[Factory Visit] Specialized Bicycle Components

Last week we had a unique opportunity to take a tour of Specialized Bicycle Components’ corporate office in Morgan Hill, California. Their PR pinner Sean Estes was nice enough to show us around for the day and treat us to some insane mexican food just walking distance away. He also made sure we didn’t sneak off and point our camera at anything we weren’t supposed to 😉

Welcome to Specialized. Larger than life.

Right near the lobby are two very cool rooms…The Sam Hill room. Legend.

And the Mario Cippolini room. Also a legend. And a baller.

A proper museum has been added to the lobby. Specialized have done an incredible job showing off their history over the years. One of the coolest features was a recreation of Mike Sinyard’s first shop/office.

A mock up of Mike’s desk.

Some of the parts Mr. Sinyard imported from Europe to the US in his early years.

The bike he toured Europe on.

Velox tape, Columbus tubing and Campy parts. Highly sought after stateside, Mike was an early importer in the 1970’s.

Custom Specialized Silca pump, Regina chains and rings. Some fascinating relics in here.

Purchase orders, plans and personalized requests from friends back home.

The Air Force one helmet. 1988 – Specialized first helmet.

Some vintage Jerseys proudly displayed.

Plans for the original Specialized water bottle.

The mold for the first Specialized H20 bottle.

LUGS!

My how marketing has changed over the years.

The original Stumpjumper. My how bikes have changed over the years.

1985 Stumpjumper Team Bike.

Ned Overend’s 1992 M2 Team Edition Bike.

Ned Overend’s 1993 S-Works Epic.

2008 World Champion Christop Sauser’s S-Works Epic.

Specialized Future Shock. Mag, Ti, Carbon. Game changer back in the day.

2007 Stumpy penetrated seat tube forging.

1991/1992 – Horst Linkage prototype. That kinematic system has had and will continue to have quite a legacy.

Shaun Palmers 1996 FSR DH.

More Vintage Specialized Components. They emphasized the importance of being known as not just a bicycle company, but a components company. After all, that played a big role in their early years and continues to today.

Sean and I agreed that the San Francisco Fixie hipsters would love to see the grey shoes brought back to life! OK, we admit it, so would we.

This is what a cool $20K gets you. #1/150 of the Specialized McLaren bikes. Custom lid, shoes and more are part of the package. IF you can get one.

SBCU locker room.

As we head down the hall it’s getting towards lunch time at SBCU. Specialized Bicycle Components University is an immersion program for employees of Specialized dealers. Bike Shops send their employees up to Morgan Hill for a few days to learn all of the ins and outs of the brand as well as ensuring that they get properly trained on all of the pertinent wrenching skills.

The Specialized pump track has been #maderadbytony.

Not a bad way to spend your lunch hour…

However, most people will likely spend their time on a big group road ride. This looks mellow, but the people at Specialized are notorious for having some GNARLY lunch rides.

Maybe this guy is having an off day? Or he just wrapped up a heavy ride. Who knows?

And if you just want to slack and have fun, you can always just mess around and skate a bit.

Working in reverse we head upstairs. If we started upstairs we definitely wouldn’t ridden this back down.

More amazing marketing.

Concept bikes for days…Most of which are the works of Robert Egger, a man who is neither right brained or left brained, but both!

Inspiration wall. Some of these concept bikes might seem silly, but great ideas quite often are born from wild ideas. Really cool to see some of the trickle down here.

Last but not least, the Moto “crossover” room. So sick!

That’s all for now folks!