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Specialized Invests in Retul, Gets Fit for Another Type of Race

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Specialized invests in retul bike fitting equipment and technology provider
Retul’s Founders: Franko Vatterott Todd Carver and Cliff Simms

Supposing our prediction about Cannondale’s purchase of Guru turns out to be accurate, Specialized just fired a shot across their bow with an investment in Retül.

Boulder, CO, based Retül offers a 3D motion capture fitting system complete with their own adjustable fit bike station and other tools. Co-founder Todd Carver helped develop Specialized’s original Body Geometry fit curriculum, which is used by Specialized dealers.

This move, according to their PR, will let them offer more advanced bike fits and develop new fitting technology and tools to “make cycling more comfortable to more riders worldwide.”

Carver says many Specialized dealers already use Retül equipment and integrating it into their current bike fit strategy is easy. He also pointed out that Retül’s tech, equipment and University will remain available to all shops and fit specialists, not just Big “S” dealers, that none of the new technology will be brand specific to Specialized’s bikes or gear.

“We now have the opportunity to grow at a faster pace than we could have alone, and we have a lot of new ideas we’ll now be able to realize and put into action,” said Retül co­-founder Franko Vatterott.

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HWNSNBS
HWNSNBS
11 years ago

‘Specialized just fired a shot across Cannondale’s bow’…kinda like a battleship firing over the bow of a sea-kayak.

TJ
TJ
11 years ago

Huh? So was that analogy designed to state your lack of bike industry/market knowledge or were you just stating your bias? Or both?

VeloBelo
VeloBelo
11 years ago

OP roots for the winning team.

HWNSNBS
HWNSNBS
11 years ago

Gee TJ–Specialized literally sells hundreds of products that run the gambit from bikes to helmets to bmx bikes to tires! You have proven to me that your own “bike industry/market knowledge” is incredibly lacking if not non-existent. Specialized has diversified its product lines steadily from its inception and is still owned by its founder and remains American-owned. Cannondale in comparison has been the proverbial stubborn mule in diversifying its product lines, from the Magic Motorcycle fiasco to rigidly (pun) sticking to an Aluminum-only mentality to sticking stubbornly with its proprietary pogo-lefty suspension fork, terrorizing its employees with leaving town for China, then coming back. I am assuming you are an owner of a C-dale since they traditionally have thin-skin, I do not own a Specialized bike, but swear by their helmets, armadillo tires, and waterbottles—and have for almost 20 years. Yes I am biased, I have never been a fan of fat-tubed aluminum bikes or pepperoni forks.

HARDEEHARHAR
HARDEEHARHAR
11 years ago

What is next? A BG Fit lawn tractor as the industry continues to expand?

Alex
Alex
11 years ago

Hmm, Specialized, which does about $300k in sales according to Leisure Trends data (if you are not familiar with them, you don’t work in the industry) and Cannondale with $2.4 billion dollar Dorel powering them and their growth. Who do you think is the battleship and who is the sea-kayak again?

DaleC
DaleC
11 years ago

Alex – either you have a typo or Leisure Trends are morons. $ 300 k? I would bet there are Specialized DEALERS who sell more than $ 300k in BigS gear each year.

Can’t remember the last Big S product I bought, but I loved my Cdale Super V 3000 back in the day.

Andy
11 years ago

@Alex

No offense, but MY store ALONE does 300K with Specialized so i would say your a little off

Alex
Alex
11 years ago

Sorry, typo 300 mil. Still not close to Dorel’s buying power or warchest. Their CSG group has been working a lot behind the scenes the past few seasons to align their brands and overall strategy. Watch out for them in the future.

Morgan
11 years ago

@alex

Do you work in a shop? Maybe you’re looking at Leisure Trends data for your shop. The big S does way more, and is far more innovative than Can-On-Dah-Lay

Greg
Greg
11 years ago

Cannondale did purchase guru. That’s a fact.

As far as specialized being more innovative?
1. Best bike in the world. Evo
2. Bb 30
3. Lefty

greg
greg
11 years ago

$300million is about right for specialized.

Pancakes
Pancakes
11 years ago

HWNSNBS-Maybe majority American owned, But don’t forget Merida’s 49% stake. It’s been a much longer time since Specialized sold a US made bike than Cannondale, but both are large brands with diverse offerings.

The fact that you have a chip on your shoulder about Cannondale products doesn’t change the size of the company.

Psi Squared
Psi Squared
11 years ago

Ignoring all the ignorant, “American-owned” ideological whinging, I hope Specialized doesn’t change Retul for the worse. I’d like to see more Retul locations, but I’d also like to see them independent of Specialized.

bc
bc
11 years ago

– Who the hell says the EVO is the best bike in the world? Some magazine. What a senseless “argument” to make, on something totally subjective. The best bike in the world may be a Richard Sachs, or it might be a Trek Madone. It’s not something quantifiable. What IS quantifiable is how often EVO frames fail – which is about 100% of the time. If you have a 2012 EVO that isn’t cracked yet, then you are in the minority.

While we’re on the subject of subjective nonsense, BB30 adds nothing of value to a bike, and generally sucks and is the bane of the bicycle business at the moment. Lefty forks are absolutely terrible. It’s a wonderful idea, but Cannondale’s execution is terrible. They should have worked with Fox or Rock Shox to make the damn fork function and not blow seals every 45 minutes.

Just so everyone knows, I ride a CAAD10.

Mark W.
Mark W.
11 years ago

@ bc they did work with Fox before on the lefty, now the guts are made by Rock Shox. garbage fork either way though. I would agree BB30 sucks, but PF30 is much better and I am a huge fan of that. Since we open that subject Cannondale also has had some pretty bad rear suspension linkage set ups over the years, or lake there of. The Scalpel comes to mind, and so does the Profit.

Annoney
Annoney
11 years ago

You need to have welders that weren’t good enough to weld important things with beards to be an ‘American’ bike company, duh

bum
bum
11 years ago

my american frame welder comment was deleted :(… too true?

BJ
BJ
11 years ago

CAAD9 was the last good bike they made

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