Creating new files

When you press the “New” button in the main window you start creating a new project. The process is done in a windows wizard-like method, with several options popping up time to time to finally construct the whole project.
Linkage was developed to quickly analyse different bike designs, so we created a method that allows the use of photographic side-view images of bikes. Thus you can enter the specific points of the bike by clicking on the image. To actually measure the real point distances that you clicked on, you’ll need to know some real length of the bike, like wheelbase, chain-stay length etc. This is needed to calibrate the project. If you don’t have reliable information, you may try a usual value that is offered by the program.

The steps of creating a project:

  1. Open a picture file (JPEG, BMP). You can Zoom In/Out the picture with the buttons on the top. Also, you can pan a large image by holding the right mouse button and moving it.
  2. Select a suspension system (mono-pivot, mono-pivot with suspension linkage, 4-bar linkage etc.)
  3. Click on specific points. There’s a message on the top of the window showing you the current point. Click as precisely as possible – zooming is helpful.
  4. Draw polygons that represent the mainframe and linkage parts. Each polygon must be closed by clicking the right mouse button. You can skip this step with a single right-click if you don’t want any polygons.
  5. Set several options like shock placement, linkage settings.
  6. Calibrate the actual sizes using one of the methods offered.
  7. Enter a name for the project.
  8. You’re done, change additional parameters in the editing section.
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