Retül's new Müve dynamic fit bike provides the company's "Fitter Army" – now 450 shops strong – with a new tool to help riders achieve an optimal position on their bikes. According to Retül chief fit and education officer Todd Carver, the Müve will not only make for more accurate fits but faster ones, too.
As with similar systems from Guru and Purely Custom/Serotta International Sizing Institute, the Retül Müve allows fitters to change a rider's position on the fly via a series of linear bearings and smooth-running hand cranks, all without having to make the rider dismount and remount with each change.
Adjustments move along an X-Y coordinate system for easier interpretation of position changes and an integrated CycleOpsPowerBeam power meter offers up direct feedback on how a change affects a rider's power output.
"It speeds up the process so that a shop can go through the process with a client in about half an hour," Carver told BikeRadar. "You can make quicker adjustments so it saves you time but the rider can also immediately feel [changes]. The rider never has to stop pedaling."
The Retül Müve incorporates a CycleOps PowerBeam power meter for instant feedback on how a position affects the rider's power output
Retül has also equipped the Müve with receptacles for active LED markers, whose 3-D position can be actively recorded in real-time via the company's existing digitizer. According to Carver, this allows the system to monitor effective saddle and handlebar locations during the fit process. Afterward, the fitter can then transfer the data to Retül's Frame Finder database to identify compatible frames and bikes in order to determine what models will fit properly.
Carver admits that the Frame Finder database has been slow to populate with currently just fifteen brands in the system (although he says Giant is the only major player missing at the moment). However, the company is currently developing a protocol that will allow fitters to manually enter bikes into the system in the field so that number should grow substantially in the near future.
Other recent developments includea new fitter-specific micro-adjustable front wheel riser block and a new digitizer that will replace the original unit that has been in place since the start of the company in 2007. Whereas production of the old unit was outsourced, the new units – and the Müve – are now manufactured in Boulder, Colorado. According to Carver, this should improve availability and production capacity in order to meet rising demand.
Dealer price for the Müve is US$7,700 and the riser block is US$350. Pricing on the digitizer remains unchanged at US$11,000.