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Comparing bike geometry - we made a thing

So a friend and I built a website to gather bike geometry info and make it easy to compare.

It's here: https://geometrygeeks.bike

It's early days, but we're nearly at 900 bikes now. We have lofty ambitions for it to become the go-to resource for bike geometry, and you gotta start somewhere.

FEEDBACK PLEASE! On here or using the tool on the site - look in the footer.

Have a play with it - the 'add bike' feature lets you copy/paste a geometry table, and (with a bit of fiddling) it's pretty neat.

Cheers 

Bob

PS Full disclosure - at some point we'll use ads to hopefully pay hosting costs.

If you're new please join in and if you have questions pop them below and the forum regulars will answer as best we can.

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22 comments

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bobg | 5 years ago
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I came across this thread again so thought I'd post an update.

As of September 2018, we've got over 4,400 bikes in the database and we're seeing a mind-boggling 30,000 monthly active users.

Who knew such a niche interest could be so popular?!

We've built a cool feature to make it easier to add bikes - just provide the web address of the page with the geometry table on it, and it'll try to extract the table and match up the parameters for you. It'll even extract a picture of the bike.

We made a start at a 'visual comparison' tool like is suggested above, but it's slow progress because frankly, it's hard to do well enough to be useful. We are working on it though.

Something that's closer to being ready is a 'search by geometry' tool - i.e. you give it some target values and it'll show you bikes that fit the criteria. Watch this space.

It's still very much a spare-time project, but we do now carry some ads to cover some of the cost of running the site (and are always interested to talk to anyone who'd like to sponsor it!).

Cheers for now...

Bob

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sjalex replied to bobg | 5 years ago
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bobg wrote:

We made a start at a 'visual comparison' tool like is suggested above, but it's slow progress because frankly, it's hard to do well enough to be useful. We are working on it though.

Hey bobg, in a parallel universe some friends and I have been working on a very similar project called 99 Spokes. We have about 21,000 bikes and have recently started focusing on geometry. We draw bikes on top of each other for a visual comparson like shown in the image below. Here's an example comparison as well. 

We're currently working on making the geometry comparison view take custom values... we could make an embed version which you guys could use on your site by simply passing the geometry values in the URL. Let me know if you're interested!

 

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bobdoah | 6 years ago
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Quote:

I am a regular visitor to road.cc but found this via a google search

I found this post in exactly the same way. This is a pretty awesome tool. 

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Hedgerow | 6 years ago
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I am a regular visitor to road.cc but found this via a google search. Exactly what I was looking for., great tool. Got anything to make me flexible enough to ride a slammed stem on a  56 frame?

Thanks GG

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bobg | 6 years ago
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Hi all

Another 2 months on and we're still getting hundreds of hits from this post alone every week! Have you lot bookmarked it or something?!

Anyway, we're now over 2000 bikes and still growing. I can't tell you how many wonderfully obscure brands I've learned about from this!

We've also just launched a new thing - a bike fitter finder. We've built the world's largest list of pro bike fitters, searchable by location. It's here: https://geometrygeeks.bike/fitters 

Free to use, free for fitters to list, and fitters can pay us a fee for an enhanced listing. Tryin' to pay the bills  3

A pro bike fit is a great investment so we're trying to spread the word and help these guys and girls out too, as the majority are based out of local bike shops.

Cheers all

Bob

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bobg | 6 years ago
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Hi all

2 months on from the original post and we're still getting hundreds of hits linked from this post every week. Something must have caught your attention.

We're over 1500 bikes now, helped by big spreadsheets supplied by the likes of Cannondale and Boardman, along with huge numbers added by you lot. 

It's still very much a spare-time project but we've made lots of small usability tweaks, added a basic 'cart' as suggested above, and have many more things to roll out in the coming weeks.

Thanks for the support, and as always, feedback is welcome. Just drop us an email or post on here.

Cheers

Bob from geometrygeeks.bike

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bobg | 7 years ago
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Thanks guys.

We've also done quite a lot of modelling in CAD to see what we need - unfortunately, little things  that aren't on most geometry charts (like headset stack) make a really significant difference. We'd only invest the time in building a tool like that once we know we can make it work well - i.e. give reliable data. So for now, it's on the wishlist until we have a brainwave  3

However, we do have some other interesting ideas about comparing lists of numbers, so stay tuned!

B

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bigshape | 7 years ago
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cool, just added a couple of bikes.

having a visual overlay of 2 different frames to directly compare would be useful.

i wonder how difficult it would be to acchieve? i drew up the geometry of a couple of bikes i was thinking about purchasing in CAD recently to try and compare them visually, but as someone has already stated, it's difficult with different manufacturers supplying info in slightly different ways, and sometimes ommitting key measurements that can make the triangulation of points tricky...

