While it's very important to have a properly fitting bicycle, not all bike store employees have the time or expertise to manually perform a full bike-fit session with each customer. That's where the Smartfit Q2 kiosk comes in, as it uses AI to do the job quickly.
Manufactured by German company Radlabor, the Q2 won an award earlier this month at Eurobike 2024. It's claimed to be the world's first AI-based bike fitting system, and is already in use by a number of commercial clients.
Here's how it works …
Using the Q2's touchscreen interface, a store staff member starts by entering some of the customer's basic data (height, weight, gender, etc) into the Windows-PC-based system. They then select the desired sort of bike, choosing from types such as Mountain, Time Trial, Road, and City/Trekking.
The customer is next asked to remove their shoes and stand up straight on a laser-marked spot on the floor, with their arms hanging loosely at their sides. They're also asked to place a spring-loaded inseam-measuring device (which looks kind of like a pogo stick) between their legs.
The Q2 proceeds to take 10 full-body photos of the customer, gauging the length of their inseam by the relative positions of three markers on the inseam device. Using that data and their height as a reference, the system's AI software proceeds to create a precisely proportioned wireframe model of the customer's body. That model includes information such as sternum height and arm length.
Using the touchscreen, the staff member then searches for the desired make and model of bike in the store's inventory. Based on the customer's measurements, the Q2 will indicate the best frame size for that particular bike, along with the ideal seat height, fore/aft seat position, handlebar height, and other adjustable parameters.
The whole process is claimed to take only about five minutes. And needless to say, one customer's data can be used to search for more than one make, model or type of bike.
The Smartfit Q2 kiosk is demonstrated in the (silent) video below.
Source: Smartfit