Visual Geometry Comparison

sjalex

Hey all, we just added a visual geometry comparison view to https://99spokes.com that uses the size and geometry information from the manufacturer. This make it easy to see the main geometry differences at a glance.



Here's an example comparison - https://99spokes.com/compare?bikes=kona ... ol-nx-2018

Any feedback is appreciated.

Thanks!

steve_sordy

For some time now, before buying a bike I have compared geometry with the bike I know best and that I feel fits me really well. I end up with a spreadsheet that looks pretty much like yours. All I lack is the moving diagram. I find this approach really helpful when potentially buying a bike that are not available for a test ride, like anything from YT Industries, Canyon, Radon, ....

Obtaining and inputting the data was always time consuming, so if your app accepts the bike name and then collects and displays the data, then that is a great time saver and genuinely adds value. The moving diagram is a nice to have, I guess, for those that are not too good with numbers and need a visual representation.

Is there a limit to the number of bikes you can compare, or is it three at a time? I realise that more than three different colours on the diagram would be cluttered and confusing. I would be happy with an app that compared just two at a time, but that I could easily switch which two I was comparing. Once a bike's data had been downloaded It should be available for comparison instantly. So how many different bikes can the app hold in its memory? Three is not enough.

One final point. Some bikes have a flip chip that alters the geometry. Will your app be able to deal with that showing the effect of the flip?

blokie13

Have you got plans to vastly expand the database of bikes covered? It's pretty limited currently - maybe you could add a function for people to manually enter the data for comparison, and potentially even then upload that data for you to add to the database.

robertpb

Blokie13 wrote:

Have you got plans to vastly expand the database of bikes covered? It's pretty limited currently - maybe you could add a function for people to manually enter the data for comparison, and potentially even then upload that data for you to add to the database.

Nearly 21,000 bikes is not a small database.

steve_sordy

robertpb wrote:

............

Nearly 21,000 bikes is not a small database.

How do you know that? I followed the link and saw no details.

mrbigbiker

From the homepage "We’ve catalogued, analyzed, and tagged 20,993 bikes, "

blokie13

Well none of my bikes are on there ;-)

Also, I tried a few random bikes (e.g. 2018 Cannondale F-Si Carbon 1) and some didn't have any dimensions listed.

jamski

Blokie13 wrote:

Well none of my bikes are on there ;-)

Also, I tried a few random bikes (e.g. 2018 Cannondale F-Si Carbon 1) and some didn't have any dimensions listed.

Mine either, it's a good tool, but really does need every* bike.

*every is impossible I know.

steve_sordy

Losing interest.

sjalex

Hi Steve, thanks for the feedback!

steve_sordy wrote:

Is there a limit to the number of bikes you can compare, or is it three at a time? I realise that more than three different colours on the diagram would be cluttered and confusing. I would be happy with an app that compared just two at a time, but that I could easily switch which two I was comparing. Once a bike's data had been downloaded It should be available for comparison instantly. So how many different bikes can the app hold in its memory? Three is not enough.

There's no limit to the number of bikes that you can add, though there is a practical limit, as the UI will become cluttered like you mention. We're working on creating a page/tool that's dedicated specifically to geometry comparison. It will support adding custom bikes. We haven't worked out where to store this data... or if it becomes user contributed data that others can benefit from.

Being able to turn bikes on/off in the visualization is a great suggestion.

steve_sordy wrote:

One final point. Some bikes have a flip chip that alters the geometry. Will your app be able to deal with that showing the effect of the flip?

We don't have a great solution for this... I think currently we're just adding more sizes (e.g. XL High, XL Low). The manufacturer site doesn't always make it easy for us to access this data though.

sjalex

Blokie13 wrote:

Well none of my bikes are on there ;-)

Also, I tried a few random bikes (e.g. 2018 Cannondale F-Si Carbon 1) and some didn't have any dimensions listed.

Cannondale publishes geometry data as images making it very difficult to extract programmatically. We're actually in the middle of experimenting with using an OCR tool to convert the geometry image to text. It's going... ok. I think ultimately we're going to have to accept user contributions.

blokie13

sjalex wrote:

Blokie13 wrote:

Well none of my bikes are on there ;-)

Also, I tried a few random bikes (e.g. 2018 Cannondale F-Si Carbon 1) and some didn't have any dimensions listed.

Cannondale publishes geometry data as images making it very difficult to extract programmatically. We're actually in the middle of experimenting with using an OCR tool to convert the geometry image to text. It's going... ok. I think ultimately we're going to have to accept user contributions.

If you're going to go with user contributions, make sure you get as much of the info as possible as dropdown / selectable lists as opposed to freeform text (especially manufacturer!).