VIDEO ANALYSIS 3 WAYS

International Bike Fitter decides to take a look at three of the latest video analysis systems

One of the corner stones of modern bike fitting is video analysis of a dynamic riding position.

In years gone bye we used to use simple goniometers to measure joint angles. Obviously this could only be done while the rider was static., which I’m sure all of you all have witnessed is very different to the position of adopt while putting effort into the pedals.

Hence, having the ability to video a rider, and then analyse their position walls, dynamic leads to a much more accurate and real life analysis.

There’s been lots of systems over the years, and the technology is always changing and evolving. We decided it was about time that we took a look at the latest and greatest video analysis tools on the market. So we reached out to 3 companies that are developing systems that can be used for BikeFit analysis.

This test is by no means exhaustive or comprehensive, as there are many other systems also on the market, but we thought that these three systems offered an interesting overview of how the development in this market is progressing.

TESTING PROTOCOL

The testing consisted of setting up each system in our fit studio and running our subject through a normal BikeFit protocol using each of the software systems. This way they were all given the same requirements and used under the same environmental conditions.

The three key Workflow components to most video analysis systems is firstly, video capture, followed by analysis of

the video, and finally some form of report creation. In each of the tests we will compare the systems based on these key attributes in terms of ease of use accuracy and usability.

We selected a diverse range of systems from a comprehensive bikefit specific software system, to a flexible video analysis platform and complete hardware and software package to get a studio up and running.

It’s important to say that each company supplied us with the software and hardware for the testing free of charge, and all of the systems have been sent back to the brands.