Little saddles?

[ncwendy]

My co-worker was asking me why the saddles have to be so little and I didn't really know. Could someone give me a good explanation?

Thanks

[zoom-zoom]

Simply, a saddle is not a chair...it's not to support one's butt cheeks, but to support one's relatively narrower width sit bones. Big saddles often = big-chafing and general crotch pain, unless one is riding a very upright cruiser type bike and not concentrating weight on the sit bones.

[lph]

Yup, because the saddle has to support your weight while still allowing you to move your legs. So it's supposed to support only the bone structure (sitbones), while allowing as much freedom of movement otherwise (muscles).