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Measuring sit bone distance at Home: Finding the right saddle width
You can easily measure your sit bone distance at home. It is key to finding the right saddle width.
To avoid sitting discomfort while cycling, it’s crucial to ride with the right saddle. In addition to the right saddle shape, padding thickness, and firmness, the right saddle width is also important.
Most manufacturers design their saddles to distribute body weight across the pelvic bones. Sensitive areas such as soft tissues, nerve pathways, and blood vessels are ideally relieved of pressure. For this to work, the saddle must have the right width, matching your sit bone distance and your sitting position on the bike.
In this article, we’ll reveal how you can easily measure your sit bone distance at home to find the right saddle width for you.
Why is saddle width so important?
Every person has a different sit bone width. In addition, your sitting position affects your individually suitable saddle width. This is because the distance between the left and right halves of the pelvis – from the area of the sit bones to the front toward the pubic bones – narrows. Depending on which type of bike you're riding, your sitting position and center of gravity on the bike changes. This affects how your pelvis is positioned on the saddle and consequently, how wide your bike saddle should be.
- Pelvic bones are differently wide
- Women and men have differently shaped pelvic bones
- Different saddle widths necessary depending on sitting position
Front view: Here, you can clearly see how the ischial tuberosities narrow as they converge toward the pubic bone.
In essence: The more upright you sit, the more upright your pelvis is on the saddle, and therefore, the wider your saddle should be. The more sporty and stretched out your position on the bike, the more your pelvis tilts forward, and the contact points with the saddle are on the sit bones – or, in extreme positions, like on a triathlon bike, on the pubic bones. That's why saddles designed for stretched-out positions are narrower.
To best distribute your body weight across your pelvic bones, there are various saddle widths available. Depending on the manufacturer, the saddle concept differs, and available saddle widths are more or less finely graded. However, this doesn't mean that more finely graded saddle widths automatically offer you a better saddle. Besides saddle width, other factors determine whether a saddle fits your rear end or not.
What happens if the saddle width doesn’t fit?
If the saddle width doesn’t match your sit bone distance or pelvic position, it can cause various problems.
If the saddle is too narrow for you, your weight is no longer supported by the bones, but instead, it rests in between. This can lead to uncomfortable pressure points on the inside of the pelvic bones or even numbness. That’s because soft tissues, nerve pathways, and blood vessels are then literally squeezed between the saddle and the inside of the pelvic bones.
If the saddle is too wide, the saddle edges may press or rub against your thighs. It might also happen that you continuously "work" yourself forward while pedaling and need to slide back to avoid ending up on the saddle nose. However, this can also be due to an otherwise unsuitable saddle shape. For this reason, you should consider both the width and the shape of the saddle to find the right one for your bike. If you want to learn more about other factors influencing the right saddle choice, click here for the right road bike saddle, here for the right mountain bike saddle, or here for the right comfort saddle.
How is sit bone width determined?
Many manufacturers offer their own systems to measure sit bone width, digital (electronic seats) or analog (gel pads, corrugated cardboard).
For easy determination of sit bone distance at home, using corrugated cardboard has proved successful. Here, you can use the measuring cardboard from SQlab – or just get yourself a piece of corrugated cardboard at a craft store.
Measuring your sit bone width yourself
To measure your sit bone distance with corrugated cardboard, you should place the cardboard with the corrugated side up on a flat and hard seating surface, and make sure your knee and hip angles are about 90 degrees when seated.
Choose a pair of thin pants with minimal seams on the butt and sit down squarely on the cardboard!
Find a hard and flat surface to sit on for your sit bone measurement.
Arch your back and pull yourself firmly against the sitting surface with your hands, if possible. © bc GmbH
Sit on the cardboard, then lift your feet up onto your tiptoes and arch your back slightly to make your sit bones protrude even more! If you can reach under the sitting area with your hands, pull yourself a little more firmly into the measuring cardboard! This will make the imprint clearer.
Now stand up and take a look at the cardboard: The imprints of your sit bones should be clearly visible. Circle the imprints with a visible pen and determine the center point of each. Then measure the distance between the two center points using a ruler or, with the SQLab Kit, the provided scale. The distance between these two points corresponds to your sit bone width.
The distance between the two center points of the imprints corresponds to your sit bone width.
Use a thick pen to mark the imprints on the cardboard. © bc GmbH
From sit bone width to the right saddle width
Depending on which saddle manufacturer you choose, you might have to add a correction factor to your sit bone width: If you're looking for a saddle for an upright sitting position, it could be up to four centimeters. If you're looking for a saddle for a fully extended position, like on a triathlon bike, your sit bone width matches the saddle width.
Some manufacturers include the correction factor directly in the saddle's development. Then you only need your sit bone width and choose the saddle model that matches your bike type and usage area. Other manufacturers also take your flexibility into account when recommending the right saddle width. It's best to check the manufacturer's website before purchasing; many brands also offer an online saddle finder.
Note that not every manufacturer bases their saddle width on sit bone width! Depending on how much the saddle tapers off on the sides, the usable saddle width may be less than the total width listed for the saddle.
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