Category Attributes
This website currently implements six different types of attributes: Value, Values, Boolean, Category, Location and Range.
Category Type
Category attributes describe a characteristic that can have a limited number of possible values. For example, the material used to make the frame (Frame Material) can be one of "aluminum", "steel", "carbon fiber", etc.
See also: Boolean Attributes, Range Attributes, Location Attributes, String Attributes, Value Attributes, and Values Attributes.
Category Attributes
The current category attributes are:
Unit of Measure
Category attributes do NOT have an associated unit of measure.
Search Criteria
When a category attribute is used as a search criteria, you can select the category values that you want to consider. For example, for frame material if you select "aluminum" then bikes with frames made from other materials will be excluded. You can select more than one value, such as "aluminum" and "carbon fiber" and frame made from either material will be retained and the others excluded.
Missing Attributes
We want to have a value in our database for every attribute for every bike model and frame size but in some cases that information is not provided by the manufacturer or other sources. In that case the attribute does not have a value which we refer to as missing. Missing is not an attribute type, but rather a possible value for any attribute.
Search Criteria
Most attributes are missing values for at least some bikes. When you add a search criteria for an attribute that has some missing values, the percentage of missing values is displayed and you are given the choice of including bikes where that value is missing or excluding them. If the percentage of missing values is low then the choice will not have much impact either way. If the percentage is high, however, you may want to select the "missing" option to include bikes that are missing that attribute.