trista]

I ride my road bike just about every morning, generally 20 miles at a time, but sometimes 16. My regular 20-mile route is 1 h, 15 min. So that's usually the longest I stay on the bike at a time. For now, anyway, I don't have much more time than that to ride.

I am using the stock saddle. It seemed fine. I am generally fine in any kind of shorts - even unpadded, though that's not my preference. So anyway, no real problems.

But, I do have a very high pain/discomfort tolerance, so I thought, after reading a few saddle threads, maybe I should check the size. Plus, my lack of problems could just be because I'm not spending a lot of time in the saddle in a single ride. What if I wanted to go on a long ride - I may be just miserable.

Sometimes the pressure on the soft tissue is enough for me to notice it. And I don't like noticing things - I don't like to be aware of anything when I excercise except for the task in front of me. I do shift around, a LOT. I shift back, and back, and back... I scoot, I wiggle.

Using my kids play-doh, my sit bones measured 133 mm from center to center.

I think my saddle may be too small. I can't tell how wide this saddle is, because it curves down on the sides and it is very squishy. The sides give easily with just my thumb.

I do seem to like the shape. I'm considering trying the Terry Butterfly Ti Saddle, but I'm up for suggestions.

Here is the saddle, with pennies depicting where my sitbones hit (highly scientific):

[trista]

damn, 37 views and no one has advice....

maybe if i rephrase the question....

my sit bones are:
17 cm on the very outside to outside
82mm on the very inside to inside
and 133mm from center to center

Would I be best to start with a 143 or 155 saddle?

[Thorn]

Ok..I'll bite...I'd definitely be looking wider than that one. You're not sitting on the flat bit--it is already rounding down which is going to put more pressure where pressure shouldn't be.

Go for a saddle where those pennies end up centered on the flat part.

[KnottedYet]

Yup, I recommend the same thing.

[OakLeaf]

I would start with a 155 (since you're looking at Spec' line), or generally something 150'ish. 143 sounds too narrow, and yeah, what you're riding is definitely too narrow for you.

The good news is that you're obviously sitting well far back on that saddle, and you haven't described any butt-crease issues, so the shape of it seems to be working well for you. It does look pretty T-shaped from the pictures, so Specialized saddles are probably a good place to start.

[trista]

Thank you. I wasn't sure between the 155 and the 143 so that helps a lot. I would really like to try the Ruby, but couldn't find it in stock anywhere in the color I want, so in the meantime I'm trying the 155 mm Terry Butterfly Ti.

[dianne_1234]

damn, 37 views and no one has advice....

maybe if i rephrase the question....

my sit bones are:
17 cm on the very outside to outside
82mm on the very inside to inside
and 133mm from center to center

Would I be best to start with a 143 or 155 saddle?

Ischial Tuberosity Spacing among women:
5th percentile 112 mm
50th percentile 130 mm
95th percentile 148 mm

I guess I'll dissent with some of the other posters a little and suggest you might already be on (nearly?) the right saddle. Here's my reasoning:

1. The Bontrager R1 saddle that come stock on Trek's WSD bikes nowadays is their mid-width shell, which is 150mm. It looks like that's what you have. (The width should be molded into the plastic shell on one of the rail sockets in the back.) Bontrager aimed that width at the 50% percentile.

2. You measured your sit bones center to center at 133mm. That's only 3mm more than 50% percentile, which is 130mm for women.

Based on 1 and 2, I'd say the width is about right.

3. You have no major discomfort issues.

So it might not be too bad!

That said, the stock Bontrager R1 saddle is a bit squishy. If you generally like it in other ways (IMHO it's fairly T shaped, it has a groove in the middle, etc.) then consider trying one of the Bontrager aftermarket versions of this saddle. They're called inForm. The inForm R is a little firmer than yours, and the inForm RL slightly firmer still.

[OakLeaf]

Yeah, maybe we should back up a bit ...

I don't think "high discomfort tolerance" would let you tolerate what many of us have experienced with too-narrow saddles, i.e. labia that look like they've been roadrashed after every ride

If the pennies are sitting where the very outside of your sitbones fall on the saddle, and most of your weight is a centimeter or two inboard, you're probably fine with that width. Maybe a different cutout or a slightly different shape.

How did you determine where to place the pennies? Are they placed your measured 133 mm apart? (If so, that's no 150 mm saddle.) If you make a tracing of your butt-print and lay it over the saddle, do the centers of the ovals fall where the pennies are, or closer to the center?

Do you feel like your weight is on your sitbones, but the saddle is just too high in front for your soft parts? Maybe a tilt adjustment could help, or a saddle with a deeper channel or larger cut-out.

I also can't tell from looking at those pictures whether the whole area between the trim in the middle is a channel? So that the potential seating area is very small?

[trista]

No, I'm definitely not getting any roadrash. The pennies are placed 133mm apart and exactly where my pointy bones hit. I know this because, well, I'm there every day pretty much , and also because if I put my buttprint there, the pennies are in the middle of the ovals. My sitbones hit at the very very inside edges of the saddle (the plate inside).... if it were a few mm narrower, I'd be off the sides, but yes, the weight is on my sitbones. However, the saddle is so squishy that there is still a great deal of weight also on my softparts. I think a cutout would help, or a firmer saddle.

Keeping the current saddle is now, not an option. I just noticed today it has a hole in it . It must have happened during my last fall and somehow I missed it . So now I HAVE to get something new.

Oakleaf, the channel extends to about 1 inch before the cut-in at rear of the seat.

It is 150mm, I just measured the plate underneath, but because the padding tapers in on the sides, it gives the illusion of being smaller.

Thank you Dianne, I put the inForms on my list of saddles to try. I would never have thought about that. And yes, I do seem to like the T-shape

[OakLeaf]

Okay, I was at an expo today where they had some Trek WSD bikes you could sit on and try, and I'm pretty sure they had the same saddle.

It's considerably narrower than my 155 Jett.

My sit bones were on it, but just barely. Probably about where yours are.

Get something a little wider.