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Diagrams
The left bottom area of the project window contains the diagrams, which give you a graphical summary of a specific feature.
You can switch by the bottom tabs to view different diagrams. The thicker lines are always showing the actual project’s values, the thin ones are drawn when you choose to display other projects’ datas by using the checkboxes above. First order gradients of the curves are also shown in several graphs because they show fundamental information about an aspect of the suspension.
Note: when you’re not yet familiar with the usual values of the diagrams it is a good idea to make comparisons with other projects (as described above). Thus you can get a better picture of the differences and the real weight of the value changes.
Let’s see the different graph types.
Geometry
This shows the relationship between the vertically measured movement of the rear wheel and the shock compression.
The thick blue line shows how much the rear shock compresses with the vertical travel of the rear wheel. Thin red line: the progressivity of the previous (first order gradient). If it goes upwards from left to right, it’s a rising rate design, a horizontal line means linear compression, otherwise it’s falling rate.
Leverage ratio
The leverage ratio is the rate between wheel travel and shock compression.
Actually, this is the reciprocal value of the geometry curve gradient.
See the basic terms section for more info.
Chain growth
Shows the changing of the chain length between its contact points with the cogwheels. See the basic terms section for more info.
Forces (vertical and axle-path tangent directional)
The program calculates the relation between vertical forces acting to the rear wheel and the shock compression that it causes. It is calculated as if we mounted the mainframe to a solid stand and pushed up the rear wheel more and more, monitoring the wheel movement amount and the force value.
Actually, the gradient of this (red line) shows the real progressivity of the bike suspension.
Progressivity is also affected by the shock characteristics, which can be changed to several types. See the editing section for more information on how to change this.
There are two kinds of force diagrams – vertical and axle-path tangent directional.
The vertical case calculates the force acting to the wheel (axle) in a perfectly vertical direction (compared to the main frame’s initial position). This may differ more or less from real-life scenarios since mountain bike riders go over varying terrain, but it is adequate to show the characteristics of the suspension.
The axle-path tangent directional case means that the rear wheel force direction is recalculated for each position to match the direction of the axle path. Thus the curve can be used to determine the total energy input to the suspension at a given travel by integrating it (counting the area below it).
Shock curve
The graph shows by how much force the shock reacts to compressing it. As written above, the shock type can be altered in the software and the current behavior of the shock is displayed here. See the editing section for more information on how to change this.
Magnified axle path
This shows the wandering of the rear axle, in a fixed coordinate system. This is horizontal and vertical defined by the initial position of the bike.
Sophisticated designs may have a complex shaped axle-path, not just a circular arc. This graph shows it in a large scale.
You may also want to switch on the “Show axle-path perpendiculars” option in the project window to examine the axle-path.
Pedal-kickback
The graph shows the pedal-kickback characteristics for the given cogwheel combination, and zero front shock travel. Pedal-kickback is dependant on these, and show quite a large difference. The values are shown positive counter-clockwise, since this what you really feel as "kickback".
As we develop the software there may appear new diagrams which are not explained here. If you're not sure about their meanings, you can always write an email to us.
You may want to read the additional notes section on more theoretical background.