Pinkbike Poll: Metric vs Imperial - Which Do You Prefer For Measuring Bikes?

Oct 19, 2023 at 4:55
by Seb Stott  
SQlab Sit bone measurement in retail or at home.
Photo: SQlab

Let's be clear. The metric system is better than imperial.

In metric, there are 1,000 grams in a kilogram and 1,000 kilograms in a tonne. In imperial, there are 16 ounces in a pound, 14 pounds in a stone and 2,240 pounds in a ton (which is also 1.12 US tons because America uses its own version of the imperial system).

In metric, there are 1,000 litres in a cubic meter. In imperial, there are 6.22884 gallons in a cubic foot (or 7.48052 US gallons).

It's a mess.


But old habits die hard. Many people, especially in the US and the UK, love to use pre-enlightenment units.

It seems this is slowly changing in the bike industry - you often used to hear bottom bracket heights and chainstay lengths described in inches, but not so much anymore.

We still use a confusing mix of the two systems. For example, you might have a 1.5 to 1&1/8-inch steerer on your 170 mm travel fork; 2.5" tires on your 30 mm rims and 1,000-gram tires on your 30-pound trail bike.

For now, we try to include both in reviews, but which units do you prefer to measure bikes with?

How do you prefer to measure the weight of a bike?



How do you prefer to measure the weight of components (e.g. forks)?



How do you prefer to measure geometry dimensions (e.g. reach or chainstay length)?



How do you prefer to measure tire and shock pressure?



How cold is it outside?





Author Info:
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Member since Dec 29, 2014
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517 Comments
  • 475 20
 I wish we used the metric system.
  • 236 3
 I wish people didn't use standard wrenches and tools on metric hardware...
  • 40 74
flag inked-up-metalhead (Oct 20, 2023 at 12:28) (Below Threshold)
 @slackedmtb: m12 ftw. 19mm or 3/4 are the same, and some higher quality imperial sockets or spanner actually fit better than a low quality metric one.
  • 86 4
 wish denied
  • 335 3
 My 6.69 inches travel bike has a 1.13 radian HTA, 1.49 feet reach, 0.47yard wheelbase, weights 76 cheese burgers with a pair of 62mm tyres set at 10000 pascals, and it's 3.2 baguettes outside.

Everything's clear for me. I don't see any problem Smile
  • 68 2
 No no no...we have the “buttload” — an actual British unit of measure, usually defined as a cask of 126 gallons — and I’m not willing to give it up.

How to properly use the term “buttload” as both a unit of measure and as PNW/BC MTB vernacular:
“We drank a buttload of beer at Whistler.”
  • 44 382
flag Mtbdialed (Oct 20, 2023 at 12:53) (Below Threshold)
 do you also wish we drove on the wrong side of the road? wish we had lost 2 world wars? wish we had zero upward economic mobility in exchange for free shitty healthcare?


I rather like American exceptionalism.
  • 65 0
 @WRCDH: Sorry, that's been made obsolete by the metric shitton...
  • 1 1
 @g-42: nice. beat me to it.
  • 57 1
 @Mtbdialed: I can't tell if this is serious or not
  • 89 5
 @Mtbdialed: lol bro you drank the Kool-Aid; economic mobility in the US is worse than most other OECD countries www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/mar/13/american-dream-broken-upward-mobility-us
  • 68 0
 @Mtbdialed: All of that will happen if the US moves to the metric system?! Damn, now I see why you all stay imperial!
  • 19 58
flag bman33 (Oct 20, 2023 at 13:12) (Below Threshold)
 @judge-shredd: it's the Guardian sooo...."grain of salt". Statistics 101: You can make a survey say anything you wanted to say by crafting the tests, baseline, questions, metrics/people polled, etc. No doubt things are tougher than they were 30 years ago. However, Guardian is not what many would consider "unbiased"
  • 35 0
 I wish you used the metric system
  • 40 2
 @Mtbdialed: We actually have less upward economic mobility than quite a few other developed countries.
  • 13 1
 @bman33: He only posted one source. It's pretty hard to find any source that puts the US high on the list.
  • 28 3
 @bman33: then go read the study they talk about: www3.weforum.org/docs/Global_Social_Mobility_Report.pdf

US not even in the top 25 (and this is from an American).
  • 43 0
 @Mtbdialed: I am trying to fathom what country you are describing. Is it Japan? Because metric, two world wars and wrong side of the road is a difficult combo.
  • 50 4
 @Mtbdialed: do you ever look at the upvote to downvote ration on your comments, do the principal Skinner pose and think to yourself "is it my humor that sucks?no it's all the other commenters who are wrong"
  • 11 0
 @WRCDH: You are allowed to use both imperial and metric, as I will continue to do now hearing the actual standard for a buttload.
  • 2 23
flag Mtbdialed (Oct 20, 2023 at 13:36) (Below Threshold)
 @daceto817: .....little column A, little column B.....Big Grin
  • 4 49
flag Mtbdialed (Oct 20, 2023 at 13:39) (Below Threshold)
 @Upduro: someone from Austria should understand economics better than this....really. Did they not make you read Hayek or Mises in school?
  • 10 0
 @slackedmtb: so you think non-metric is the Standart?
  • 96 3
 @Mtbdialed: Sure, keep it, along with your higher child mortality, lower life expectancy, larger wealth gap and much much higher share of health care expenditure as % of GDP compared to a majority of OECD countries. Having lived in a number of countries, including in NA, I can attest to the fact that continental European healthcare is generally top notch at a fraction of the price that you pay. Statistics can confirm this as well.

Side note, I have nothing against America and you do have a more dynamic economy, so to all other US citizens on this forum, it’s just this guy I’m having a go at. Apologies if I offended you in the process.
  • 33 0
 @Mtbdialed: you sound well travelled.
  • 9 97
flag Mtbdialed (Oct 20, 2023 at 14:38) (Below Threshold)
 @vp27: you know why all what you said is true? non-homogenous population. Most of the developed countries that top all those lists, A don't have a population of 330million, and B, are insular culturally and everyone looks the same. lol


your metrics are dumb.
  • 6 52
flag Mtbdialed (Oct 20, 2023 at 14:39) (Below Threshold)
 @BermJunky: 6 continents, 36ish countries, 48 states. I am decently travelled, yes.
  • 89 1
 The metric system is indeed inching ever closer to acceptance. Pound for pound, it's miles ahead in terms ease of use.
  • 16 0
 I say props to the bike industry for teaching me more metric than the common gringo knows
  • 8 0
 @Mtbdialed: 36ish countries
  • 1 0
 @mariomtblt: I wish,I wish,I wish you cared
  • 28 0
 @WRCDH: “buttload” is the least British unit of measure ever, even more ridiculous than measuring baking ingredients in cups instead of ounces or grams. In Britain we use the unit “f*ckload”. See also “shit-ton”.
  • 4 29
flag Mtbdialed (Oct 20, 2023 at 15:00) (Below Threshold)
 @pargolf8: yeah, I might have missed one, or perhaps not counting ones like Lichtenstein that I spent exactly 25 min in, driving. lol
  • 6 0
 @threehats: be careful not to confuse a buttload (384 imperial gallons) with a butt (126 imperial gallons). A butt is half a tun, not to be confused with half a ton, or half a tonne.
  • 14 2
 @Mtbdialed: reminds me of when I was applying for my US residence visa. I had to list every single country I had visited in the past 10 years. That was a lot of thinking and reconstructing holiday itineraries...
I don't miss US length units, health care, politics or economic mobility (which goes both ways! ), but the landscape is really good.
  • 23 0
 @slackedmtb: I wish people wouldn't refer to imperial as "standard".
  • 7 0
 @inked-up-metalhead: how many 19mm l bolts you rocking in your bike???
  • 40 0
 @Mtbdialed: "your metrics are dumb." Truly a well reasoned and erudite argument you make there, the perfect example of American Educational Exceptionalism.
  • 3 0
 @danstonQ: Your flag says you’re French, but your method of measure suggests that, you are in fact an American
  • 5 0
 @danstonQ: I though baguettes were an official unit of length typically used for takeoff and transition measurement?
  • 27 1
 @Mtbdialed: I've always found it weird that despite being the wealthiest country in the world so many of you are pissed off all the time. I'm afraid you're doing nothing to change my mind young man. Also, if imperial is so great why does only USA, Myanmar and Liberia use it?
  • 4 56
flag Mtbdialed (Oct 20, 2023 at 16:49) (Below Threshold)
 @Super7: smart people tend to be pissed off because they see the charlatains and evil around them, and the dolts that just keep their head in the sand because they like tHeiR fReE stUfF!>!>!??!?!?!?!
  • 3 53
flag Mtbdialed (Oct 20, 2023 at 16:50) (Below Threshold)
 @DoubleCrownDicked: measurement *metrics* you crusty cumsock.....
  • 8 0
 I take a Medium frame. Is that a metric?
  • 2 0
 We do use the metric system
  • 58 3
 @Mtbdialed: Then why are the most pissed off Americans inbred hillbillies who are dumb enough to think a billionaire who flies around the world in a private jet has their backs? Sorry but you're kind of ranting about nothing.
  • 7 62
flag Mtbdialed (Oct 20, 2023 at 17:28) (Below Threshold)
 @Super7: your statement is as dumb as thinking every canadian is exactly like a member of Letterkenney, or a closeted fascist like your PM.


