Howdy guys,

I'm going to have a custom bike built pretty soon and I'd like to play with the geometry with some sort of bike CAD software that's easy to use and free.

The following link is all I've managed to dig up.

www.bikecad.ca | Bicycle Design Software

If you know of any alternatives I am all ears.

Why don't you ask the builder what he uses, so you'll both be on the same page when the time comes?

The builder you say? I suppose he/she is another forums member?

I hunt about and send said person a pm.

Rattlecad is a free frame design program. I use it to design all of my frames. It's a bit more finicky to use than Bikecad, but it gives you much more than the free Bikecad applet. https://rattlecad.sourceforge.net/

A search turned up Barrythebuilder, Bobthebuilder, and Tomthebuilder.

I will abruptly pm all of them and rudely demand answers.

ah yes I found rattlecage shortly after starting th thread. I'm glad to hear an opinion on it as I am weary of downloading software that i don't know on a first name basis.

I also noticed that there is a frame builder forum. It seems that I've made this post in the wrong spot so if an Admin cares to relocate this thread I would be grateful.

Thanks!

Not sure what the point is of "playing with geometry" - either you know what you need for geometry vis-a-vis your needs or you don't.

I've used "Bicycle Geometry 101," which is an Excel-compatible spreadsheet.

Neat! this bike geometry 101 program will come in Handy.


The point of "playing with geometry" is to optimize the geometry of the frame I will have built. It's going to be a custom polo bike and I'd rather spend some time playing with the geometry on my own rather than leaving it to the builders. That fact that it will be MY bike, built to accommodate MY particular playing style means I need to be an oober fundy part of its construction.

Polo bike? Cool. But I am curious about the geometry of one. Are you starting with a known one first?

BITD when I owned my shop I had some guys working for me who rode bike trials. One of them wanted me to build them a trials frame. I contacted a bike company who made trials bikes and asked them about their geometry. The guy just laughed and said "trials bike, geometry? what geometry?). Andy.

We don't know your skills as a fetter. This may sound odd but, a builder "should" know more about geometry than "most" wanting the perfect bike. There are exceptions, of course. However, you've led us to believe that you aw just going to draw up the perfect bike because you know how to work a Computer.

hello Berylbite JohnDThompson cny-bikeman dsaul FBinNY Blue Belly,
Hi there - good day dear community.
many thanks for the discussion

i only know bikeCAD (cf https://www.bikecad.ca ) and rattleCAD ( see (https:rattleCAD 4.0 - Bicycle FrameBuilding CAD - Home )

"Bicycle Geometry 101" i did not know so far

its great to see this fruitful discussion.


many thanks for this.

yours Apollo

I took my web site down a couple months ago, when I switched ISPs, so the link to "Bicycle Geometry 101" no longer works. I'll upload it here to make it accessible:

hi there - good day dear all

thanks tor this thread and for all the ideas and thoughts you are sharing here.
awesome!

I all ways thought that we do not have any alternatives than rattleCAD - but there is more - and this makes me glad

Keep in mind this thread is from 2015. Things have probably changed since then.

The full non-commercial version is €30 p.a. The demo version is free but lacks features, it should be fine for the major dimensions you give to your frame builder.