Sitbones measured

[OakLeaf]

145 mm is your center-to-center measurement. Some folks call that their "inside" measurement.

Well now I'm confused! I thought inside meant the opposite of outside. My c-c (deepest point, not necessarily the midpoint) is more like 125...

[KnottedYet]

Someone posted a great picture of her current saddle, with pennies marking where her sit bones land.

The pennies were on the very outside edges of the saddle, completely missing the carefully engineered contact points of the saddle.

I'm sorry, but I can't find it now.

It was a great photo, showing how important it is to know what to do with the c-to-c info about your sitz and the saddle. Hopefully someone else will be able to find it, and will post a link?

Knot-the-computer-illiterate

[OakLeaf]

Voilà.


And for myself, I know I understand where I need to be (which is why I correctly chose a 155 even though what I've posted as my "inside" is 80) - but don't you need to know the actual inside measurement if the saddle has a cut-out or channel that extends that far back? You wouldn't want them falling into the moat, either.

[KnottedYet]

Oak, darling! You are my hero!!!

[bismarckgimpy]

I should clarify, the store manager didn't recommend different tires. He said the tires are good tires. He thought the combination of the Terry Butterfly and Continental 32s was the problem. He recommends keeping the tires, but switching to the Liberator.

I put two dimes on the Terry Liberator where my sitbones would be. The dimes fell off. My sitbones are near the edge.

The Liberator is wider, but not much. I am going to bypass that saddle too.

I should add the shop was helpful. The sales rep told me I needed to raise my saddle and that the saddle nose was pointing downwards.

Looking to make a decision soon. Thanks for the help.

[KnottedYet]

He thought the combination of the Terry Butterfly and Continental 32s was the problem. He recommends keeping the tires, but switching to the Liberator.

32 mm tires are very forgiving, and it is extraordinary that they'd be blamed for any part of any saddle pain.

I am truly gobsmacked by this dude's proclamations.

[trista]

Hee hee. The falling in the moat issue seems to get left out of the conversation a lot. I fall into the moat on the SI Diva with cutout. And it hurt!

I have noticed that too - it seems like that part of the equation is an important one but gets left off. When I got into position on the Butterfly I found that my inner crotch bones, as I will scientifically call them (pubic rami maybe?), hit directly ON the edges of the cutout. OUUUUUcccchhhhh. It seems like, with road biking anyway, the inside part of the equation is just about as important as the outside (the sitbones), but the only measuring that is done is of the sitbones. It confuses me.

[KnottedYet]

Oak, Trista, Murienn -

Can you guys work up an equation for cut-outs and "falling in the moat"?

That would be so cool, and definitely useful!

(accumulating one equation at a time, TE will come to dominate the saddle fitting universe!)

[Trek420]

Then there'll be a "sit bone to saddle" ratio ap for that?

[Susan]

First, I'm sorry if my writing reads a bit "weird" - I'm not so used to writing in English and therefore just kept "lurking" here until now

But I'm so confused right now with saddle width, that I have to ask:

If I get you right, bismarckgimpy, your LBD measured your sitbone width at 145mm. You then tried a Specialized Ariel 143mm (I guess that was the suggestion of the guy who fitted you).

I ordered a SI SLR Lady Gel Flow yesterday. The description says that it's 155mm wide. I measured my sitbones at home and got 135mm from center to center, so I thought that a 155 mm saddle would fit me. But the effective width of the SLR is much smaller - my sitbone-centers sit right in the same place as in the picture that OakLeaf posted from the other thread - I guess not where they should be (btw: I'm really sad about that because the SLR looks sooo nice and is quite hard, I would really love it if it wasn't too narrow )

I also saw a SQ-lab 611 active at my LBS today. The biggest one (15 cm) is wider than the SLR, and the centers of my sitbones are closer to the center of the saddle, but still the Saddle is smaller than my outside-to-outside measurement - so my Sitbones would "hang of" of it at the outsides.

The SQlab 610 which is also available in 16cm width looks really big, I don't know if it would be comfortable for riding technical trails (getting behind the saddle). And, while it's not the most important thing, I wouldn't mind a more "sportive" look for my MTB.

Are the Specialized measurements different? I mean, if a Specialized saddle is "15cm" wide in its description, does that mean it's actually wider and has 15cm space to actually sit on (which isn't the case with the SI saddles)?

I'm confused with this whole saddle-width and measurement thing because from what I read here, 13.5 cm sitbone width is not unusual for women, but still it seems that I can't find a good fitting MTB saddle so easily.