I think you should put down the hockey stick and syrup for a bit.
  • 6 0
 @slackedmtb: "standard". Not my standard...
  • 47 3
 @Mtbdialed: Fair enough but I'd rather hang out with the cast of Letterkenny than a bunch of heavily armed mouth breathers in Maga hats. Anyway, go for a ride this weekend and cheer up FFS!
  • 2 1
 @threehats: Then...if you REALY need to step it up, "Metric Shit-Ton" .... I heard my father say that over the years...usually when he was yelling at me for something stupid I did as a teenager. lol
  • 15 0
 @Mtbdialed: "crusty cumsock....." oohhh hit a nerve lolololol
  • 1 0
 @slackedmtb: 100%
  • 20 0
 @ak-77: Mtbdialed doesn't realize that continental Europe drives on the same side of the road as the US... and basically the rest of the world.
  • 3 1
 @bman33: Unlike Fox News
  • 3 2
 @Super7:
Only opinion pieces anymore, no "news" anywhere you look.
  • 24 0
 America is already metric. We convert everything into imperial/US units for the dumb masses who can't figure out that base 10 is...easy.

Almost all the munitions on my last ship were all measured in metric. 20mm, 25mm, 76mm, M240, 5.56mm, 9mm... Only the 50 cals weren't metric.

The metric system got us to the moon. But like everything else, the data was converted to be read. But the data was metric.

The official definition of an inch is "2.54 cm".
  • 6 3
 @FUbob: But their tagline is "Fair and Balanced"...such horsesh*t
  • 4 0
 Little known fun fact. The US has long had a policy to move towards metric, bit inertia is a bitch… www.nist.gov/pml/owm/metric-si/us-metrication#:~:text=Congress%20has%20established%20a%20national,commerce%20in%20the%20United%20States.
If you’re an engineer you know just how silly some of those units can get: slugs, btus, lb vs lbf, and a temperature system that corresponds to… nothing.
  • 3 8
flag FUbob (Oct 20, 2023 at 22:18) (Below Threshold)
 @Super7: My point is they're all horsehchit. Don't commit to a certain pile and dig in. Not tasty. Don't judge the pile by the label. They're all the same chit pedaling different opinions; your'e not getting straight news anywhere..
  • 5 3
 @judge-shredd: I’m not exactly onboard with @Mtbdialed ‘s hot take, but I have to say the article you cite is rubbish. They take a few macroeconomic statistics, fail to provide any real context, then try to make an apples-to-apples comparison between the US and EU countries, which isn’t the case. There are so many overlapping layers and context to those layers, it’s best to be wary of any publication that thinks it can sum up any facet of an entire country’s in a short article using a couple of stats.

The Guardian always strikes me as either suffering from serious ignorance or intellectual dishonesty. Neither lends to their credibility.
  • 2 0
 @danstonQ: for skate, bmx, skiing, etc. I use radians for rotations. It’s funny. But I think a system of naturalised tau would be better, 360*==1.
  • 1 0
 @WRCDH: no no, that's a cletch, and a cletch is a quarter of a ruck....
  • 5 1
 Agreed. “Freedom units” are honestly just stupid in the modern age.
The only one I can live with remaining is probably PSI for tire pressure & suspension
  • 3 0
 @Mtbdialed - don't forget the Mendenhall Order of 1893 which set the fundamental standards for length and mass in the U.S. to be based on metric units. The US may still be using inches, miles, pounds, etc. but they are all based on metric units:
1 yard was defined as 3600/3937 meter
1 pound-mass was defined as 0.4535924277 kilogram

The metric units have been slightly refined since then, but it still is the case that all US lengths and weights are based on meters and kgs. So, basically, the US has been using (at least referring to) the metric system for over 130 years.
  • 2 0
 @JSTootell: most convincing argument we did actually go to the moon after all.
  • 9 1
 metric: rational, based on science
imperial: authoritarian, imposed by british empire
  • 5 1
 @eekamouse: Mon ami, enjoying your freedom? You're welcome,
Lots of love
The British empire x
  • 2 0
 @eekamouse: better times.
  • 6 0
 @eekamouse: Also, imperial - not complicated at all...
pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plik:English_length_units_graph.png
:P
  • 2 0
 @FredFreeRideGang: wow, that's an awesome graph, thank you! Now I know that a roman mile was in fact 50.000 inches
  • 4 1
 @seb-scott that escalated quickly. What's the rules on booting Mtbdialed to the boot
  • 1 1
 I measure road bikes in CM and mountain bikes in inches. Am I the only one?
  • 4 0
 I was taught the metric system in elementary school since we were supposed to switch over but it never happened. I use metric when working on projects around the house. So much simpler.
  • 3 4
 @Super7: oh shut up Canada we are so mixed up between mextrix and StaNdaRD we have no place being high on our horse
  • 1 0
 @danstonQ: Do you, by chance, happen to live nearby a NUCLEAR REACTOR?
  • 1 0
 @FUbob: Fair point sir.
  • 6 3
 @Mtbdialed: apparently you’d prefer being bankrupted by our shitty healthcare system!
  • 18 4
 @Mtbdialed: American Exceptionalism = "((stolen land * slavery)*(oil)^2)"

but you know, the imperial system too.
  • 3 0
 @JoeDick: You got a fantastic point there. However, I believe Canada is still part of that. Imperial system no? lol
  • 3 0
 @pargolf8: he probably thought the Netherlands was a country-ish, because it's obviously also part of Germany.
  • 3 0
 @slackedmtb: metric is standard not imperial
  • 1 0
 @g-42: Here for this comment and this comment alone.
  • 2 1
 @seb-stott : you sure know how to trigger the Autists.
  • 4 1
 @st-lupo: dear God, I'm taking thermodynamics right now and I want to have an aneurysm every time I have to use BTUs and lb-ft. The metric system is superior for engineering

Cultural inertia is definitely hard. I think of most everyday things in imperial.
  • 4 0
 What do they call quarter pounder with cheese in Paris?

Royal with cheese. They’ve got the metric system, don’t know what the F a quarter pound is…
  • 1 0
 who doesn't
  • 2 0
 @gsp: How many "hands" is that horse.
I will let myself out directly.
  • 2 0
 @WRCDH: If adjustments are under a fraction of a millimeter I use the "coochie hair" unit of measurement.
Like if my seat post needs to go up or down a bit.
Really helps when I am adjusting someone elses bike to get a better perspective on how far up or down to move post.
.5 of a millimeter = a couple coochie hairs approximately
  • 1 0
 @slackedmtb: metric is standard
  • 3 1
 The irony to all this, is everyone is debating or arguing about this in English. lol Geek Beer Facepalm
  • 3 0
 @Mtbdialed: You know the imperial system was inherited from British overlords right?
  • 2 0
 @bikeys: in oz the preferred unit is the “bee’s dick”
  • 2 0
 @Dougal-SC: well the foot is an ancient form of measurement, there was even a “cubit” which was an elbows length.

The ounce was a form of Roman money, and, and the pound was actually French. So each unit really varies a lot. The British just take credit for it haha
  • 2 0
 @mariomtblt: Russians still use Cubits
  • 5 0
 @mariomtblt: welcome to British history, let me take your coat. No wait, that's our coat now.
  • 1 0
 @threehats: Don’t forget that for larger objects they can be measured either:
*the size of x double-decker buses
or
*about the size of Wales.
However, these units could also fall under ‘An absolute f*ck-ton’ at any given moment.
Pip pip.
  • 4 3
 @Mtbdialed: it's called American stupidism. Even the NASA and US Army work in metric units.
  • 5 13
flag Mtbdialed (Oct 22, 2023 at 8:34) (Below Threshold)
 @astralzombie: our healthcare system is amazing. I am sorry you don't prioritze your health enough to understand it needs to be the 3rd or 4th thing you pay for, not somewere after cherry vape refills and your OnlyFans subscriptions....
  • 3 9
flag Mtbdialed (Oct 22, 2023 at 8:35) (Below Threshold)
 @southoftheborder: I don't think using two shitty government agencies as examples, is really the dunk you think it is....
  • 1 2
 @Mtbdialed: how vaguely precise of you!
  • 1 0
 @likeittacky: lmao our American classes have given up on the metric system...
  • 4 2
 @Mtbdialed: those two agencies have done more for the technology in the past 70 years than what you could be able to achieve in a whole millennium.
  • 3 1
 @ethanrevitch: Shame, and put in it's place gender, CRT and identity politics.
  • 2 0
 @likeittacky:
Wood shop and auto shop replaced with ESL classes was just the start.
  • 2 1
 @FUbob: haha so don’t teach immigrants from all countries English? What ever happened to “learn the language?”. You know that Spanish, French, mandarin, Russian, and Italian are all common electives across all US high schools right? Or maybe you stopped going before you could find out
  • 12 4
 @Mtbdialed:
The US has never won a war. (Except those on it's own soil)

The heavy lifting in WWI&II was all done by the Europeans and Russians. The US came in for the glory grabbing at the end.

