KING OF THE MOUNTAIN BIKE
A post on our local board this week pointed in the direction of an article on Specialized Bikes. On March 16, 2008, CNN Money published an article of Mark Sinyard telling his story of Specialized Bikes. The article is a great testament on how one man can grow a company from a trailer to 500 million by overcoming diversity along the way.
Excerpts from the entire article that can be found on money.cnn.com.
I have always loved bikes. My dad was a machinist, and we worked on them together when I was a kid. Later on I used to ride my bike seven or eight miles a day to campus when I was taking classes at San Jose State University. To support myself, I bought old bikes at flea markets and fixed them up, then put ads in the paper to sell them. I started out as an aviation major but quit soon after I realized I was a terrible pilot.
In Italy the artisans who craft lugs, frames, and tubing are considered specialists. I named the company Specialized Bicycle Components after them because I wanted to have a connection to that European passion and quality, something that would distinguish my products from the mainstream bikes popular at the time.
I lived without a car for five years after I started Specialized, which gave me a lot of time to think and observe how folks ride bikes. I was selling parts to a lot of independent bike-frame builders on the West Coast, and I started to notice their dissatisfaction with tires. The ones we were importing from Italy weren’t very good.
We’re still trying to be the best cycling brand in the world. I love what I do, and I will run this company as long as I am able. I want Specialized to be here forever, and we have a plan to accomplish that.
In the article, it is the stories of the beginnings of Specialized that I really find interesting. Mike Sinyard was a man with an idea, and he wasn’t going to let anyone stop him achieve his goals. Today, Specialized is one of the biggest bike brands in the world, and they are probably the only mass produced bike that actually rides like a hand-built.