Options for wider saddles

Tech Tech - What to Buy
1

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.

IMG__9677_LR-RAW
IMG__9677_LR-RAW1920×1500 947 KB

1 Like
2

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.

3 Likes
3

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.

4

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.

1 Like
5

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.

2 Likes
6

Not sour dough tho, has to be duck bread.

2 Likes
7

Or just sit on cardboard

1 Like
8

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”

2 Likes
9

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.

1 Like
10

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.

3 Likes
11

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.

1 Like
12

The Selle SMP Avant wins a fair few of my customers over if they want a wider saddle.

1 Like
13

Another nod towards SQLab from me - huge range of widths and profiles - find some place near you to sit on a few and do some sit bone dent measuring. SQLab have some good at home methods to figure out what you might find suitable.

1 Like
14

Thanks everyone! That’s a lot of recs of the saddle types I’m curious about here. Saved these in a list, with some links.

As a fairly-inexpensive starting-point, I bought Rivendell’s “182.55” saddle for $50. Possibly too wide, but worth a try on my commute bike (currently drop-bar, but a bit more upright).

15

I thought I remembered reading at some point that a member had started a program that let members share saddles among themselves so people could try out saddles that others have tried (and apparently have laying around). Any others remember that?

16

I currently use Selle San Marco Carbon Short Fit Wide saddles. I believe they are 155mm wide from memory.

I used to ride with SSM Regals and Rolls saddles previously and still prefer them if weight is not an issue.

2 Likes
17

Your height has no link to your sitbone width, and in turn, sitbone width is irrelevant to saddle comfort on a road bike; you don’t sit on your sit bones anyway in any vaguely standard riding stance.

More relevant is a cutout that supports rotating your pelvis forward as much as you need to, a nose that’s padded and wide enough to suit you, and a rear that flares out and slopes away fast enough that you don’t get thigh rub.

4 Likes
18

Hi @drtallrider - I run a saddle library and have fit hundreds of people on new saddles. May I ask why you are searching for a wider saddle? Is there a specific pain point?

Wide sit bones do not always equal needing a wider saddle. This is due to hip rotation when you reach for the bars. I find that the profile of the saddle matters much more than the width, and that the industry uses sit bone width as a catch-all in their marketing to sell you a saddle.

That said, to answer your question, my most popular saddles are the Prologo Dimension, Prologo Proxim, Selle SMP TRK Medium - and yesterday successfully fit a man on an Ergon SR Allroad Women’s saddle. The division of gender in saddles is BS!

4 Likes
19

I got the new Trek 3d saddle in 155 and loved it so much I immediately bought a second one for my gravel bike.

20

As others have mentioned, be careful giving sit bone measurements too much “weight”, and the same goes for a company’s recommendations on saddle as a function of sit bone width. Based on my sit bone width (as measured in my usual riding position), Specialized recommended a 155mm wide saddle. That recommendation did not work at all in practice. 143mm is what worked for me.

2 Likes