Let me know how Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan went.

The US only start wars these days.....
  • 5 1
 @Mtbdialed: Did you communicate with all those foreigners by speaking slowly and even louder ?
  • 5 1
 @Mtbdialed: Amazing "healthcare" system that makes up almost 20% of the GDP or $4 trillion dollars annually - with some of the least healthy people on the planet.

You've been conned.
  • 2 10
flag Mtbdialed (Oct 22, 2023 at 18:08) (Below Threshold)
 @southoftheborder: wrong. the tech all came fromt the private sector.....lockheed, ratheon, et. al.
  • 3 9
flag Mtbdialed (Oct 22, 2023 at 18:10) (Below Threshold)
 @JiminOz: health care SHOULD be about 20% of GDP. its just good we have a humongous GDP. lol


oh, and our peoples health has f*ck all to do with the healthcare system....its diet . which I will not defend.
  • 4 3
 @Mtbdialed: That would be great if it made people healthy. Instead it keeps them just the right side of dead to keep needing the product.

And since you mention food, take a dive into who owns/controls both the pharma and food industries. It's not an accident.
  • 5 11
flag Mtbdialed (Oct 22, 2023 at 18:43) (Below Threshold)
 @JiminOz: LOL. from someone in a country with the highest per capita binge drinkers.....rich!


nevermind your draconian/tyranical approach to a virus with a .01 all ages mortality rate. the f*ck out of here with your lecturing.
  • 6 2
 @Mtbdialed:
That's right - since the 70's Australia has followed the US model on health/diet and it's not working very well. We are not far behind the US, same as many other countries following the same pattern.

Off topic, but since you mention it, I totally agree with the covid situation here in Australia. I personally never had a "vaccine" and still to get covid.

However, you might want to look into the origins of the virus - check out the Eco Health Alliance program at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, researching bat corona viruses and their gain of function program. The Eco Health Alliance program was funded by Mr. Fauci and the NIH....so the US tax payer essentially.

Most of the world was fed the bullshit coming out of the CDC and FDA around covid and "vaccines" guidelines, which led to the chaos we all had to endure. Again, you may want to look at where all the profit from the "vaccines" went.
  • 6 3
 @JiminOz: I am very up to date on the virus's origin. which, while scandelous, is not material to how it was handled by governments. Mine included. shameful really.


The world has a pharma/profit/corruption/gov. problem. Yes, the US is the origin....

I would wager you and I actually agree on a lot more than we disagree on....
  • 1 1
 @Mtbdialed:

You might be right, especially on this subject.

Being the world's biggest economy is awesome, until the greed sets in.
  • 4 1
 @Mtbdialed: yeah, innovating as requested by the agencies and the military. And those agencies and the army they all communicate using the metric system, because luckily they choose something because of its effectiveness, not by your bigotry.
  • 1 0
 @dirtyburger: I can relate! There is a region in south Germany where nice cars are built and a lot of high tech is being developed, so normal metric measurement is just not accurate enough. So we have our own measurements for tiny stuff, the "muggaseggele" (only fellow born and bred swabians will ever understand...)
  • 2 1
 @JiminOz: all of the lifting was done by Britain and the anzacs mate
  • 3 0
 @betobi: Let's reveal this: a "muggaseggele" is the reproductive organ of a housefly.
  • 1 0
 @suspended-flesh: LOL,funny
  • 11 0
 @Mtbdialed: Dude your entire post history is complaining and whining, please can you take your painful pseudointellectual bollocks to facebook where it belongs?
  • 1 0
 @slackedmtb: "If it wasn't meant to be used on there, why does it fit?" - Guy who's about to round off a bolt head.
  • 2 2
 @JiminOz and @Mtbdialed: I am very impressed with your civil discourse not degenerating into name calling and bickering, especially given the topics you covered. You're an inspiration to us all.
  • 3 5
 @southoftheborder: where do you see bigotry in a statement I made? being pro-america isn't bigotry....
  • 2 0
 @slackedmtb: It's not "standard". It's British Imperial units. And they need to die.
  • 3 0
 The USA actually do - both systems are "official" and in order in the USA. It's just that the people in the US ... you get the point.
  • 3 0
 imperial is actually based on metric; ironic isn't it ?
  • 1 0
 @UpnUp: is it? I don't think so. imperial was based on the diameter of the inner width of a Doughnut divided by a gallon multiplied with the length of the shorter end of the American flag. everyone knows that.
  • 297 0
 We are moving America to the metric system...inch by inch...
  • 170 1
 Wait, did a German actually make a funny joke? Kudos Big Grin
  • 32 0
 @bman33: Username seems to be suggesting a shift from degrees to radians for head- and seattube angles. You're sure you're ready for this?
  • 10 0
 @vinay: You obviously meant me. Haha, but no, my username is unrelated to THIS hobby Big Grin
  • 2 0
 @vinay: Actually... Using the cosine of the angle would make a lot of sense. No units, just a ratio.
  • 1 0
 @ak-77: Well yeah, though in that case I'd prefer tan instead. Just like how people grade the slope of a road (in percentages). Head tube angle is always a funny one as for motorcycles it appears to be defined as the angle (in degrees) between the headtube and vertical.
  • 1 0
 @vinay: why tan? The axle to crown of the fork and the saddle to bb lengths are fixed and they are the diagonals of the triangles, while the horizontal distance is of interest.
  • 12 0
 German humor is no laughing matter.
  • 3 0
 @2pi: Your other hobby is running in circles?
  • 8 0
 @bman33: How many germans does it take to change a lightbulb? One. Because we're efficient. And not very funny.
  • 1 0
 @drjohn: lol
  • 1 0
 This will be my quote for the day! Thank you for this.
  • 2 0
 @drjohn:
  • 1 0
 @2pi: let me guess, you other hobby is piracy?
  • 3 0
 Yep, and yet bicycle chain links are still exactly 1/2 inch. lol
  • 2 0
 @gnarlysipes: The 1cm chain rivet pitch has been discussed more than a few times in the comment section. It allows for smaller sprockets yet still a decent load distribution over enough teeth. Heck, I do think they use metric chains in track cycling don't they? Shouldn't be too much of a step to bring it to shifting chains anyway (aside from internal gearbox hubs). For so many years we've enjoyed the compatibility of the 1/2" chain pitch. You could happily mix and match SRAM and Shimano drivetrain parts as long as the shifter and mech matched. These latest electronic SRAM rear mechs need a very specific cassette to work and the Shimano 12sp stuff also needs their own cassette to be able to shift under load. If the compatibility is going away, they could just as well drop the standard.
  • 113 3
 I think you'll find the whole bike industry is f*cked when it comes to picking a measurement. 650b wheels with 2.5" tyres and 200mm rotors, 160mm travel fork with a 1.5" to 1 1/8th steerer, 31.8 bars (which is just the metric equivalent of 1 1/4 inches, and they taper to 22.2mm which is 7/8ths) 785mm wide, frame geometry in mm with Imperial shocks (yes I know metric now are becoming the norm, but not every company), running a cassette that weighs 450g and cranks at 600g, on a bike that's 35lbs, wearing clothes that are generally measured in inches, helmets in cm, and gloves in arbitrary numbers.

You get used to after a while.
  • 85 1
 I just realized that I pump tires with bars but suspension with psi ... wtf Smile
  • 2 0
 @lkubica: In my experience suspension manufacturers/ guides usually only talk about PSI, while tires normally have both stamped on them/ both are used in (European) communication, so with tires it's easier to choose the one that feels more natural to you. (I do tires in bars as well.)
  • 3 0
 @lkubica: Actually, bars fit suspension units much better as they're straight.
  • 8 0
 @lkubica: actually I pump them both with ....a pump!
  • 6 0
 Mustn't forget those 203 mm (8 in) brake rotors
  • 2 0
 @vinay: drop bars aren't.

