Positioning A Shorter Nose Saddle

[Witterings]

I want to try a different saddle but the one I bought is shorter mainly in the nose than the one that's currently on the bike.

If I want to set it up so it gives me the same knee position / reach I'm guessing I line up the rear to where the old one is which will put me seated in the same position but just with a shorter nose or should I be compensating and putting it half way between the 2 points.

I know it'll probably feel like it needs adjusting after the 1st try but am just trying to give myself the best guess starting point and to do it the other way i.e. lining up the front would just seem wrong.

[Vorpal]

It depends how you sit on it. You want your sit bones to be in the same place, which isn't determined by where the back is placed, anymore than the nose. If the new saddle is a similar shape, except for the nose, using the back is likely to get you close.

I've done such things by guestimating and feel, but if I wanted to be certain to get a new saddle in the same place as an old one, I'd measure it, based upon differences in the old one and the new one.

[Witterings]

If the new saddle is a similar shape, except for the nose, using the back is likely to get you close.

This is kind of what I was thinking as the shape at the rear is the same but wondered if it'd then be a bit weird just having that much shorter a nose and if I felt like I was going to fall off the front .... I guess giving it a try is the answer but I've had a lot of knee / hip problems are made considerably worse when my saddles in the wrong place and hence the reason for asking.

Cheers for your input!!

[531colin]

........You want your sit bones to be in the same place,......

^^^^^^THIS! Unfortunately, you won't know exactly where your bum bones go on the new saddle until you have ridden it for long enough to make a dent.
Drop a plumb line through the BB axle, and measure from the middle of the bum bone dents in your existing saddle to the line. Put the "estimated bum bone dent" in the new saddle in the same place.

[pwa]

Really, the same applies when positioning any new saddle, short or not. The idea of measuring from the nose has only ever been a rough approximation, and it is the sit bone area that really matters. The sit bone area has to be the right distance behind the bottom bracket, and from the bars.