Specialized - a History in Brief

By Steve Prattley


Specialized is probably the world's most renowned bike brands. Supplying bikes of all shapes and forms together with the parts and accessories to complement. You might understand the Specialized brand in all kinds of locations through your nearby park to the Tour de France.

Founded in 1974 by Mike Synard an American and is stated in Morgan Hill, California. The storyplot goes that Mike sold his VW bus for $1500 to invest in a cycle tour of Europe. He collected various parts from popular Italian manufacturers like Campagnolo and Cinelli returned for the US and began producing his personal bikes and Specialized was developed. Right after a couple of years importing the tricky to obtain parts Specialized started manufacturing their very own and their initial production bike was the specialized Touring Fire. In 1979 they started out producing the Allez , a road bike, that had been stated in Japan. Three decades ago Specialized introduced the very first major production mountain bike worldwide - the now renowned Stumpjumper a bicycle that is nevertheless in production even today but as a result of many years of development in the cycle marketplace now is available in many selections from Full-Sus to Hardtail.

In 1989 Specialized introduced the globe to the 1st graphite mountain bike, the early 1990's saw the introduction from the Globe series an accumulation of Urban bikes that has been re-launched last year becasue it is own brand.

Specialized have history of creating sub brands but nearly to its cost in 1995 the created the Full Force brand designed to be sold through discount retailers and sports stores - angering Specialized dealers and causing sales to drop by 30% and according to the founder Mike Synyard the company came to within a few hundred dollars of going bankrupt.

In 2001 Merida Bikes of Taiwan bought 19% of Specialized for a reported $30 Million who now manufacture virtually all their bikes - Mike Synard continues to be the CEO and Majority owner with the provider.




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