How is a pound per square inch better than a kilogram per square centimeter?
  • 4 0
 @donimo: suspension is strictly in PSI because it's easier to read/remember, i think. Easier to think 100 or 105 psi instead of 6.9 or 7.2 bar. Although we euros use bar everywhere else, also in tires. And 35mm handlebars are better cause they're metric, just a shame they ride worse..
  • 3 0
 @hirvi: 32mm bars and stems have a great potential to become the new standard then
  • 2 0
 @lkubica: I'm 100% metric, well, apart from drinking beer by the pint, but I prefer PSI for tyres, as you get more precision - 1.4 bar could be 21 or 20PSI, for example. My shock pump is probably only accurate to 5 PSI anyway (and the numbers are much bigger), so bar would be fine for that
  • 1 0
 @mountainsofsussex: What tire pump are you using then, is it digital? Otherwise I don't get how one unit could be more accurate than the other. These are two unit systems on the same dial. In my case (Topeak Joe Blow Duallie) up to 2bar it has lines every 1/20th bar or 1/2PSI. But it is analog, you can also end up with the dial between two lines if that's the sweet spot. To be honest I do indeed feel that all analog shock pumps have an incredibly coarse scale, probably because it seems nearly all of these manufacturers expect that their pumps should be useful for rear shocks too. I'd say there are quite a few out there who only run air suspension in the front hence would be better served by a narrower range manometer on a possibly larger volume shock pump. I'd be interested in one of these at least. It shouldn't make for a more expensive pump (compared to the digital alternative) and the market should be large enough for these.
  • 6 1
 Measurements in inches, but with decimal points is the way forward.
  • 1 0
 @lkubica: Ahahahaa.. same here. Never thought about it
  • 1 0
 @mountainsofsussex: beer by the pint….they changed that too from 600ml to 500ml, riddle me that?
  • 1 0
 @skiwenric: a UK pint has always been 568ml. Americans have smaller ones... Ahem. 473ml. Perhaps someone round your way has seen a way to save money by going from selling a "metric UK pint" to a 'metric US pint"?
  • 2 0
 @vinay: all of the track pumps I've ever had have had the PSI round the outside with bar inside, so it's already harder to read the bar, let alone try to subdivide the divisions
  • 1 0
 @mountainsofsussex: your numbers are right, I was just rounding it for simplicity, but there it is. Can’t see it changing, ever.
  • 10 0
 My favorite is that one end of a stem has a 31.8mm hole and the other comes in at 1 1/8”. It’s not even consistent across a single part.

I guess even better in the olden days with a 25.4mm handlebar clamp and a 1” steerer clamp. Which are, of course, exactly the same.
  • 1 0
 @feldybikes:
  • 7 0
 Why not take it up a notch and label our tires like on a car?
Width in **mm**
Height in **% or width**
Rim diameter in **inches**

Whoever came up with that deserves to be shot very hard.
  • 1 0
 @mtbwillems: Luddite :-D
  • 1 0
 @lkubica: I pump my MTB tyres in psi, but all other bikes in bars...
  • 84 0
 Parsecs
  • 57 0
 This guy laps the kessel run
  • 9 0
 @seb-stott: might the poll be flawed? Quarterpounder cheeseburgers are are a quasi-imperial measurement.
  • 19 0
 @DirtBagTim: Royal with cheese!
  • 9 0
 @DirtBagTim: unless it is a Royale with Cheese
  • 3 0
 @ReformedRoadie: "Royal"? That sounds like an Imperial thing to me lol
  • 1 0
 @taprider: yeah, that.
  • 2 22
flag Mtbdialed (Oct 20, 2023 at 12:57) (Below Threshold)
 @Stokedonthis: dumbest part of StarWars is when they use a unit of distance to measure time.....
  • 6 0
 Baguettes
  • 2 0
 @mattg95: un baguette Impérial ou baguette de Metric?
  • 3 0
 @ReformedRoadie: does he look, like a b*tch?
  • 1 0
 @ReformedRoadie: Excelent! I guess we could agree on Whopper, but not everybody goes to Burger King.
  • 2 0
 Royale avec fromage
  • 4 0
 My seattube diameter is 1 attoparsec. Doesn't sound too bad and it's accurate too.
  • 2 0
 @steviestokes: mtbdialed? No Probly not but he sure does sound like one. Leave it to Missis Wallace would you!
  • 2 0
 smoots
  • 5 0
 www.pinkbike.com/photo/25747765
  • 2 0
 @FredFreeRideGang: I have to say...there are more then 3 MILFS in Virginia...
  • 3 0
 @ReformedRoadie: measured according to what unit? Because 3 MILFS in 1 Virginia/4min radius might just work. Depending, of course, on light exposure and units of alcohol.
  • 84 1
 Kelvin's. Absolutely. There are no negatives with Kelvins.
  • 10 1
 This is the most underrated joke in this entire comment section.
  • 2 0
 There are not negatives with Rankine too. Best of Kelvin and Fahrenheit 8]
  • 30 0
 I froze myself to -273.15 °C.
My friends were worried
but I was 0K.
  • 3 0
 @bashhard:
So good :-)
  • 9 0
 @bashhard: You just went from hero to absolute zero.
  • 6 0
 the thread for the PB commentors who paid attention in chemistry class.
  • 2 0
 @bashhard: nice
  • 1 0
 @TopherJones93: Fahrenheit picked the freezing temp of alcohol for zero because he actually was a drunken bastard. Fact, not fiction.
  • 1 0
 @southoftheborder: I am pretty sure it was actually the freezing point of a brine solution. Ethanol freezing temp is something like -170 F or higher if mixed with water.
  • 1 0
 this guy has jokes.
  • 44 1
 The Metric system: exactly 1000x better than the Imperial system.
  • 7 23
flag Saidrick (Oct 20, 2023 at 12:38) (Below Threshold)
 Standard system is exactly 2.54 times better than metric…
  • 15 0
 @Saidrick: "standard" or IMPERIAL?
  • 1 1
 @jooose:

I measure in feet not hands…
  • 14 0
 In the intro the author failed to link volume, distance, and weight, because a cubic metre is 1000 litres which, if filled with water, weighs 1000 kilograms or 1 metric tonne. A litre of water is 1000 cubic centimetres or 10 cm cubed and weighs one kilo (at standard temperature and pressure).
  • 5 0
 If you really believed that, you'd have said it's kilobetter.
  • 3 0
 But, how is it compared to Freedom Units?
  • 6 0
 @sophisticatedhonky: about 3.142 eagles
  • 2 0
 @iamamodel: and I like that 10m of water column is 100kpa or 1 bar
  • 2 0
 @Saidrick: monkey feet, cat feet, rat feet, standard elephant feet, or imperial Bigfoot feet?
  • 2 0
 @iamamodel: and you forgot to link energy!
Joule, the energy required to power 1 watt for 1 second.
Also the energy required to move 1 kg in space for 1 second over 1 meter.
The metric system is almost magical!
  • 2 0
 @iamamodel: I think the calorie is also part of the metric system. The amount of heat required to raise the temperature of 1 gram( 1 cubic cm) of water by 1 degree c.
  • 1 0
 @uponcripplecreek: Yes. Nice one. Isn't that force a Newton?
  • 1 0
 @uponcripplecreek: You might want to read up on the laws this chap named Newton cooked up. He apparently said something about moving through space not requiring energy or something like that.
  • 1 0
 @iamamodel: actually I didn't get it exactly right as the second should be squared. But yes, that would be a Newton
  • 1 0
 @ak-77: meant acceleration, as in moving from a stop. And space or not males no difference, just faster typing than saying without friction, slope, wind etc.
  • 1 0
 @uponcripplecreek: Sorry to be the pedant here but in these matters precise formulation makes a difference. 1kg moving at 1m/s has a kinetic energy of 0.5 J.
I guess you wanted to say that a 1kg mass that experiences a 1N force for 1s is accelerated by 1m/s?
  • 2 0
 @Mac1987:

Doesn’t matter really, as long as they have 12 toes…
  • 36 5
 Pinkbike scraping the barrel for content
  • 39 0
 Is that a 200L barrel or a Hogshead barrel?
  • 9 0
 It is us creating content, this is a poll. Ye're callin' me a barrel?
  • 1 0
 Tbh I'm glad they're asking. I don't even bother doing the mental conversion from pounds to kilos anymore. My mind just makes it an x.
  • 4 0
 What about a tun, which is a barrel of 252 wine gallons, and weighs 1016 kilograms, which is long ton, and a bit more than a metric tonne (1000 kg), and a lot more than a short ton (907 kg).
  • 21 1
 Funny how as an American I have fully given up on any weight unit that isn't a pound. WTF is an ounce.
  • 84 1
 an ounce is about $200 up here in Maine for some GAS
  • 41 0
 Tha poll made me realize how weird it is that I think of bike weight in pounds but individual components in grams
  • 7 0
 @nfontanella: at 235 lbs and growing, and a homebody north of 40 years old, nothing in my life involves measurements in grams.
  • 3 0
 A metric pound is half a kg. A metric ounce is 100g. A Swedish mile is 10km. No need to give up, just to adapt.
  • 3 0
 4 fingers -or a lid
  • 2 0
 28g
  • 2 0
 @Ironchefjon: maine got the game on lock
  • 1 0
 @pargolf8: We don't have much going on, but we have cheap, legal weed and a lot of enthusiastic growers ! Can order an OZ to my door like a pizza.
  • 15 0
 I like to use a mess of both. Components are in g and bike weight in lbs. Bike measurements are mm but my own body measurements are inches and feet. My own weight, like my bike is in lbs. I'm constantly googling the conversions. As I am with Cad$ to US$/Euro/GBP.

