We make sure our fitters have great bike tools & equipment – tools that help them communicate with riders as effectively and efficiently as possible. Below is an outline of some of the key fit tools we use in a Fit Werx fitting.
Professional Bike Fitters
The most important “fitting equipment” we have, and the one that you won’t find anywhere else, are our staff of experienced and trained career bike fitters. Widely regarded as industry experts and with many thousands of fittings performed, they have the knowledge and experience technology alone can not match.
Purely Custom Size Cycle
An adjustable size cycle is the mainstay of almost any quality bike fitting as it allows the fitter to fit the rider without the constraints or inconveniences of an existing bicycle getting in the way of the process. While there are a number of quality size cycles on the market now, we selected the Purely Custom’s Size Cycle as it bridges the benefits of a manual unit with those of a fully automated unit quite well. Our Purely Custom Size Cycles are specially made for Fit Werx and include belt drive and a CompuTrainer spin analysis unit as well as adjustable sizing cranks.
We have always known that the most important part of a quality bike fitting is the fitter, not the tools and some of the fully automated systems try to allow a bike fitting to be put on ‘auto pilot’. Bike fitting is a human process; part science and part craft with a crucial communications element. There is nothing about a bike fitting that should be on ‘auto pilot’. The Purely Custom Size Cycle thus does what we feel any great tool should – make the process smoother and quicker without interfering.
CompuTrainer
Our Purely Custom Size Cycles are all equipped with CompuTrainer units to help us analyze positioning changes and instruct you on how to get the most out of your pedal stroke with tools like SpinScan.
gebioMized Pressure Scanners
Pressure scanners are expensive investments, but they can be a very helpful tool for everything from saddle selection and problem solving to reviewing the effectiveness of cleat adjustment, shimming and other positioning changes to improve alignment and stability. Fit Werx purchased one of the very first gebioMized units available in the United States and was at the forefront of developing assessment techniques and processes with the software. As of this writing, Fit Werx owns more gebioMized pressure scanners than any other single company in the United States.
Dartfish Motion Capture
Dartfish is a 2D motion capture system that is not cycling specific. The benefit of the system not being cycling specific is that a fitter can turn Dartfish into just about anything they want or need from an analysis perspective. The drawback is that few fitters take the time to understand or build out Dartfish to its potential. When setup well, Dartfish is an impressive tool. Dartfish is a multi-camera based system (www.dartfish.com) and it is very visual and an excellent tool to help athletes see and understand their posture and technique through dynamic video feedback and assessment tools. We frequently spend a lot of time in a Fit Werx fitting on posture and technique analysis and 2D motion capture is an excellent tool that helps us help you understand how to get the most comfort and performance out of your body out of your riding position and bike.
Dartfish is a very adjustable system, allowing tools and specific analysis to be built and executed on the spot. We use Dartfish’s Mediabook function to provide you with complete video based postural and technique documentation on a flash drive after your fitting
Retul Motion Capture
Retul is a bike specific 3D motion capture system that uses LED technology and sensors to allow the fitter to record an incredible number of key angles and averages from a rider as they ride. Retul provides data quicker than Dartfish and also provides averages and minimum/maximum ranges very quickly. The benefit to Retul for many fitters is that it is “Plug and Play”, but the disadvantage for the rider is that the program can be used as a crutch instead of a tool by a fitter who does not understand the biomechanics behind bike fitting.
MasterFit and BootDoc Footbed Molding
Fit Werx technicians have built thousands of custom footbeds for cycling. In fact, our most experience footbed technician has built well over 3000 custom footbeds. We use high quality medical grade thermoplastic footbed blanks; we take impressions in partially weighted tanks from MasterFit and BootDoc; and we use Sani-Grinder rotating grinders. Like anything fit related, the process and technician is much more important than the equipment. However, we use tools and materials that allow us to build high quality footbeds with delivery in hours or a day and not weeks.
Rotational Adjustment Device
Developed decades ago, but still one of the best ways to align pedals to neutral for riders and all but a necessity when using fixed cleats, we use the RAD as applicable in some fitting procedures.
