Pioneers and Profits
Dan
March 2008

Now that bicycles are hugely popular, I'm sure you've noticed that a lot of companies are getting into bicycle fitting of some kind or another. If you were to step back in time though, say....30 years or so, you'd find that only a few very specialized companies had the passion to spend the time and resources to develop bicycle fitting technologies. One of these pioneer companies was, and still is, R+E Cycles right here in Seattle. For 35+ years we've been developing fitting technologies to make your cycling experience all it should be.

You know us for our Rodriguez and Trillium bicycles, but our bicycle lines actually grew out of our fitting techniques. Without the poorly fitting bicycles being sold all over the world, we couldn't have performed over 50,000+ bicycle fits and collected the data to engineer our NEXT-fit™ Bicycle Fitting Software. Without the machines and experience of building bicycles, we couldn't have created our NEXT-fit™ adjustable fitting bike. Without the data, and the adjustable bike, we couldn't have engineered our 15 (now 18) production sizes of Rodriguez bicycles to fit as well as they do.

We are a different kind of bicycle company. Sure we spend time making our bikes light, but probably 90% of our development goes to making our bicycles fit our customers more comfortably. We've found that no amount of weight trimming or aerodynamics can replace a comfortable ride when it comes to speed on your bike.

Over the past 35 years, this philosophy has evolved into our own complete fitting system, the NEXT-fit™ system. The system includes software for accurate fitting suggestions for the professional, as well as a plethora of tools for accurate measurements. The crown jewel of the system is the only completely adjustable fitting bike made that can be adjusted by the fitter as the rider is riding.

Most of our customers are not professional racers, but ordinary people who want to enjoy a comfortable, high-end bicycle. It only makes sense to innovate with that in mind.

As a custom bicycle manufacturer (Rodriguez and Trillium), as well as a bicycle shop equipped with a computer programmer and a full machine shop, we have a unique approach to bicycle fitting.

We've dedicated huge resources over the years to improve our methods of adjusting bicycles for our customers. We have immediate feedback from thousands of clients, and we can make adjustments to our tooling or software on the fly. If you would like to read more about the NEXT-fit™ system, I've written oodles of info and it even has its own web site. I've got photos of a NEXT-fit™ session as well as sample here.

Pioneering is very expensive, but we think our customers are worth it. That's why we've dedicated huge resources over the years to improve our methods of adjusting bicycles for our customers. We have immediate feedback from thousands of clients, and we can make adjustments to our tooling or software on the fly. If you would like to read more about the NEXT-fit? system, I've written oodles of info and it even has its own web site. I've got photos of a NEXT-fit? session as well as sample forms that the software creates available for viewing on the site as well.

I've written a complete history of bicycle fitting here at R+E Cycles and it's available here.