I pretty much have a dedicated browser window for converting something to something.
  • 9 0
 "I pretty much have a dedicated browser window for converting something to something."

joshmadison.com/convert-for-windows
  • 4 0
 Yeah, us Canadians are weird with measurements. I act superior to Americans for this, but we're just a mash up of all measurements, depending if its short or long distance, high or low weight, etc.
  • 2 0
 @tvan5: canadians tend to get along with most people, maybe this is why!
  • 2 0
 @tvan5: it's the same in the UK, all over the place
  • 1 0
 @tvan5: u r right brother this country is rect
  • 3 0
 @R-M-R: Yup, been using Josh Madison's converter since the '90's, and here's another for more techy stuff.....

www.unitconverters.net
  • 26 10
 I have no issues at all with the metric system. However, I do have a big problem with how the brits incorrectly say "aluminum."
  • 17 4
 Your Yank scientists were using -ium in the 19th century along with everyone else so that's a bit rich , and besides, we invented the language.

(After reading up on the etymology it's actually much more nuanced than I thought, so fair play 'merica, you get an upvote from me)
  • 3 0
 Can you actually explain how to say ´aluminium ´?
  • 1 0
 @HankHank: a language is not "invented"
  • 8 0
 interesting stuff, both are correct

www.dictionary.com/e/aluminum-or-aluminium
  • 25 1
 ... and soon the US will also pronounce it Helum, Potassum, Lithum, Sodum ....
  • 6 0
 What about 'solder'? And it isn't even spelled differently.
  • 6 0
 @iamamodel: You are correct, colonel.
  • 2 0
 @mtbwillems: Uh-loo-min-um. We have made the extra i extinct.
  • 4 0
 Both ways are correct
  • 2 3
 I think the central goal of language is communication. I don't not know what aluminium is, and I know what aluminum is. So perhaps "right" just means understood, and anything beyond that is more about egos or nationalism than language.
  • 3 0
 It bugs me a little to hear the American pronunciation, but I can live with it. For me aluminium will always have 5 syllables.
  • 4 0
 @vhdh666: thanks, that's an interesting read. So a Brit invented it and popularized it, but now they make fun of Americans for using it? Haha, it sounds exactly like the "soccer vs football" issue. Soccer is a very Oxford British nickname for the sport (like rugger, fiver, etc) that was popular there for a long time, but once it caught on in the US they turned up their noses at the term to distance themselves from the uncultured Yanks. Fair play, I suppose
  • 3 0
 @showmethemountains: you're right, soccer vs football is a similar thing!

since they (the Brits) never "owned" the US like they did with a lot of other countries, they needed to distance themselves, LOL
  • 1 0
 Most UK sites still write "centre lock" when referring to Shimano's CenterLock rotors/hubs.
  • 3 0
 this joke is pretty tyred
  • 17 1
 Remember folk, you can love the metric system but every 10mm socket you use will be going on an Imperial ratchet!
  • 55 0
 Not true, every 10mm socket you use immediately gets lost as soon as you put it down.
  • 8 0
 @sweatyseagull: ^^ This Is universal truth on both sides of the pond. Big Grin
  • 3 0
 And if you're not using a socket but bits instead, they'll be a 1/4" hexagonal fit.
  • 3 0
 Not in Japan...
japan.webike.net/products/25900155.html
  • 2 0
 @sweatyseagull: I'd pay a schilling to get pound of 10mm in bulk.
  • 2 0
 @JamesR2026: damn that thing is sexy
  • 1 0
 @JamesR2026: Wowza, tool pron fo sho.
  • 11 1
 I need to know how much a used Nukeproof Megawatt appraises for in Schrute bucks and then I need the conversion rate for Schrute bucks to Moose bucks so I can get it listed on the Canadian market.
  • 4 0
 Okay Dwight, go back to tending your beets and burying your horse. We don't take kindly to your type round here.
  • 11 2
 It's 20/10/2023 (yes, that is the right way - yyyy/mm/dd is the alternative, but never mm/dd/yyyy) at 16:16 and there are 341 votes for the 1st poll and 337 for the 2nd. In the 1st, half the people have chosen pounds half kilograms (chesseburguers aside). In the 2nd, the vast majority is kilograms. Given the fact that this website is used mostly by americans, canadians and europeans, this poll by itself show that your standarts and measurments make no sense at all.
  • 29 1
 yyyy-mm-dd is the only logical way to represent Gregorian calendar dates. No slashes (which are escape characters in some environments) but still using a delimiter (for easy readability), and properly sortable even as a string rather than typed data. I'll die on that hill (and yes, I'm really fun at parties, why ever would you ask?).
  • 7 0
 @g-42: yyyy-mm-dd is perfect and the only way to go.
  • 3 0
 @g-42: I do like the Germans way of using a ‘.’ In dates. E.g. 21.10.2023
  • 1 0
 @dirtyburger: it makes sense in German, to ise the '.' because they use it otherwise too: for example 5. means 5th
  • 1 0
 @g-42: Are you a computer programmer? I agree year month day
  • 2 0
 @g-42: it's the ISO 8601 standard:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_8601
  • 10 1
 Planck units are the only non- arbitrary unit out there. An advanced alien civilization could derive them no problem because they are exclusively derived from universal constants. Comparatively, even metric is quite arbitrary- the base length is the distance light travels in 1/299,792,458th of a second in a vacuum? Time is 9,192,631,770 cesium atom vibrations? Real easy to remember those definitions there...
  • 6 0
 I haven't had a real cheeseburger in a while. Grabbing a bespoke one for lunch shortly. I agree with the Metric metrics except for air pressure. Americans use PSI - we're not animals!!!!!!
  • 1 0
 I believe the correct grammar is, and only when talking about this particular subject: "I HASNT had a real cheeseburger..."
  • 1 0
 @iamamodel: Hey! I'll have you know can buy a precious $50 artisanal bespoke cheeseburger 1 block from where I sit typing this.I don't see any meat pies and vegemite, however.
  • 3 0
 @iamamodel: No, it's "I can't haz cheesburger"
  • 1 0
 @suspended-flesh: the shop near where I once lived years ago in Berkley CA started making burgers. They also sold groceries and I was able to find sliced beetroot in a can and asked them to add it to mine. Just like a taste of home.
  • 2 0
 @iamamodel: Hmm, interesting, but never been a fan of walkin these streets, rockin these beets.
  • 6 0
 im american but i work in engineering in the bike world so i use metric all the time and i switched my weather app to Celsius partly to get familiar with it but also to annoy my friends who dont want to convert to metric.
  • 5 3
 This is the one that I don't buy. Of the common temperature scales, Celsius is most useful when talking about water molecules, Kelvin is most useful when talking about physics and chemistry, and Fahrenheit is most useful when talking about human environments.
  • 1 0
 @sspiff: could you please provide some argument to base this assertion?
  • 2 0
 @southoftheborder: Celsius isn't granular enough without using fractions of degrees. If I can feel the difference between 73 and 74 deg F I don't want to use the Celsius equivalent when it would round to 23 for both.
  • 6 0
 Both metric and imperial are new age hippy standards. Bike sizing should be in hands and rides should be in furlongs. But really. Metric.
  • 5 0
 Hands and furlongs are imperial units

(I'm sorry, pedantry is a sickness)
  • 2 0
 I like a 56.1 barley corn reach.
  • 1 0
 I hated when my ex wife decided to explain to me that horses were measured in hands. WTF Made a little worse when she gifted me a horse...
  • 3 0
 @boozed: Got me! But proved how ridiculous imperial units are.
  • 4 0
 Because of Canada's close proximity to USA we're still multi-units, having to be fluent in both imperial and metric. Height and weight and tire pressures all imperial. Engineering and work related items metric, except when working with USA-made parts. Speed and distances metric. Lumber is obviously still imperial.
  • 7 0
 Anytime "cheeseburger" is an option, you gotta' choose the cheeseburger.
  • 5 2
 I’m used to geometry being measured in metric I’m used to the weight of my bike in pounds, components more in grams than kilograms. It’s the bike world, that’s how it is. But everything else in my world, it’s Imperial all the way. Thirty-five degrees should not mean it’s hot outside.
  • 3 0
 Bike stuff makes this USian more impressive to my Euro colleagues at work. Some US guy says "this weighs a pound". I turn to my confused Euro colleagues and say, "Sorry mates, this dope is trying to say 454 grams".

