# Public Profiles & Sharing Your Bikes

WatchMy.bike lets you create a public profile to showcase your bikes. Share your builds with friends, the cycling community, or potential buyers.

## Enabling Your Public Profile

Public profiles are available on **Alloy** and **Carbon** plans.

### Step 1: Set Up Your Username
1. Go to **Settings > Profile**
2. Choose a unique username (lowercase, alphanumeric, hyphens allowed)
3. This becomes your profile URL: `watchmy.bike/p/yourusername`

### Step 2: Enable Public Profile
1. In Profile settings, toggle "Public Profile" to on
2. Your profile page is now accessible to anyone

### Step 3: Add Profile Details (Optional)
- Display name
- Bio/description
- Location
- Social links

## Making Bikes Public

By default, bikes are private. To make a bike public:

1. Go to the bike's detail page
2. Click "Edit"
3. Toggle "Make Public" to on
4. Choose what to show:
   - Photos (always visible if public)
   - Components (recommended)
   - Distance (optional)
   - Purchase price (optional - usually keep private)
5. Save changes

Each bike gets its own public URL: `watchmy.bike/p/yourusername/bike-slug`

## Privacy Controls

### What's Always Hidden
- Your email address
- Personal settings
- Activity details (only totals shown)
- Service history notes

### Configurable Visibility
For each public bike, you control:
- **Distance**: Show total km/miles or hide
- **Components**: Show full component list or hide
- **Prices**: Show purchase prices or hide (hidden by default)
- **Photos**: Show photos or hide (at least one required for public bikes)

### Profile-Level Settings
- Enable/disable entire public profile
- Show/hide from public bike directory
- Display name vs username preference

## The Bike Directory

WatchMy.bike has a public directory at `watchmy.bike/p/directory` where users can browse public bikes.

### Opting In to the Directory
1. Go to your bike's settings
2. Enable "Show in Directory"
3. Your bike appears in the browsable gallery

### Directory Benefits
- More exposure for your builds
- Connect with other enthusiasts
- Showcase unique or custom bikes

You can have a public profile but keep bikes out of the directory if you only want to share via direct links.

## Sharing Your Profile

### Direct Links
- Profile: `watchmy.bike/p/yourusername`
- Individual bike: `watchmy.bike/p/yourusername/bike-name`

### Social Sharing
Public pages include:
- Open Graph meta tags (preview images on Facebook, etc.)
- Twitter Card support
- JSON-LD structured data for search engines

### QR Codes
Generate a QR code for your profile or individual bikes to share at events, on business cards, or at bike shows.

## What Visitors See

### On Your Profile Page
- Your display name and bio
- Total number of public bikes
- Grid of public bike cards with photos
- Links to individual bike pages

### On Individual Bike Pages
- Bike photos (gallery if multiple)
- Make, model, year, type
- Full component list (if enabled)
- Total distance (if enabled)
- Links to your other public bikes

## Use Cases for Public Profiles

### Showcase Your Collection
Perfect for N+1 enthusiasts who want to document and share their stable.

### Sell Your Bike
Create a detailed public page showing specs, components, and condition. Share the link with potential buyers.

### Custom Builders
Document your custom builds with detailed component specs. Great for portfolios.

### Bike Shops
Create pages for inventory, demo bikes, or featured builds.

### Group Rides
Share your profile with riding partners so they can see what you ride.

## SEO & Discoverability

Public bike pages are:
- Indexed by search engines
- Optimized with proper meta tags
- Structured with JSON-LD for rich results

If you have a unique or popular bike, people searching for it might find your page.

## Tips for Great Public Profiles

1. **Quality Photos**: Well-lit, clean bikes photograph better
2. **Complete Specs**: Add all components for comprehensive builds
3. **Multiple Angles**: Use all available photo slots
4. **Descriptive Notes**: Add context about your builds
5. **Keep Updated**: Remove sold bikes, update component changes

## Disabling Public Access

### Hide a Single Bike
1. Go to bike settings
2. Toggle "Make Public" off
3. The bike is now private

### Disable Your Profile
1. Go to **Settings > Profile**
2. Toggle "Public Profile" off
3. All your bikes become private
4. Your profile URL returns a 404

Your data remains intact; only public visibility changes.