I was looking at Trek's website and noticed that on some of their bikes they spec a wider saddle for small sizes.
This is on one of the 2021 Checkpoints.
Is this a general rule of thumb, that shorter riders tend to have wider sit bones?
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3Wonder if its smaller rider tend to be woman.– mattnzAug 8, 2022 at 0:50
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2I believe Trek have unisex frames. Its a safe bet that 90%+ of size 49 frames are sold to women so wider saddle makes sense. 52cm probably has a bit more crossover, but I guess Trek's data points in the same direction.– Andy PAug 8, 2022 at 10:50
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1 Answer
No - smaller riders tend to smaller saddles, all other things being equal (like gender).
However females tend to have wider hips for biological reasons, so the sit bones are further apart on average than a male of the same height+weight.
from https://specialized.picturepark.com/Go/drxAWjId/D/59574/1 page 6
At the same time, the average female is slightly shorter than the average male so a bike specified for a female tends to be smaller with a wider saddle.
Of course there's an enormous overlap between the two. Ultimately your bike has to fit you, and noone else matters.
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9A nice example of Simpson's paradox: positive correlation between width and height for each gender separately, negative correlation altogether.– nanomanAug 8, 2022 at 10:36