i and welcome to Cyclegrades!
I created this site to help you compare road and gravel components across categories in order to find unique ways you can upgrade your bike and go faster.
To facilitate this discovery I’ve put together a product comparison tool which displays two products at the same time and will tell you the weight and price difference between the two. Ideally with this information you can feel empowered to determine which product will give you the biggest weight savings for your intended budget.
Please note that this tool is in the early stages of development but I hope that you may find some useful comparisons while using it. The initial catalog is small to get things going but I’m working to further grow it to expand its usefulness.
Who is this site for:
This site is for anyone that enjoys cycling and wants to upgrade their bike for performance reasons by dropping the weight.
As a cyclist I strongly believe the best upgrade is always to improve the rider by simply riding more and challenging yourself. However, there are real benefits that can also be seen by lowering the weight of your bike such as moving from aluminum rims to carbon ones or simply switching from normal tubes to latex ones.
By using the comparison tool I hope it empowers you to explore different options and find out what makes the most sense for you.
Using the Comparison Tool:
To get started I recommend using a desktop or iPad size screen to get the best experience with the comparison feature. To pull up the tool you’ll want to click on the main navigation menu in the top right corner of your screen and select “Compare” or you can click here. The comparison page will now open up.
To start the comparison you’ll want to do three things.
Step 1 - Set your filters on the left hand side of the page
The “Component” filter will serve as your main filter for the tool. Select the component category you want to compare and the comparison tool will filter down the list of products for just that component type. You can also select more than one component type if you want to start making cross component comparisons.
The rest of the filters are secondary and are there should you want to further limit the product catalog based on Brand, Material, Price, etc.
Lastly, the filters will apply to both product windows on this page. So if you click on Tubes, it will set both product windows to Tubes for the comparison. More on this in the next step.
Step 2 - Select the component you want to compare against
To the right of the filters you’ll see two product windows. The products displayed will be based on the filters you set in Step 1.
The top product window is for the product you plan to compare against labeled “Component - A”. This could be a product you own or the product you’re interested in. To find the specific product in the catalog you can use the Left and Right arrows in the lower right corner of the window to cycle through the filtered list. As an alternative you can also click and hold on the product card itself and drag your cursor to move between products.
Once you’ve found the product you want for the comparison you can move to Step 3.
Step 3 - Start to cycle through the comparison components
Now that you’ve set your main product in the Component - A box, you will want to set the lower product window, Component - B, to the second comparison product. To do this start clicking through or swiping the products in the Component - B box similar to how you selected Component - A.
As you click through you’ll see some stats display between the two products to highlight the difference in price and weight.
The price and weight indicators will change colors as your scroll.
A Green highlight will indicate a drop in weight or price between the two products.
A Red highlight will indicate an increase in weight or price between the two products.
To read the above example, Component - B has a weight savings of 60 grams over the Component - A but at a price increase of $3.45. Another way to think about this is for just $3.45, you’re saving 60 grams.
If you’re interested in learning more or purchasing the product there is a “Shop Now” link which will lead you to a site with additional information.
Step 4 - Have fun!
That’s all there is to it! See what kind of comparisons you can make as you may discover unique ways to drop the weight of your bike that you may not have thought of.
Please do note that weight is not the only factor you should consider when comparing two products but this tool is intended to help you narrow down your list of possible options as you explore new upgrades for your bike.
Feedback
As this tool is in its early stage of development and solely funded by me as a passion project I understand it’s not perfect. However, I’d appreciate any feedback that could help make the tool more useful to users such as yourself.
Also if there are brands that you feel would be great to add to the catalog please let me know by using the Contact link at the top of the page or emailed me at info@cyclegrades.com
Thank you for visiting Cyclegrades and I hope you find the site useful.
