Using frame comparison
The free velogicfit Frame Comparison tool offers a quick, fully-user-controlled way of comparing two frames side by side.
You’ll find frame geometry, images (if available) and frame specifications. If you’ve got a target Bar X & Y (e.g. from a pre-purchase bike fit), you can also investigate the effect of different stem length/angle and spacer combinations making it easy to order the correct parts and set the bike up correctly first time.
If you are not familiar with X & Y terminology for bikes please read our explanation.
Getting started
The first step is to choose your bike type (discipline), and then choose one or two frames by selecting a Brand, Model and Size from the list.
Once you have selected the frames, you should see:
- An image & specifications of the selected model
- Geometry for the selected size
The Calculated Measures entry lets you know which values we’ve had to work out. If we’ve had to make assumptions for the frame geometry the figures may be a few millimetres off – especially if the Frame Reach and Stack were not provided by the manufacturer. If a frame you’re interested in is marked as having a calculated Reach and Stack, feel free to put pressure on the Manufacturer to provide that information and thus facilitate accurate position calculations.
If you wish to reduce the amount of information on the screen choose the “Compact View”
This trims the geometry data to key values and makes it easier to scroll down to the Handlebar Setup section.
The tool also helps explain what the different geometry figures refer to – hover on any value and the blank bike will show the measurement points.
Specifying the stem
After choosing frame(s), the next step is to specify what sort of stem you’re using on the frame. This allows Frame Comparison to calculate Bar XY for that combination of frame and stem. See our guide to using BarXY coordinates if you’re not sure on the definition of Bar XY.
The defaults for stem length, angle and headset height/spacers should be set to a sensible default for the selected frame.
You can change the stem length, angle and/or headset to have Frame Comparison calculate the BarX and Y for you.
The Headset height/spacers value includes the height of the headset top cover (for integrated headsets). The possible heights range from 3mm (the lowest headset cover we know of) to 45mm (the maximum recommended for most forks). If you wish to perform the calculation for a frame that utilises an external headset you will need to know the stack of the chosen headset (usually around 30mm) and use that as a minimum value.
Hoods Position
Bar XY gets you from the Bottom Bearing to the handlebar clamp. But, hopefully you’re not steering by holding on to the handlebar clamp!
With Frame Comparison, you can choose a handlebar make & model (and optionally width), and it will calculates a Hood position for you, for a more accurate measure of where your hands will be positioned on the bike. Note that the Hoods position will not be completely accurate - because our models don’t allow for every variation in bar geometry, and because you may be angling the bar.
For more information on this feature, see: Frame Comparison - Bar Curve X and Bar Top Y for Road Bikes
Share your comparison with the world
If you're looking for some input on your frame selection, why not share the results of your Frame Comparison on one of the many cycling forums? Or maybe you're a fit pro & want to respond to someone's question about which frame they should be buying. After selecting your frame, stem & bar options in Frame Comparison, just click the Share button in the Frame Selection section:
… and after a few seconds (while Frame Comparison is generating a shareable image), you'll see this popup with code you can copy & paste into a forum:
You can choose either straight HTML format, or BBCode for a forum running on phpBB. Then just click “Copy to clipboard” and paste into your forum. Most forums have a “Preview” function so you can see how it’s going to look. In the preview, you should see a link and an image - the link will take anyone clicking it right back to Frame Comparison with those same details filled-in, so they can pick up where you left off.
If you have any trouble using the Share function with a particular forum, please get in touch with us and let us know.
In summary
We hope you enjoy using Frame Comparison tool. If you have any questions about it, please get in touch with us using the chat system (link is at the bottom right of our site.)
If we don’t have the information for a brand that you want to use in the system it’s probably because we found it difficult to source that data. It would be helpful if you could contact the Manufacturer as well as our team to express your interest in having the data in our system.
Please note that the images and information provided by the site are based on what we have sourced from the Manufacturers website. We have taken all care in collecting the data but we take no responsibility for incorrect data that has been provided by the Manufacturer, or images that do not reflect the configuration of a particular model.
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