What happened to Specialized Bicycles? 

Tinker is THE legend who doesn't get enough coverage... Views on his channel are ridiculous, he's go so many interesting stories...

The Spec story reminded me of Univega, one of their strongest early competitors. After never having heard of either, all of a sudden they were both everywhere neck and neck. Univega was always about 20% cheaper, but offered credible competition after potential Specialized buyers came to after the sticker shock. One shop owner told me he only kept the Stumpy on the floor to sell the Univega's faster.😄 They disappeared sometime during the huge boom that followed, when it seemed like there were more new brands than magazines to write about them!

RITCHEY

Anything and about Tinker, you'd be right on time as he has just started a YT channel with his name. Incredible and wonderful that he is still riding at a high level.

oh man, please do SE. I got my first PK Ripper in 1980. I raced BMX here in Australia. Anyway that first one (black w/ gold anodised parts) unfortunately got stolen, and I got a new (1982?) frame, which was the clear coated bare aluminium colour. I actually spray painted that one duck-egg blue; for day to day riding I had red tuff wheels and tiny little thin alloys for racing. when I joined the navy my mother gave it to my older brother's kid ... years later they sold it. g.d. i wish i still had it. just to comment also on the current situation with specialised. to me, the bike industry is really a parallel to the guitar business. fender and gibson, once the staples of your local guitar store now sell direct, have their own retail fronts, have split labels for made-in-usa and made-in-china, and the market is flooded with cheap clones and imitation knock offs. the only real difference i can see is that most guitarists generally _do not_ want the latest and greatest technology, and the vintage items are worshipped with a heat greater than the core of the sun. to the point where, by analogy, imagine if specialised still had to make that rockhopper to the exact specs of the original, and this model was the _most expensive_ model they sell. and you paid extra to get it "relic'd". ;-)

In business terms it is called dominating the mkt since no one is going to try to compete against them.

Pretty much toxic to the cause of having accessible bicycle service. The decent shops that survive at least here in the Midwest almost uniformly have minor brands. The majors have taken, taken, taken.

Giant opened a store less than a 1km a away from the only Giant dealer (and only bike shop) in my city

How shallow for Giant !

Bicycle whores , just like Schwinn and Cannondale of the 80's. It is diffently a a cut throat business. Mike Wolf of CT. Back in the late 70's tried to get Ma & Pas to form co ops, and agree on pricing and working together. Haa, never happened, he was ahead of his time and honest coming forth at the Bicycle dealers convention in Orlando that year. One year out in Arizona I visited serval bike shops . In the late 80's and they did just that. Their price were the same, they were happy with the heir competitors as friends all making a decent living. Mike Wolf had his Sh-- together.

Well maybe that was because YOU were working there…

​​@@asifitmatters1are you always this pleasant? Or do you impersonate an a-hole, just on the Internet? Did you manage a Specialized dealership? Cuz, that would make sense.

😂

I remember those early adds as well and the mtb explosion that followed. So much so that Bicycling ran an article entitled “Does the road bike have a future?”.

yeah, thats a high end alloy hardtail now, or maybe barely enough for entry full sus. Bikes and Video games are to products that have seen huge technical innovations for a significant drop in adjust price.

@@johnlowkey359 An Intense 951 XC is $2299 at Costco online. Carbon with Fox fork and shock.

That’s a ridiculous statement. The 1983 Stumpjumper was the answer to many prayers. Worth “any” Price

Yeah but now $2647 for the best available mountain bike on the market is cheap!!

@@raddkahnengels In Feb I got a Intense 951 XC for $1799 at Costco online, carbon, Fox full susp, 4 piston, dropper, tubeless, 1x12.

If you buy secondhand off co-ops, that'll rarely be an issue. 🧠

Then your choices today are basically ZERO!

@@asifitmatters1 bout right, I hope I've bought my last bike for a long while. Ibis is the brand I go with, check out their history, it's interesting.

Your "history" ignored the fact that Specialized has always been in the forefront of mountain bike technology.

@@rlsedition The key word was ethics in my comment, Ibis was at the beginning also, A fella left Specialized early on and joined the founder who was a Klunker rider and formed Ibis.

truth.