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Hxs | 7 years ago
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you know, visualized comparator is even possible in Excel spreadsheet.
take a look at different page of this spreadsheet. I compare CAAD10 with a Chinese open mold frame.
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B2FoQ3WMz9LbQWJybHV5d1JsZHc

PS. I'm NOT the creator of this excel, i just download the form and fill data to use as my personal use.

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bobg | 7 years ago
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Hey part_robot... interesting ideas, thanks.

The idea of a visual overlay is one that keeps coming up and we're giving it some serious thought. You're right that it'd be a challenge!

B

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part_robot | 7 years ago
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What I'd really really love is an overlay of two different bike frames in relation to my current bike fit. Having just done this (to see if I'd fit a Canyon Ultimate coming from a Synapse) I imagine it'd be a huge amount of manual work for these guys as not all bikes seem to specify geometry in the same way. But still; would be very useful for me and perhaps fitters and bike shops too. Maybe it could even be sold as a service to online retailers as well?

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bobg | 7 years ago
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Hello SammyG, TypeVertigo and everyone

We've made a few improvements to the mechanism for adding bikes to compare. Not yet a 'cart' (we're still thinking about that!) but hopefully it's now slightly more intuitive to use.

We've also enabled more parameters - things like manufacturer's recommended height, actual top tube (vs effective), suspension travel - and the ability to handle much more.

The tool to add a bike by pasting in a geometry table from a manufacturer's website has also got significantly smarter. Give that a try!

Much more in the works, and we prioritise ideas from our users. What should we be working on next?

Cheers

Bob @ GeometryGeeks

 

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peted76 | 7 years ago
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I think that's really cool, great tool !! 

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spongebob | 7 years ago
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Really nice mate, the only thing I would add is a "cart" type feature whereby you can see which bikes you have selected from any page, perhaps with a bin icon next to each for quick removal. Probably best in a drop down at the top.

Good work wink

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TypeVertigo replied to spongebob | 7 years ago
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SammyG wrote:

Really nice mate, the only thing I would add is a "cart" type feature whereby you can see which bikes you have selected from any page, perhaps with a bin icon next to each for quick removal. Probably best in a drop down at the top.

Good work wink

That sounds like an excellent idea. Great way of tracking the bikes/frame sizes you have selected for comparison  1

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VeloUSA | 7 years ago
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Thanks! Bookmarked for future use.

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bobg | 7 years ago
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Hey Mendes.pms - we don't have it yet, but anyone can add a bike, wiki-style. Have a go!

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Mendes.pms | 7 years ago
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Doesn't have Pinarello Prince  2

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TypeVertigo | 7 years ago
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Great job. I just added what geometry I know from my own bike, a 2014 Giant TCX SLR 2 in the Small size.

You might want to account for the different types of wheels and mounting systems, what with closed dropouts and through-axles becoming more popular on road bikes with the passage of time.

I also had to get back and revise things a couple times because it wasn't clear at first if "top tube length" meant actual or effective.

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VeloUSA | 7 years ago
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What you developed is good start. Being able to compare geometries side by side by side (3+) by mfg and frame sizes would be ideal. For example, being able to compare Specy, Cervelo, Trek 49/50, 51/52, and 54 geometries on one page.

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bobg replied to VeloUSA | 7 years ago
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VeloUSA wrote:

What you developed is good start. Being able to compare geometries side by side by side (3+) by mfg and frame sizes would be ideal. For example, being able to compare Specy, Cervelo, Trek 49/50, 51/52, and 54 geometries on one page.

Hey thanks - I think you're describing exactly what it can do? Just click the 'dot' on each bike/size you'd like to see side by side, then head to compare.

Here's an example: https://geometrygeeks.bike/compare/cannondale-caad10-105-2015-54,special...

 

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TypeVertigo replied to bobg | 7 years ago
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bobg wrote:

VeloUSA wrote:

What you developed is good start. Being able to compare geometries side by side by side (3+) by mfg and frame sizes would be ideal. For example, being able to compare Specy, Cervelo, Trek 49/50, 51/52, and 54 geometries on one page.

Hey thanks - I think you're describing exactly what it can do? Just click the 'dot' on each bike/size you'd like to see side by side, then head to compare.

Here's an example: https://geometrygeeks.bike/compare/cannondale-caad10-105-2015-54,special...

I think the comparison feature could be done a little more effectively. I had to guess how to add more bikes to make a comparison.

Here's what I did to compare two bikes' geometries.

  1. Search for bike #1
  2. When the geometry page for bike #1 loads, click the round radio button for a particular size bike and make it active
  3. Search for bike #2
  4. When the geometry page for bike #2 loads, click the round radio button for a particular size bike and make it active
  5. Click the "Compare 2" button

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