Sit Bones and Saddle Width

The question of sit bones and saddle width comes up a lot.  A number of my clients have been to a retailer that had them sit on some contraption to measure their sit bone width and were then sold a saddle to match this only to still be unhappy with their saddle comfort.  In this video I go over why this isn't a terribly useful method for picking a bike seat.https://youtu.be/pVpTYVXLkhE

• sit bones and saddle width might correlate
• ultimately comfort is the deciding factor though
• sit bone width, torso angle, dynamic motion of pelvis, and surrounding soft tissue all play a role
• all this is predicated on the idea that your saddle is positioned properly along with your handlebar -- essentially, given a perfect bike fit you should be on this type of saddle over that one
  • bad bike fit will draw your pelvis to the wrong part of the saddle
• usual process: determine sit bone width and add a couple centimeters to that to get your saddle width
  • I find this process to be almost worthless
    • in my quest to classify and/or categorize saddles I keep hitting a road block no matter how many different ways I try to slice the saddles up into groups -- namely there are just too many variables and width is only one of them
    • saddle variables: width at widest point, but also its width everywhere else, how quickly does it taper, how much slope exists on the side of the saddle, how much flat sitting surface is there, how soft is the cover, how flexible are the rails, which direction will the saddle predominantly flex towards (and this will depend on where it's clamped), how much flat sitting surface is there in the rear portion of the seat -- I could literally come up with 2 dozen other factors or measurements that could potentially be more important than the width of the saddle
  • Need to improve the measurement of width and then use this as only a vague guide and nothing more.
    • need to mimic riding position more closely when measuring because sit bone width and measurement matters but riding posture and mobility on the saddle matter more
    • more aggressively you sit the narrower your sitting surface
    • the less mobile your pelvis is on the saddle the flatter the sitting surface should be
• Rules
  • start with a standard shape
  • make sure it has plenty of flat sitting surface
  • if you think you know how your pelvis moves you can limit yourself to either very flat abrupt saddles or ones with more edge slope
  • make sure it's adjusted well and if possible clamped towards the center of the rails
  • test saddles extensively before you buy