I feel like the cycling culture in Davis is waning. But I’ve bought many a bike at the Freewheeler over the years.

@@dorseykindler9544 Ever heard of a guy named Steve Tracey?

You'd pretty much have to mine your own ore, make your own alloy, and forge all your own components to ride a bike that passes the ethical purity test.

@@robbiddlecombe8392 I have not looked into all that much. From what I can tell, Specialized did a lot when it comes bringing mountain to the masses, but they also did some shady $hit along the way. At the end of the day, I want a decent bike at a decent price. I'm not going to be preachy or judgy about brands. I currently ride a specialized but will probably never purchase another because their prices have become ridiculous.

@@robbiddlecombe8392 Who said anything about "release from responsibility"?? You are projecting and assuming. Read what I wrote, not what you think or hope I wrote.

yes. hate videos are so lazy

There's no ethical consumption under capitalism.....

Sounds weird to be so upset about needing an appointment. It has "god my coffee is 5 degrees too cold" energy

​@@Millicente Seriously? It's generally accepted that you don't need to call ahead to drop off a bike at a bike shop. It's weird to require that.

😂 Ok so you still buy from the alternatives who use chinese and child labor factories across the road from their factories…😂

I won’t buy from Amazon. Pointless I know. Also won’t use Starbucks, their coffee sucks.

I don't know when you have last been in China?

Monsanto

Shitmano. I refuse

It rips love? Seriously?

I love my 2018 stumpjumper comp ally

It was a great bike.

Starting of by naming "the big 3" while there are plenty more big, older brands around..... red flag, I'm out.

@@yspegel thank you

Thank you

@@yspegelwhat’s brands are bigger than these? Huffy?

Still a good video 🤷🏽‍♂️

There are a lot of videos saying that this $248 G1 Walmart trail bike gives rather good value. It sells for about $250 in today's dollars. The video showed a similar bike from back in the last quarter of the last century from Specialized that sold for $750 in the dollars of that time. Big Box stores may be encroaching on the Bike shop stuff.

My faviourate a early 1990's gt hybird bikei prettu took is every where i biked in ottawa canada. Incluing light to medium offroading.

I'm just an old retired guy so not an avid cyclist. I will tell you that there is a Giant store near me and a Specialized store. The Specialized store has much higher prices. Both sell bicycles that get me from point A to point B. I'd just as soon do so at the lower price. But,..Android phones and Windows have been good enough too.

@@daniellarson3068 well a Rolls Royce and a Dacia also get you from point a to point b… so if all you want is to get from point a to point b and don’t care about the journey then that’s fair enough. Specialized and Giant aren’t really the same “beast” though.

@@asifitmatters1 They don't sell the Dacia brand here in the Great Lakes region. My limited experience with French cars is that they don't hold up. Otherwise, it looks like a low cost practical electric car. It would be cheaper to operate than the Rolls Royce. As you said it would get me from point A to point B. If they were reliable, this Dacia would be the choice. I do think the Specialized and Giant bicycle would have similar longevity. The British bike brand Ribble seems to give good value. I see some of them around here. Thanks for the comment. I guess there's no hope for me.

@@daniellarson3068 Dacia is French technology assembled in Romania. Rgr

Haro has always been awesome

why are you spending time on here giving advice that you don't appear to follow yourself ?

Looks like Sinyard was the only one with funds to get the MTB mass produced due to his success with importing parts. Dunno how you can really blame him. I'm sure there was a general geometry many small builders were toying with at the time.

@@johnnycab8986 someone will always be the first with the guts and the foresight.

I loved my 1981 Stumpjumper. It was vastly better off-road than the alternative, which would have been my Miyata 610 road bike.

@@CountryB4Party fair enough, I'm just used to modern MTB. What do you ride today if I may ask?

@@mattmorrison9379 Ha! You’re going to laugh. I ride an ‘87 Rockhopper Comp that’s 99% stock down to the u-brake and biopace chainrings. I sold my last “modern” mountain bike, a Trek Fuel 9.8, a few months ago after a heart attack that stopped me from riding aggressively. I ride the Rockhopper on blue single track and rail trails that I can access from my house. I’m in the market for a mid-range gravel bike right now so I can stitch together some fire road/moderate trail routes.