Options for wider saddles

Tech Tech - What to Buy
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What are good saddles for folks with wider sitbones?
I’m 6’5”, probably with average pelvis/sitbone width for a man my height. I’ve always had more racing-ish saddles (usually 140/145mm rear width) on my go-fast bikes, but have also put lots of miles on a Brooks B17.

I realize saddles have a major crapshoot/trial-and-error element, and want to know what are wider (150-170mm) saddles that work for plenty of people.

EDIT: I’m aware Brooks or other leather saddles are an option, but I’m particularly interested here in less expensive synthetic saddles.

My wife is 5’7” tall, but after 2 kids it wouldn’t surprise me if she’d be happy with wider saddles as well, especially for commute and monstercross bikes.

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At the risk of excommunication: I’m a fan of the Brooks B-17 imperial (the one with the cutout). I have it on my gravel quiver killer, and my “end of the world” fixie. I suspect you are a fellow Brooks connoisseur, so I believe you might agree.

What follows, then, is for those prepping the pitchforks.
No one buys a Brooks for low weight, or the latest materials, or ease of installation and maintenance.
They’ve outlasted the crowds for 100 years because when done right, they fit the (to paraphrase the words of the immortal @Iain_Treloar ) “liminal space between buttock and not”, and fit like a glove.

Or, I guess, a leather saddle.

How can this be, you ask? N.B.: I’m chronologically enhanced, having flown high performance jets for decades, wearing leather boots because they don’t burn easily if you have to eject. I thus have some experience in forming stiff leather to funny bits of the human anatomy, and pay no heed to the manufactured BS of “don’t do XYZ or your ass will explode when you sit on the Brooks.”
To prep a Brooks, I cover it in your favorite goop (bottom side only), dunk it in water (for the duration of an episode of Seinfeld), and form by hand to the shape that, in my vision quest, will make my taint happy (Pro tip: use a 1.5 inch PVC for rolling, a lacrosse ball for dimples. Get your mind out of the gutter.)

Then let dry (be civilized), try for fit the next day, repeat. When the saddle is 80% “there” (your taint will tell), dunk for 5 minutes, then go for a nice long ride. When dry, finish with the rest of your preferred leather sauce. Reapply when the clocks change with the seasons, or sooner.

Will this take time? Perfection always does.

Will my approach anger the Brooks Gods? Who cares?

Will it void the warranty? I wasn’t banking on that one, honey.

Will it form to me, or me to it? Trust me, it will cradle your nether regions in a delightful way, reminding you of those days of caramel sunlight when the only limit to your excursions was how much food you could pack.

Is the saddle heavy? Absolutely.

Does it need further maintenance? Not any more time consuming than flossing.

What if it gets wet? What if you get wet? Dry out, then do it again.

Try it. I hope it works. If not, there are others.

Wishing you miles of smiles.

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I may try a cutout B17 at some point. I have a Cambium / C17 on my gravel bike.

I guess what I’m mostly curious for here, is various basic modern synthetic saddles that are wider than typical 140mm racing-styled saddles.

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My goto is a standard B-17 Brooks for bikepacking. So 18 hours days, but for everything else it is Specialized Power saddles in 168 and 150 mm. I never had to prep my B-17s. They were good out of the box. I have a B-17 on my wife’s ebike, with a dropper post, and she loves it. My ass is 150 on the Specialized butt measuring scale, if that helps. I am 70 kgs and 5” 10”. I think in general people’s butts can tolerate most things, but it takes 2 and half very long days before you can tell if your saddle is a good fit. I think most people’s saddles are too narrow. YES.B-17s weigh a ton, but id rather have a heavy saddle than have a sore ass.

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DrTallRider Escape Member

I guess what I’m mostly curious for here, is various basic modern synthetic saddles that are wider than typical 140mm racing-styled saddles.

Rather than proselytising for Brooks I will attempt to answer your question. Several manufacturers make wider saddles, Speciali(z)ed has made this a feature of their offering. I like their saddles though they stopped making my favy (the Romin 155) years ago.

I assume you know about the sit bone test using memory foam? FWIW you can do this yourself: the cheapest available memory foam is a slice of bread.

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Not sour dough tho, has to be duck bread.

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Or just sit on cardboard

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If you do the memory foam/cardboard test to measure sit bone width, make sure to assume the position you typically ride in when sitting on the foam/cardboard since that position can change the measured “width”

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Have a look at the Prologo Proxim. It’s sold as an ebike saddle, but works well for moderately upright positions. There are a few different models and trim levels in 145, 155 and 165mm widths, and you might be able to use their 60 day trial period depending on where you live.

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SQLab saddles like the 612 come in different widths and are quite flat in cross section so their effective widths are much closer to their specified size. This is unlike most other saddles which taper down quite a bit at the sides.

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The Reform saddles are worth a hard-look. The basic size un-formed specifications from their website only provide a baseline. After about 4 years on two custom molded saddles (one for each bike) … extremely impressed. While highly qualitative, here’s my September 2022 review of the Reform Seymour saddle. In February 2026 the only comments to add are … continuing to be extremely comfortable, and shockingly durable in the backcountry! I’m now at around 15,000 km on two Seymour saddles without a saddlesore. Both still look like new despite numerous trees, rocks, and crashes.