Great Service Doesn’t Happen by Itself

Bieler Sport has stood for expert guidance since 1986. It all started with running: running shoes and gait analysis. Cross-country skiing was added for the winter, and since 2006 the range has also included biking. Today, run, bike, and nordic are the three sports that Bieler Sport lives and breathes. The team has grown to 14 employees, eight at the Chur location and six in Bonaduz.

Livio, please introduce yourself and Bieler Sport.

Livio: My father founded the business 40 years ago, and we were able to celebrate our 40th anniversary this year. I was a professional cross-country skier for many years and joined the company five years ago. I spent three years working in Bonaduz. There I was able to move a lot forward and learn new things: adjusting the service offering and the experience, and making the business more innovative and younger. Bike fitting quickly became a topic. As a specialist retailer and family business, it’s part of who we are, because you have to set yourself apart from the big players.

How did you come across Smartfit?

Livio: We already had a simpler body scanning system in the store. After many staff changes, the knowledge about the device got lost more and more. In the end, it just stood there and was hardly used.

I came across Smartfit through Eurobike. Smartfit is a real bike fitting tool: the benefit is there, but so is the experience, especially thanks to the laser measurement. On top of that, you have the body scan and the bike scan in one place, which saves a lot of space. That’s how we started with you in Bonaduz a few years ago.

Why did you open a new location in Chur?

Livio: We decided we needed to be closer to our customers. Geographically, we weren’t ideally located, mainly because of the heavy traffic jams on the A13 highway. Consumer behavior has also changed: a lot of things are now conveniently ordered online. A specialist retailer therefore has to be easy to reach, and ideally you can run other errands nearby, like grocery shopping. In Chur, we have a great location: a large, busy shopping center is just two minutes away, and we have excellent parking. We use Smartfit here as well.

How do you use the two Smartfit systems at your two locations?

Livio: In Bonaduz, which has a Smartfit Q4 system, we mainly use it for sizing, meaning for consultations, to make choosing the right size more transparent. Pure bike fitting is rarely done there. If a bike fitting request comes in, we refer it to Chur. In Chur, we have an employee who knows the topic extremely well and has also pursued additional training on his own. That way, we can concentrate expertise in one place and keep quality high. He currently does one to two fittings per day, always by appointment. In Chur, we have now switched from the Q4 to the Q5 system, so we can offer both dynamic and static bike fitting.

What do you like most about the Smartfit system?

Livio: I think it’s a great tool for working efficiently, especially in consultations. Smartfit is data-driven, which gives customers added confidence. Over the years, a salesperson can say, “At this height and with this brand, it’s this frame size.” But the customer has no feel for that. Smartfit creates transparency so they feel comfortable and know: “I’m not being taken for a ride. I have the right frame size, one that will keep me happy for years to come.” You can also rule out unnecessary sizes right away and move straight through the consultation without getting sidetracked.

Customer data is also stored, so you can access it later, for example if someone wants to buy another bike six months or a year later. That gives you a starting point right away.

What is most important to you when it comes to bike fitting, and what has changed in recent years?

Livio: What matters most is a seat position that’s accurate down to the millimeter. A lot has happened in this area over the past few years. It used to be said: “Cycling has to hurt somewhere, that’s just part of it. You simply have to put up with saddle problems.” Many people still have that in the back of their minds. The shift has been underway for a while, but you have to keep telling people: cycling should be fun and shouldn’t cause pain. Otherwise something is off, whether it’s the setup, the saddle, or the cycling shorts. Today there are so many ways to change that. Raising awareness and offering it with the system is extremely important, and you should mention it in every consultation.

Do customers also come to you specifically because they know they’ll be measured?

Livio: Absolutely. Right now, it’s mostly word of mouth. That means we have to do our job well: when someone has been through sizing and is happy with it, word gets around. We also get inquiries from colleagues, friends, and acquaintances of our customers who say straight out, “I’d like to have a bike fitting with you,” even though they’ve never been customers before.

In Chur, we’ve also recently become the only Canyon Experience Partner in all of Switzerland. Canyon customers also find us through the Canyon website, because we offer service, warranty processing, and test rides. Through Canyon, we currently reach almost all of Switzerland, including Zurich and Bern. People come to us from all over because they want to buy a Canyon but want to get a consultation first.

Are there also customers who know you from running and come to you for a bike because of that?

Livio: Absolutely, that’s been happening for a long time. Some people say, “I came to you to buy running shoes, and now I’m here for a bike too, because I liked it here.” That’s extremely important to us. We have to perform every day, do a good job, respond to each customer, and create a great experience. You start from zero every day. You can never rest on your laurels.

Bieler Sport shows how Smartfit can be used flexibly across different store locations: in Bonaduz, the system supports size consultations, while in Chur the focus is on bike fitting. For Livio and his team, this means more efficient consultations, transparent data, and greater confidence for customers. Their success is spreading by word of mouth: many customers come on recommendation because they know they’ll get expert consultation and be set up properly at Bieler Sport.