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The "I hate Specialized" Bandwagon...... what's the deal?


L.T.G

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Drive a BMW

Wear a Tag Heuer

Play with taylormade clubs

Ride a specialized

 

It's just like there's this thing in Jhb that if you own the combination of mentioned brands then you've made it. Its what the boet's aspire too...

Actually, you move in the wrong circles.

 

We drive Porsches;

Wear Pateks;

Play AT the Riverclub;

And have so many bicycles that one is statistically likely to be a Specialized.

 

But your point was ?

Edited by eddy
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Actually, you move in the wrong circles.

 

We drive Porches;

Wear Pateks;

Play AT the Riverclub;

And have so many bicycles that one is statistically likely to be a Specialized.

 

But your point was ?

 

Haha, it's only us poor Capetonians who have to settle for a Spez on a Thule platform rack on the back of a BMW!

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Ok so let's see ...

 

I drive a Kia

Wear a Festina

Don't own clubs

Ride a Specialized

 

So what am I?

I am, totally stuffed then.

 

Drive a Subaru

Have many cheap wannabe watches but brag about my Ritchey watch.

Don't own clubs but go to a club now and again .

Don't ride  Specialized, but one more than I can count right now .

Edited by Wyatt Earp
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You better not eat much when trusting a lefty on a rocky downhill :oops:

Just gonna leave this here. I remember cedric Garcia was shredding some 4x and slopestyle track with his lefty, always thought the lefty was pretty sweet

 

http://ep1.pinkbike.org/p4pb26303/p4pb26303.jpg

 

 

http://lp1.pinkbike.org/p4pb363306/p4pb363306.jpg

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Just gonna leave this here. I remember cedric Garcia was shredding some 4x and slopestyle track with his lefty, always thought the lefty was pretty sweet

 

http://ep1.pinkbike.org/p4pb26303/p4pb26303.jpg

 

 

http://lp1.pinkbike.org/p4pb363306/p4pb363306.jpg

Except that on one of the 7 day epic AM style races recently, there was only one guy riding a supermaxx. He brought along 6 forks. He dropped out at the end of the 6th day, with no spare forks in his spares box.

 

That hurts.

 

Same fault on each one. The hub was fine. The Travel was fine. The bottom of the stanchion, however, was bent. Same place, every time. It just doesent like big stuff yet.

 

Moral of the story. If you ride a 7 day event, take 7 forks. Or ride a Pike and have no issue at all.

 

corroborate story wiff droo. He told me...

Edited by El Capitan
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The rumours are true, Saw a bloke on his Epic while out riding yesterday, sokkies broek skoene alles van Specialized. To cap it off he had a cape epic shirt on. A line from a Jack Parow song springs to mind...

Edited by Headshot
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Guest notmyname

The rumours are true, Saw a bloke on his Epic while out riding yesterday, sokkies broek skoene alles van Specialized. To cap it off he had a cape epic shirt on. A line from a Jack Parow song springs to mind...

I saw a pair(mates) walking that drop in the first half of the BRB USN kitted like that yday. I was so amused that it was impossible not to be polite when I finally managed to pass them. All the gear no idea. Priceless.

Edited by Soapbox
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Im flipping through a couple current uk mtb mags. Across all the reviews/top 10s bike of the year etc. Not a single spez bike in any catagory. Couple Scott 700s. Santa cruz tallboy ltc been #1 trail bike for 2yrs. Tallboy 2 cc. Santa cruz superlight.

 

Specialized is a marketing marvel. When u got burry, sauser, contador, segan, RECM riding sworks it will sell.

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Im flipping through a couple current uk mtb mags. Across all the reviews/top 10s bike of the year etc. Not a single spez bike in any catagory. 

They are in a class of their own, hence they aren't listed with the others... (and before anyone jumps on my wording of that, I obviously meant that are superior ;):P)

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Im flipping through a couple current uk mtb mags. Across all the reviews/top 10s bike of the year etc. Not a single spez bike in any catagory. Couple Scott 700s. Santa cruz tallboy ltc been #1 trail bike for 2yrs. Tallboy 2 cc. Santa cruz superlight.

 

Specialized is a marketing marvel. When u got burry, sauser, contador, segan, RECM riding sworks it will sell.