20+ years of biking, and this,. plus a few pedal scars on my shins are all I really have to show for it.
  • 3 0
 The fact that Cheeseburger wasn't a significant part of any poll, let alone the most-voted option on at least one poll. shows how prissy the average person on here is. In fact, y'all are so uptight that it wasn't even 10% of the vote on any given poll.

It really explains the comment section experience, and how some people take themselves and their delusions of expertise far too serious.
  • 3 1
 Honestly everything in metric except:

Weight which is pounds.
A persons height equals feet and and inches.
While building you use a 2x4 cut to 10 feet eight inches for example. If someone at a construction site said they need a
2x4 cut to 1123mm's they would be asked to leave.
  • 6 0
 But then a 2X4 is not 2 inches by 4 inches to begin with.
  • 2 0
 @chrsei: And our "1 inch by 3 inches by 8 feet" finished boards are actually only 3/4 inches by 2 1/5 inches by 8 feet. You usually only have 1 measurement that's correct in wood working, unless it's plywood sheets. Weird.
  • 2 0
 Pently of construction plans are given in metric in Canada.

Both site drawings and shop/fabrication drawings.
  • 1 0
 Yeah, make that 2x4 5’ 4” and a heavy 3/16
  • 5 0
 I want metric time too. metric-time.com Give me metric everything.
  • 1 0
 would be life changing
  • 1 0
 Whoa
  • 2 0
 I go metric whenever possible. Grocery store scales are still oz. and Lbs, so.
I’ve done a lot of construction work in the US, and the imperial system is just a hinderance. Always converting from fractions to decimals and back.
As a kid in the ‘70’s, and they were trying to brainwash us to the metric system. I wish it worked..
  • 2 0
 As someone from the US who has worked as an engineer for decades, then in brewing (with engineering side-work) for another 15+ years, I've gotten pretty good at working with both Metric and Fraction Freedom Units. In most cases I have no problem mentally switching between the two. The only ones that still mess me up are:

1. C/F temperatures. At 100C and above I'm fine, because no one does high temperature science in Fahrenheit. It just that I'm really vague when it comes to ambient temps. Somewhere around 27-29C it goes from "warm" to "hot"?

2. PSI vs BAR. BAR makes sense as a unit, but as someone who has designed and built both positive pressure and vacuum chambers using only PSI math, and never really considered working in BAR fairly recently, I still need a calculator to do the conversion.

The US "Standard" units suck.
  • 5 0
 The imperial mass unit is the slug.
  • 6 0
 Pick a unit and...
  • 17 0
 Do you measure your unit in mm or inches?
  • 4 0
 Ah c'mon, stop picking your unit here in public space.
  • 1 0
 @Ironchefjon: B.A.D.A.I
  • 4 1
 Metric for everything. There's not a single scenario where Imperial makes more sense. I say this as an engineer working at an aerospace company that works in imperial.
  • 3 0
 I'd say it isn't too odd to measure horizontal (walking) distances in feet. Yet funny enough (in your industry at least) horizontal distances are measured in nautical miles (regardless whether you fly over land or sea) and altitude is measured in feet. Never got that last bit. Seems like a bitch to put in practice if you're actually using your feet.
  • 2 0
 @vinay: apparently in china they use metres for altitude! But yeah, blew my mind that altitude is in feet for aero folk
  • 1 0
 Learning what worked for me was reading MTB Action in the 1900's. All in millimeters. I knew what felt right. Then one day, they switched to inches. WTF? I had no idea what 17 inch chainstays and an ETT of 22.5 inches meant. They've since switched back and all is well. So, for me, mm's are the ticket. Also, mph. Doing the math in my head for kph drives me nuts.
  • 1 0
 Exactly this, the entrenchment comes from having experience connected with the number. At a certain point it’s just hard to recalibrate. So while I know that 24hr time makes way more sense, I still need to subtract 12 from the number if it’s after noon to connect it to some feeling of ‘time’.
  • 3 0
 Imperial IS metric, just in percentages. Let me explain:
70°F is 70% hot. 100°F is 100% hot.
If you’re going 100mph, you’re 100% going fast.
  • 1 0
 Except 100° is only bordering hot. It was over that in my bike commute home, and that wasn't hot.

And my motorcycle does 90 in first gear, so 100 is a chill cruising speed if you aren't paying attention.
  • 1 0
 Engineers still work in mixed units for so many designs.
Interestingly for mmol, often mg/dl are converted into mmol for representation to save rounding error.
PCBs share metric and imperial as old parts are imperial, it's also nicer to route with 5th or 6th tracks, the 10,12 for power than the mm equivalent. A 0.1" header is still a 0.1" header for a test board but a display might be metric and imperial for different dimensions, the mountains and FPC imperial.
The joys of migrating systems is the legacy dimensions and products may be around for a long time before they phase out.
  • 1 0
 All I'll say, is that The Smaller The Increment Of The Measuring System, The More ACCURACY It's Usage Will Provide... >.> ...mm provides more accuracy than cm - Fahrenheit provides more accuracy than Celsius - grams more than pounds ETC...
  • 1 0
 Can we please use Pa (Pascal) for pressures!? psi is weird by definition (two measurements made by people who married their cousins multiplied does not make it better - not mathematically nor genetically...). bar is old and is not part of the SI-system (don't even start with atm). Pa is well defined and you can use the classic prefixes for units.

But yes, i personally use bar more often because people can judge a bar better than a Pascal (thank god for temperature it's Kelvin, not Kevin... you can't trust a Kevin)
  • 1 0
 I'm glad I wasn't involved.lol. Cool, @suspended-flesh We have more in common than differences. My tightest connection to the scene at the time was a guy with the intitials SC. An SF legend who passed in '04. Very unique guy, universally loved by everyone (not cops). We raced as teammates and won the '96 AFM Endurance race overall catagory together on a clapped out CBR600. He is a F'n Legend.
  • 1 0
 Look at how Santa Cruz adds their bike specs, every model they switch ie tallboy headset, even if they list in metric they do it differently. Why? So we think itts a different sttandard from the previous model and innovation? Look at the shock. One model in inches, the next in metric... stick one or the other!
  • 3 0
 The amount of people opting for cheese burger is scarily consistant!! i like it!!
  • 1 0
 but metric or imperial cheese burger? 1/4lb McD's or 180g dirty burger at middle lift on super morzine Smile
  • 2 0
 @bat-fastard: I prefer the royale
  • 1 0
 Given this is Pinkbike, I would have thought Tim Horton's Donuts would be a more appropriate UoM...
  • 6 2
 metric metric metric....not even up for debate!!
  • 7 0
 And yet, here you are…
  • 4 0
 Poll is majorly flawed. Third option should be doughnuts.
  • 1 0
 Nah, not with Levy missing
  • 3 0
 All you people in denial about not weighing your bikes in cheeseburgers should be banned.
  • 1 0
 
  • 2 1
 metric, dates reading "DD/MM/YYYY" & driving on the right hand side are all Human correct, Simple & using dominate body sides just makes sense.
Bar/PSI are both international standards and people understand them.
  • 4 0
 Pascal is the international standard unit of pressure. When we use bar for pressure we should use barg which is the pressure above atmospheric. When our gauges read zero it is actually about 1 bar due to atmospheric pressure.
  • 3 0
 SRAM did amazing job introducing metric sizing and removing inch sizing of shocks and mm sizing of forks
  • 5 1
 But they'll never be forgiven for GripShift.
  • 2 0
 Born and raised on imperial. It makes sense to me. My Dad knows what I'm talking about when we talking numbers. I'm sticking with it.
  • 1 1
 I know that I like riding bikes with a reach measuring around 49-something millimeters. I have no concept of how long 49-something millimeters is. I can not name a single thing in my surroundings which also measures approximately 49-something millimeters.
  • 2 0
 I’m an American but I work in healthcare where we only use the metric system and yeah it makes way more sense than imperial.
  • 3 0
 I completely tap out when I see weights in lbs, I have no idea how that relates in kg
  • 2 0
 "In metric, there are 1,000 litres in a cubic meter. In imperial, there are 6.22884 gallons in a cubic foot (or 7.48052 US gallons)."

