Last year we partnered with Weight Weenies to revive the deceased weight listings. In just under a year we’ve managed, with the help of the members, to collect and add about 3000 new components to the weight listings. Now we’ve decided to take it a step further and find a way to put those listings to better use. That better use is an interactive spreadsheet that you can download to your computer and use to build a virtual bike simply by making selections from lists. Officially released this morning the spreadsheet accesses the weight weenie database to provide not only weights but specs about every component on a bike. By selecting your desired components from dropdown lists you can build a virtual bike or custom wheelset and see what it’s finished weight would be along with notes about the specific components.
The sheet allows manual adjustments of component weights in case you need to change what’s in the database. It then provides you with stock calculated weight as well as adjusted weight. There is also an embedded custom wheel build section as well as group set weight listing so you can play with different combinations to make the group that is just right for you.
We’ll try to release regular updates that add in new features. If anyone has suggestions for features they’d like to see added, please post them in the appropriate section on our forum.
The build estimator can be found here:
Note: It does require the use of Excel or OpenOffice (which can be downloaded for free at their site.)
This is a good idea, thanks. I have a weight and cost spreadsheet that I put together for wheel building, but a more comprehensive database would be nice. Your link above doesn’t seem to work though.
The link http://fairwheelbikes.com/jw/buildcalc.xls doesn’t work. I’m getting a 404 (file not found) error.
Great idea, I’m glad you are doing this service!
There is also Google Docs. You can publish the spreadsheet there and allow trusted individuals to help edit the data.
the link doesnt work for me
Sorry everyone for the typo in the link, it’s working now.
How about a video showing how it works?
@Daniel,
That’s a good idea but I don’t think we’ll have time soon. The concept is pretty simple though. Just click where it says “-Blank, ,” and a small arrow will appear on the right side. Click on that for a small drop down menu. Select your part and move on.