Bike Fit - It IS all they say

So I have been trying to match the geometry of my Seven on my other bikes. My Seven fits me like it was made for me (sly wink). There are all kinds of methods for measuring bike geometry. I thought I would key off of the bottom bracket (BB) since that is something I can’t adjust. Starting from the BB I take the measurements straight through the seatpost to the top of the saddle. This is Dimension A on my little chart. Then I figure out how far my saddle is setback from the center of the BB. I would use a plumb line, but the easier method is to put the front wheel against the garage door and measure the distance from the nose of the saddle to the wall and then the center of the BB to the wall and subtract the two. This gives you dimension B on the chart. Then take a measurement from the nose of the saddle to the center line of the handlebar. This is dimension C. Then figure how much lower or higher the bars are relative to the saddle. I use the simple method of measuring both heights from the ground and taking the difference. This is dimension D in the illustration.

Assuming you have a bike that fits well, you can get your other bikes to match, or if you are traveling, it gives you the ability to set up a strange bike with a minimum of hassle.

I measured out and changed the stems on my other bikes. I added a centimeter to my stem length on the steel Jamis and used an old Newton stem I had in my garage. Here is a photo of the new set up.