Cubic Metre*
  • 1 0
 At the very least specify both when giving specs on products or whatever the topic be, then everyone regardless can at least make sence of such, I'm not always bilingual so it would help me.
  • 1 0
 I'm forced by law to live in Hayes Valley. Nice but homeless take a shit in my planters out front or rip out the plants I put in and sell them at the farmer's market on the weekend. Sweet.
  • 6 2
 Freedom units!
  • 3 0
 North America is slowly accepting the Metric system inch by inch.
  • 2 0
 Why would anyone use a system that requires changing into a decimal before entering into a computer in 2023 confuses me.
  • 1 0
 The bike industry is perpetuating the use of both standards with their 29er, 26er silly talk and 2 point Whatever tire sizes. Not to mention the head tube sizes, etc
  • 3 0
 For a moment there I thought there was another standard....
  • 4 0
 im hungry now
  • 8 4
 Where's Levy?!?!
  • 2 1
 Metric , of course, makes all the sense. Having lived in the USA for almost 30 years though I've been brainwashed to look for bike weights in pounds etc.
  • 5 0
 Yeah bike weight in lbs but components in grams for some stupid reason.
  • 1 0
 Length measurement are good math practice, though: "Yeah I have 1 and a quarter inch, no wait, it's just a sixteenth more- did you get that down?"
  • 1 0
 rim width in mm tho, it is all mixed up and non unified, I believe weight country based however tire's all in inches of width
  • 2 0
 @nickmalysh: Check out the Surly ExtraTerrestrial tire--they offer it in "26 x 46". It makes me so angry.
  • 1 0
 @barp: imagine instead of i’m riding 29’r u d say i’m riding 622’r
  • 3 0
 I will gladly pay you Tuesday. For a cheeseburger today
  • 3 0
 See you next Tuesday.....
  • 2 0
 @truenorthsimon: whats a SYNT?
  • 3 0
 Seb is always right. I like him.
  • 3 0
 Measuring your bike in pounds but components in kg. You cant make this up.
  • 3 0
 After watching the video, there are only 5 correct answers
  • 2 0
 There really ought to be an option for "this is what I'm most familiar with but would prefer if we all switched to metric".
  • 2 0
 So does that mean that the Adjustable Wrench is just the bastard child of imperial and metric units?
  • 3 2
 Don't try to make sense of it. This is the way:

Bike weight: pounds
Component weight: metric
Tire/Air pressure: PSI
Geometry: metric
  • 2 0
 Obviously... real measurement for everything should be in bananas. This pole is ridiculous.... lol
  • 2 0
 Americans measuring their bike weight in pounds, their fork weight in kilogram and see no problem with that.
  • 3 0
 I want the Garmin watch to measure calories in cheeseburgers. And/or beer.
  • 2 0
 I measure my caloric output with cheeseburgers and cans of coke!
  • 2 0
 here to advocate more widespread use of the BEU (Busch Equivalent Unit) whenever referencing how many "drinks" something is
  • 2 0
 I have an browser addon to Strava that allow that. And glasses of wine, pina coladas, pizza slices, tacos, cups of broccoli, fry orders, cookies, chili peppers, carrots, bananas, und so weiter...
  • 3 0
 2.1 bar in my Minions just doesn’t sound as good
  • 3 0
 Really scraping the bottom here guys hahahaha
  • 1 0
 The only things left from the Empire are these backwards measure units and the Empire biscuits. In addition, in Scotland we use the 'bawhair' as a length measume unit.
  • 2 0
 I prefer metric, but I am certainly more used to imperial for certain measurements. I wish I measured everything in metric.
  • 2 0
 A "tonne"? What nonstandard nonsense is this! I think you mean a "megagram".
  • 1 0
 FYI if you go to shopping for a TV in Europe you’ll find the screen is advertised in inches not cm.

Euros know for the really important things in life stick to imperial.
  • 2 0
 Fluent in both metric and imperial so have no preference. So cheeseburger it is.
  • 1 0
 25.4mm to an inch. There done. I'd rather use metric. It's a pain to convert between. It's not hard to change to a base10 system. It makes more sense.
  • 1 0
 Roadies talk about bar width in centimetres but we use millimetres, that’s weird isn’t it?

Also, imperial is fuggin stupid.
  • 1 1
 This is an idiotic poll - you basically have to use whatever the bike industry has chosen to mostly use for any particular measurement - 2.5 " tires, 40mm stems, 120mm of suspension travel and a 30lb bike
whatever!
  • 1 0
 Everything in bike suspension is a bastard mix of metric and imperial. I'm so used to it I do it myself. I even use imperial for spring-rates and metric for damper-rates.
  • 1 0
 With the ability to convert any unit of measure right there on my phone, I don’t care what unit of measure is used anymore. This poll is now deemed moot
  • 2 0
 If you can't instantly convert from metric to imperial and visa versa, do you even ride or work on bikes?
  • 2 0
 time to fire up the grill
  • 2 0
 UK designed frames should measure geometry in Horses Hands.
  • 1 0
 And weigh in stones!
  • 2 0
 There no reason for the imperial BS. Metric all the way.
  • 2 0
 The only place imperial makes sense to me is pressure.
  • 3 2
 How come? I'm baffled by all the metric fans still apparently picking psi for pressures. I'm happy to mix and match unit systems, but I pick bar for pressures.

Bummed they didn't ask about angles (which appears the main geometry number people seem to be discussing in the comment section). Radians would be very metric, gradians is still slightly closer to metric yet degrees seems to be the common way to go. Just because there are 360 days in a year...
  • 4 0
 @vinay: Bar is too coarse for suspension (1 PSI = 0.068948 Bar). That is the only reason. Pascal would work as well but does not buy you anything.
For tire pressure Bar is fine.
  • 2 1
 @2pi: Some would argue kg would be too coarse for weight too. Funny enough the pressure in my tires is much lower than in my fork so 5bar is fine enough in my fork but with tire pressure I'm down to 1/20th of a bar as that's how accurate the scale of my pump goes (as long as you stay below 2bar). Either way, the metric and imperial scale are both on the same dial so one isn't more accurate than the other.
  • 3 0
 @vinay: 365…
  • 1 0
 @2pi: As an avid 4X4 Broverlander, tire air pressure is adjusted often and will never, ever, be discussed in Bar in the USA. You'd get kicked off the trail.
  • 1 0
 @2pi: This is why we have decimals, no? If you insist on whole numbers decibars or centibars could do the trick but IMO that is dumb.
  • 2 0
 @loosegoat: What, 365degrees make a full circle?
  • 1 0
 Alright, I did a wee bit of research and if radians are impractical, the gradian (or gon) is the way to go for metric purists. After all, the metre has initially been derived from the gon (and the size of the Earth) and metric purists seem to love how everything interrelates.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gradian
  • 2 0
 @vinay: I measure tyre pressure in Bar (grew up and still live in metric using country) and shock pressure in PSI (brainwashed by the bike industry)
  • 1 0
 @vhdh666:

10 PSI in Bar is 0.689476
35 PSI in Bar is 2.41317

Those are common 4X4 tire air-down and air-up numbers. The choice is clear
  • 1 1
 @suspended-flesh: yes sure, it's clear, you use bar because for tyres you use bar LOL
  • 2 0
 Same for me as an European Pressure in PSI is much easier to remember usually being round digits for a shock or a tire
  • 3 0
 kips and slugs crowd wya
  • 2 0
 Why no option for the FFF system? (furlong / firkin / fortnight)
  • 2 0
 Depends if you're measuring length or girth.
  • 2 0
 BMX geometry in inches, MTB in mm
  • 2 1
 Metric tires.........no thanks.

Everything else though. Yes.

