I am helping a lady that has a wider pelvis with thinner legs. She is unable to seat a normal saddle well. Does anyone know of any saddles that are a little bit wider? Do you have any suggestions that might help her?
Tell us what kind of saddle(s) she has tried so we know what we are comparing.
The Viscount is the only saddle she has tried. She went online to find another saddle, but was unsuccessful. I have always ridden stock saddles (from my Schwinn Giraffe to my standard Sun to my Sun XL), and she is the first person that I have come across that required something different.
due to the shape and angle of a miyata, since it puts you more on the back of the saddle, maybe that would be more appropriate?
Tilting the front of any saddle up will tend to force the pelvis onto the wider, back part of the saddle. With Viscounts, people have stacked washers under the front of the mounting plate with some success but it’s not really dramatic enough. Tilt rail adapters have not been developed for 22.2mm (standard) seatposts as far as I know but that is what you’re really looking for in order to dramatically lift the front of the saddle. If you devise a clever way to tilt a stock saddle on a stock seatpost, please post it.
The Torker DX saddle is fairly wide, slightly more so than a normal KH seat.
Perhaps if you could post pictures of the problem, we could consider solutions?
Intuitively, I suspect it is unlikely that the problem is simply the width of the saddle. It will also be the angle of the saddle, whatever padding the lady is wearing, and there may also be a psychological element. When I used to ride with the CTC, we had a lady who rode 100 miles a week on the narrowest saddle in the Brooks range.
Is there a brooks range in your part of the world, or do you mean the brooks range in northern Alaska? You had me going there for a moment, till I remembered where you are located. There is a “Brooks Range” in Alaska that is quite impressive. It separates the north slope of Alaska with the rest of the state. It goes from east to west for about 700 miles.
Brooks makes old-school style leather bicycle saddles. This Google Image Search will show you what they look like. Some people love the Brooks saddle. With use it molds to the shape of the users rear end and creates what they consider a very comfortable and very individual saddle. However, when new they are not that comfortable since it hasn’t yet molded to the shape of your butt.
Do you have a KH saddle that she can try? The KH saddles are a bit wide in the middle and their general shape makes them feel wider than a Viscount. I haven’t measured to to see if they are actually physically wider than a Viscount, but to me they feel wider when sitting on them.
the semcycle saddles (metal base with removable rubber cover) are very wide, although not the most comfortable. They do have a hole in the seatbase for an air conversion should you wish to pursue it, however. I’ve never ridden a viscount, but something in my head thinks they’re comparable to a sem in terms of comfort. Perhaps someone else here can compare for me.
Thank-you for that info. Obviously, as a novice, I have never heard of that.
Appreciate it.
Mike