As much as I believe you have a valid point, I also believe you have a bit of a chip on your shoulder regarding the brand.

 

Let me start with Burry, can we just let him rest in peace and leave him out of this debate rather please.

 

Moving on to Sauser, he rode for Cannondale many years back  and got himself a nice Olympic medal on that bike, thanks to that the Lefty was taken a bit more serious by the general public and the "off balance naysayers"

 

Now interestingly , Cadel Evans was also a Cannondale athlete at the time ,but nobody remembers the brand for Cadel's exploits, so yes if I was going to try and market my product in the past 15 years, Sauser would have been my #1 choice .

 

Santa Cruz, who do they have to thank, yes that's right Juliana Furtado .

A good brand as well.

I think we can all come to one conclusion, in this competitive world of cycling and sales thereof you only set yourself up for one heck of a failure if you produce anything sub-standard.

So in short, most bikes are exceptionally good.

 

Now let's look at Mike Sinyard, had nothing and started his company from nothing, went through some bad patches and turned the company around with the Turbo tyre.

He then got his good old mates who are close to his hometown of Morgan Hill to help him develop the Brain.

Boom and suddenly we have an incredibly groundbreaking product that really works and works it's way around all the weaknesses of the rear triangle which we find in ALL full suspension bikes.

 

This gets featured in Popular Mechanics and suddenly the entire world wants a pice of it.

The fellow creators of the Brain failed quite miserably with their Terralogic design (but that's a discussion for an entire other month)

 

All that said, what does Sinyard do to sell his products, that's right he markets the brand.

Think American Flyers with Kevin Costner and if you ever watched Seinfeld there is a concept store that made it's way in to numerous episodes.

 

I was privileged to sit with Mike and watch the Tour De France with him on a screen at breakfast one morning, this could have been around 2004 if I recall correctly.

There were no teams in the tour on the bikes but numerous riders with his helmets and shoes, the joy and pride in his face was priceless .

 

Now I do believe they have gotten to a point where they have reached a plato in being innovative, let's be very honest, there is only so much one can do to the humble bicycle, I mean let's think about why bicycles were invented, for transport really, getting from A to B.

 

But to finish off with this, yes Mike Sinyrad is an incredible marketing man, but he is also very humble, and has a passion for cycling like few other cycling brands and their feast of directorships .

And let's not forget who the true ambassador of the brand really is, the one and only King and grandfather of mountain biking ,Mr. Ned Overend .

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What I admire about Sinyard is that he has remained focused on producing cycling products. He has not lost focus by trying to build motorcycles....

 

However, still can't respect the bullying of smaller players in the market.

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It does not matter what bike you ride, but if you you are rocking a $$$ bike and kit but can't even do a simple drop off  you gonna look like a chop.

I ride a R50k stumpie and got passed by guys riding bikes that probably cost half of what mine did at W2W. It does not bother me in the least. I had the privilege to go to Canada in 2013 to take part in BC Bike Race. Here I walked sections that girls on their hard tails were riding like it was a tar road, am I embarrassed? Not in the least, and to top it off, the riders in Canada never made me feel that I did not belong there. I liked the Canada bike vibe much more than the SA vibe of envy and self-importance. 

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I ride a R50k stumpie and got passed by guys riding bikes that probably cost half of what mine did at W2W. It does not bother me in the least. I had the privilege to go to Canada in 2013 to take part in BC Bike Race. Here I walked sections that girls on their hard tails were riding like it was a tar road, am I embarrassed? Not in the least, and to top it off, the riders in Canada never made me feel that I did not belong there. I liked the Canada bike vibe much more than the SA vibe of envy and self-importance. 

Doesn't matter the name on the bike, its the wind in your face.

Pick whatever brand you like, just ride the thing and enjoy yourself.

I don't mind if somebody hates my bike because its a Specialized, the feeling is not mutual because theirs is not ;)

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What I admire about Sinyard is that he has remained focused on producing cycling products. He has not lost focus by trying to build motorcycles....

 

However, still can't respect the bullying of smaller players in the market.

And quads, they can be very glad they received a bail-out after that .

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Just to balance this thread a bit - this pic shows why being a Spazzie is so popular :-)http://www.acultureofspeed.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/SpecializedMTB.jpg

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