Which Rivet is right for me?

This is, perhaps the most common question I am asked, “I am X years old, and I ride this – fill in the blank, many – miles a year/month/week. Which saddle is right for me?” An age old question and a good one. When I first started riding bikes, the saddle that came on the bike was the saddle I rode. What the heck did it matter? As I rode more and started doing longer rides, my personal undercarriage began experiencing a change. Longer distances = more pain. While this was in the era of “no pain, no gain”, I didn’t really give it too much thought. I could complete a century on a small racer-like sliver of a saddle. I had one saddle that I could ride for 60 miles, no problem, but on the 61st mile, my crotch would start swearing at me, and it wasn’t pretty.

My first season as a randonneuse really got me re-thinking my saddle. I needed to ride halfway across France and back on something I could sit on. And I can tell you, that while I did complete Paris Brest Paris that year, I spent about half of it in excruciating, burning pain from saddle sores that were categorized as second degree burns… in my crotch. Whew. The amazing thing is that everything healed up within a week (in good keeping with Lon Haldeman’s maxim, “If it will heal within two weeks, ride through it.”), and it put me on the search for a saddle I could ride long distances. While not everyone riding needs to find a saddle that will carry them 750+ miles in a short amount of time, why not find a saddle that will carry you that distance if you chose to go that far on your bike?

Sit Bones Measurements

Scientists have measured sit bone spacing for large populations. On average, men’s sit bone width ranges between 100mm – 140mm (give or take a few mm to round), and women’s range between 110mm – 150mm. Graphing these two averages shows an overlap of 30mm between men and women’s average sit bone spacing. This dispels the myth that saddles are gender specific, and the marketing hype that women must ride a wider saddle.

What this means for YOU is that it is worth your while to measure your sit bones in order to find a saddle that best matches your anatomy and your riding style.

There are plenty of ways to measure your sit bones, so I won’t go into them all here. Simply, you can do it yourself or have help from a friend, or spend a lot of money having someone do it for you. If you have a willing partner, use a measuring tape, assume the position and have at it! Or, if you are alone, place a piece of paper on top of a foam-like surface and sit down on it hard. Make sure you are sitting upright, which will push your sit bones into a vertical position. Your sit bones will leave an indentation on the paper. Use a measuring tape to measure the space between the indentations in millimeters not inches.

Once you have the measurement, add 2cm (or 20mm). Saddle width is approximate to sit bone spacing + 2cm. With leather saddles like a Rivet, you definitely want to add that 2cm, because you do not want to be sitting on the metal frame of the saddle. You want to be seated between the edges of the frame.

What if the saddle’s more than 2cm wider than sit bone spacing? You may experience rubbing/chafing on the inner thighs, and or extra pressure on your hamstrings. You may find yourself moving up onto the nose of the saddle, which will put more pressure on your soft tissue. Overall, too narrow is typically worse than too wide because the saddle will naturally migrate up into the pubic area filled with soft tissue and nerve endings.

This chart adds our three Rivet saddles and their range for riders. The Diablo, at 150mm wide is our narrowest saddle, the new Independence at 160mm wide is in the middle and the Pearl at 170mm wide is our widest saddle. This should help provide a rough guesstimate to determine which saddle might best suit you. But sit bone measurement is not the only aspect to consider.

Riding position

If you are riding long distances, it is always a good idea to move around on your bike. By this I mean, stand, stretch, move to the drops, up to the hoods, etc, to keep blood circulating. I personally ride in the drops quite a bit; I like flattening my back and I get more power from my legs when down in the drops. I don’t experience increased pain due to pelvis tilt because I tend to push harder while in the drops. The work my legs are doing is increasing force over the surface area of the saddle, reducing pressure on my body and concentrating it in my legs. When I am tired and am still in the drops, I can feel more pressure in my pubic area.