Pubic Bone Height & How To Measure Your PBH

Pubic Bone Height (PBH)  is more clearly defined than "leg length." (Inner leg or outer? Floor to...where? And so on.)

But PBH is simply the distance between two hard (not squishy), easily defined points: The uncarpeted floor, and your pubic bone. Your pubic bone is inside, so you can't see it. So you determine where it is by feel, and here's how:

1. Turn a ruler on its side, put it between your legs pointing backward and forward, then hook the end of a metric metal measuring tape. It has to be metric. We know. how to convert, you probably do, too, but metric tapes have finer, more easily read increments, and on the purchase of an expensive bike, we all want to be sure.

2. Wearing thin pants and in bare feet and WITH YOUR FEET AB0UT 10-to-11 INCHES APART, grab the ruler fore-and-aft and pull up hard, until you are separating the soft tissue and stopping at bone. Not just until you feel light pressure; until you stop on bone.

You'll never pull past the bone, so you can't get a reading that's too high. If you do this 100 times, take the highest measurement. If you do it once correctly, that's all we need. In nine cases out of ten, when a customer shows up in person after having measured their PBH at home, we measure it again according to points 1 & 2 above, and it's two to three centimenters more. Up to an inch.

PBH determines your saddle height (an ergonomic thing) and your STANDOVER CLEARANCE—how much space between the top tube and your pubic bone when you straddle the bike. You don't "straddle the bike" when you ride it, but if you have to hop off the saddle mid-pedal stroke and spread your legs wide to prevent a fall, a little crotch clearance comes in handy.

 With accurate PBH in hand, the correct frame size, in any mode we sell, is easy, because our chart is accurate.  In many cases you'll be able to fit either of two sizes. In those cases, your handlebar shape can be a guide. A drop bar never rises above the stem, so if you like drops AND high bars, get the bigger of two sizes that fit. If you'll ride a Bosco or Tosco bar that rides 2-3.5 inches above the stem clamp, you could probably do well get the smaller bar. But in that case, the bigger bike will give ou