Except PSI. The f*ck is a bar anyway?
  • 3 0
 I think its pretty much the same as a pub?
  • 4 0
 @IsaacWislon82: which begs the question that should have been asked: pints or litres?
  • 3 0
 I like the Etrto numbers personally, I could totally get used to replacing 2.0-2.5” with 50-63mm
  • 1 0
 @fewnofrwgijn: now I think of it. I actually use metric for road/gravel tires. But imperial for proper bikes.
  • 1 1
 1 bar is roughly atmospheric pressure. Very nice and intuitive unit.
  • 3 1
 Are we talking 1/4 pound cheeseburgers or the smaller 1/3 pound ones?
  • 2 0
 People still use imperial units to measure bike gear??
  • 1 0
 It weighs about as much as a Royale avec fromage. Chainstay? Royale avec fromage. Etc. Etc. Etc. Yall are nerds.
  • 2 1
 I don’t get the uk the claim to use metric system but wtf is the stones crap
  • 1 1
 What a weird poll. You use Imperial if you're in the US and metric elsewhere. Are you trying to figure out what percentage of your users are in the US?
  • 5 0
 I see you have never travelled to Canada
  • 1 1
 @gnarnaimo: OK, then modify my statement: North America vs. (Earth minus NA). Point remains - why ask when it essentially boils down to a question of where you're from?
  • 3 0
 @WaterBear: ..but in Canada we also use metric. It's a little weird up here, a little inconsistent
  • 1 0
 Anyone else use a shit ton as a measurement for anything that’s more than normal?
  • 1 0
 I knew I wasn't the only person who uses cheeseburgers as a form of measurement.
  • 2 0
 I voted metric for everything, as I am a true American hypocrite.
  • 1 0
 For some reason (that I can’t put my finger on) I really want a cheeseburger.
  • 1 0
 Wait till you start working in the piping industry and an inch isn't even an inch anymore..
  • 1 0
 Do youse Yanks have all our 10mm sockets, and we've got bulk over supply of useless "1/4" sockets we can swap....?
  • 2 0
 You forgot to mention that times should be given in a 24hr-format
  • 2 0
 The Metric System it's much more superior !
  • 1 0
 I use psi for shock pressure and bar for tire, cheeseburgers for geometry though
  • 1 0
 Scientific research at its finest. You guys really know how to put together a verifiable peer reviewable piece of work.
  • 1 0
 Metric. Chainstay length in inches.
  • 2 1
 Freedom units FTW! WTF is a kilometer
  • 1 0
 What about the 'Midge Baw Hair' as a unit of mesurment?
  • 1 0
 I could go for a cheese burger
  • 2 0
 I'd happily measure my bike in cheeseburger as long as it is vegan, gluten free, fairtrade, half a foot long, weights one exact lbs.
  • 1 0
 Came here for the cheeseburger comment’s
  • 3 0
 Can I get some extra apostrophe on it?
  • 1 0
 @suspended-flesh: BK all day!!
  • 1 0
 What is British motorcycle standard?
  • 1 0
 Great. Now I'm hungry for cheeseburgers.
  • 2 0
 French calls it Royale with Cheese.
  • 3 1
 The USA and Libya
  • 2 0
 I think you might be confusing Libya with Liberia.
  • 1 0
 Pinkbike Poll: Click vs Bait - Which Do You Prefer For Eng/raging Pinkers?
  • 1 0
 Poll should be in Big Kahuna burgers, not cheeseburgers.
  • 1 0
 Royal with cheese is my preferred measurement
  • 1 0
 Measuring in pounds should've been referred to as the freedom standard
  • 2 0
 I love lamp
  • 1 0
 My bike weights 80 cheeseburgers and I don't care
  • 1 0
 Metric rules but I can and do use both measurements.
  • 2 1
 I measure my dangus in metric because it makes it seem bigger.
  • 2 0
 which makes me longer?
  • 2 1
 Pick a system & be a d*ck about it.
  • 3 1
 I might start using metric to measure my junk, just so the numbers are bigger.
  • 1 0
 STONE wasn't in the list..
  • 1 0
 Hamburger is the best option I’ve ever seen on a poll
  • 1 0
 ASME Y14. That's how the people designing them are probably measuring them
  • 1 0
 kg/cm^2 is just wrong for measuring pressure!
  • 1 0
 Just have both metric and imperial listed. Both have pros and cons.
  • 1 0
 Turds are best measured in mm and kg and lbs
  • 1 0
 piece and love..same thing
  • 1 0
 5ml per gallon like my nutes.
  • 1 0
 please, no more industry changes
  • 1 0
 I measure tire pressure in bar, and shock & fork pressure in psi…
  • 1 0
 Some even keep to three decimal places rather than using a interger
  • 1 0
 Whew…..I need more Popcorn for this one.
  • 1 0
 Mixed units ftw. It's always fun asking for a 2.4m length of 4x2.
  • 1 0
 And then it’s not even actually 4x2
  • 2 0
 @nastynate711: You can judge the quality, not just by the bow in the length - but by how much bigger than 45mm/90mm the dims are. "ooh, is that bit of 4x2 actually 48mm by 95mm?! That's a keeper!"
  • 1 0
 that tape measurer is way too long
  • 1 1
 Thats what she said
  • 1 0
 Metric is nice cause things sound longer.
  • 1 0
 How is this still a topic?
  • 2 0
 "if it fits, i sits"
  • 2 0
 Bring back the sinkhole
  • 1 0
 Pick one and be a dick about about it
  • 1 0
 I wished we used metric time
  • 1 0
 Imperial is sooooo last Friday Smile
  • 1 0
 My bike gets 300 hectares on a single tank of kerosene.
  • 1 0
 Unwilling to advance online junk, I'm out.
  • 1 0
 The metric system is great… except Celsius, that shit’s whack.
  • 1 0
 Nah. -4 just doesn't sound cold at all. And no way am I scraping ice off the windshield when 32 degrees!
  • 1 0
 It really makes no difference. A measurement is a measurement.
  • 1 0
 Here for the comments and they did not disappoint.
  • 1 0
 Fanciullo the imperial
  • 4 4
 USA is backward 3 world country for using imperial
  • 6 1
 If you really have a 90 Hilux I forgive you.
  • 2 2
 Freedom units you commies!
  • 4 0
 That's why they use them in Myanmar
  • 1 1
 I have 12 inches but don't generally use it as a rule
  • 1 0
 metric system
  • 1 2
 If God had wanted us to use the metric system, He would have given us 10 disciples.
  • 1 0
 I love cheeseburgers
  • 4 4
 Wtf is a kilometer?
  • 4 1
 1000 Meters.
  • 4 4
 @suspended-flesh:

-------> The joke
~
~
~
-------> Your head
  • 8 0
 @ghill28: I'm just here to provide timely answers to questions.
  • 2 0
 Hella far if it's uphill and yer fat.
  • 1 1
 @suspended-flesh:
Why does SF suck so bad?
  • 2 2
 @FUbob: Part of it was trying to get by with a crew of non-superstar players being platooned all season without a stable lineup. Kapler wasn't really the problem. Had they squeaked into the playoffs this year they would have been eaten alive. What does suck is that majority owner, Mr Johnson, is a Floridian Trumpanzee.
  • 2 4
 @suspended-flesh:
SF has bigger problems than stick n ball sports. Perhaps London Broil can take some advise from Fl and Trumpanzees on how to keep human feces off her sidewalks.
  • 2 4
 @FUbob: Who gives a fvck? You don't even live here. We're good. I don't know why you care - stay away and shut yer yap. It's spelled #advice BTW.
  • 3 2
 @suspended-flesh:
There lies the problem,, I give a fvck! Lived in and worked around SF for my 50 plus years. Grandpa was on the GG Bridge construction crew. I'm solid with roots and we don't like what we're seeing.You are an example. Shame.
  • 1 1
 @FUbob: Fair enough. I'm sick of the Fox News troll-bots clutching their pearls and yelling about 'Liberal Feces Everywhere!!' No version of the current style of US government is going to fix what is going on in the top 20 'red' AND 'blue' cities in America. This is wealth-disparity capitalism at work. I've lived and worked and voted here for 35+ years and the City is great. I am working towards change in a Gov job and also working 16 hour polling place shifts (while voting for neither of the 2 mainstream parties' candidates). The goal for most people is to make enough money so that they can move to a community where the world's problems no longer affect them while doing zero to help anyone else. That's who I don't give a fvck about. My initial reply about the Giants was obviously joke to fvck with you because you sounded like another right wing Anti SF troll.
  • 2 1
 @suspended-flesh:

"the city is great" bla, bla.. Damn.
  • 1 1
 @FUbob: As expected - nothing to say. Back to toll-collecting at whatever bridge you live under in PV, Los Altos or wherever. See you at Buck's for brunch.
  • 3 1
 @suspended-flesh:
Not surprised. You exposed yourself properly, Puto.Thanks.Despreartion brings bridges that don't exist. Doubt I'll see you at Bucks, never been.
  • 3 0
 @suspended-flesh:
If I recall correctly, you didn't qualify for the gov handout during covid because your income was over 200k. So yeah, preach on, brother. You'll most likely find me at Zeitgeist.
  • 1 2
 @FUbob: I'm married, so yeah we make over 200k. That's minimum wage nowadays. My friends lived above Zeitgeist when Tennessee was the manager in the late 80s. I live 4 blocks from there and it's been overrun by kooks.
  • 1 2
 @FUbob: #rentcontrol
  • 2 0
 @suspended-flesh:
I first started hanging at Zeitgeist with my Moto messenger friends (Lightning Express) in the early 90's. I've been in the Moto industry for 30 years. I still go sometimes... they're kooks everywere.
  • 2 0
 @FUbob: Let's quash this beef.
  • 2 0
 @suspended-flesh: All good.
  • 2 0
 @FUbob: BTW I have friends who rode for Lightning when they used bikes.I don't know if motos frequented Harvey's Place (the SOMA market/cafe that cashed bike messenger's checks and gave them credit when no one else would), but Harvey finally passed away and there was a wake for him at South Park the other day. My coworker and former Messlifer went and as he was leaving a big fight was breaking out among the crusty old messengers who came out of the woodwork. LOL
  • 2 0
 @suspended-flesh: Cool man.. we have more in common than differences. Not sure why, but had some comments deleted. Gist is my main connection and friend/teammate was SC, an SF legend. We won AFM races together. Universally loved guy (outside of the SFPD). Awesome times and RIP SC (2004). You are a legend..
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