cbdoepel

I'm a relatively new rider, 46 yr. old man, 5'5"/150. I was "fitted" at the specialized shop on one of those sitting sizers and told I needed 143mm. I've been generally comfortable until I purchased a Redshift Rockstop suspension stem with an angle of 30 deg. I prefer feeling more upright due to some shoulder/trap issues, but now I'm feeling sit bone pain that I've never had issues with before (very quickly--say 5 or 6 miles in). Is this possibly a bike fit issue now that I'm repositioned or should I consider a wider sized saddle? I wonder about saddle width because I'm far more comfortable on 155 vs 143 on my mountain bike. Thanks for suggestions!

Iride01 

The more upright you are the more weight on your butt. Those skinny saddles take a little getting use to. And that might put you feeling a little tender when you sit for several weeks as your body gets use to it. If it feels like pain down in your bones of your pelvis, then that's the getting use to part. If it's muscle pain or sores on your skin, then that's something else.

What helps on road bikes it when you ride them at a fair effort or better the dynamic forces of you pedaling will reduce the weight of your butt in the saddle. But that doesn't work as well if you are sitting bolt upright. Getting a wider cushy saddle might seem the thing to do, but only if your rides are short and less than say 45 minutes to an hour. The width and cushioning will rub your skin raw where your legs are moving on the saddle.

People think I'm joking, but if you want a more normal and upright sitting position, get a cruiser bicycle with the BB well forward of the saddle and a somewhat high stack. Then you can get a wide cushy saddle. Though cruisers are strictly for leisurely riding. Their geometry is wasteful of more energetic riding and long distance riding where you want to arrive the same day you left. Or get a recumbent bike or trike.

Yes there is a lot of opinion in the stuff I just wrote. However it works for me.

cyclezen

If you look at the structure of the ischial tuberoisty (sitzbones) you can see that they are quite angled, relative to the 'fore-aft' plane. So the more you roll your pelvis forward (lean forward) the smaller the distance of the 2 contact points. The more upright the pelvis, the distance becomes larger/greater. I would not be surprised that even a small change in forward lean would necessitate more saddle width for good support, for some riders right on the cusp of saddle sizing. Not unusual to ride a wider saddle for modern upright mtb posture. Same would be true for more upright road position.
And not all saddles are 'equal', even though they might be listed and measured at a certain 'wdth'.
If you already know that a 155 is comfortable for you (in a certain saddle/shape), I wouldn;t get too hung up on what you had before...
a 30 degree stem, compared to a 7 would put you into quite a more upright posture.
Take the saddle off the mtb, put it onto the 'road' bike (assumed as 'road') and try it out. You'll find out something of value...
Ride On
Yuri

cbdoepel

Hadn’t even thought of that. I’ll definitely give that a shot. They’re different saddles, but both are specialized so maybe they’ll be fairly close. Thanks!