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Old 07-06-25 | 11:39 AM
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79pmooney
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Joined: Oct 2014
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From: Portland, OR

Bikes: (2) ti TiCycles, 2007 w/ triple and 2011 fixed, 1979 Peter Mooney, ~1983 Trek 420 now fixed and ~1973 Raleigh Carlton Competition gravel grinder

To me, shape is far more important than any measurement. (Granted, my journey with saddles started long before anybody talked about sit bones.) I recommend sitting on saddles. I see you are in the Bay Area. Lot's of good bike shops. Call around and find out who has saddles for trial before final sale or a good return policy. Try them. Many shops can put your bike on a trainer so it is a simple matter of putting on seats and riding your bike with that seat. That will quickly rule out seat that simply aren't right. Many will then allow you to buy t hat one that feels best and ride it for a while, then bring it back for exchange for another if a few miles tells you it isn't the "one".

When you get the seat, first get the seat height correct (with the help of a fitter or duplicating your knee bend on your previous setup. Then go riding and bring all the wrenches for your saddle and seat pin. Adjust as necessary. Keep the changes small and measure them if at all possible. (I love 2-bolt seatposts that allow very small and completely reproducible changes.)

A former bike shop in Portland (probably a COVID casualty) had a "seat library" of about 25 seats. $25 got you a "library" card. You could take out any seat for a week. Many as you like. Find the one that works, buy a new, boxed one and get your $25 applied to the purchase. It was a great concept and execution. I doubt it had anything to do with the shop's closing (other than far too few butts coming in for seats over the pandemic).
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