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Hugs and Kisses, The Big S and Cafe Roubaix Make Up

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Last week, Specialized found itself in the middle of a proverbial shit storm after their outside lawyers threatened to sue a small LBS owner over the shops name. Hammered from every social media angle imaginable, the company many of you seem to have a love-hate relationship with was oddly silent until today, when they tweeted:

In addition to the tweet, Specialized Founder and CEO Mike Sinyard took a trip over the border to have a heart to heart with Cafe Roubaix owner Dan Richter. It’s been a trying couple of days for both parties involved (and Fuji) but it seems #RoubaixGate is finally coming to an amicable resolution. Hit play to learn more about how the meeting went.

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CXisfun
CXisfun
10 years ago

I don’t see where I can “hit play to learn more”.

james
james
10 years ago

sinyard doesnt seem like THAT much of a dickhead. We can all go back to looking at picture of cats and hating trek again. god speed

Andrew
Andrew
10 years ago

Wait, so finding out that they cannot sue the shop because they don’t own the rights to the name counts as “we found a solution” – nice marketing.

David
David
10 years ago

@Andrew: That about sums it up.

Psi Squared
Psi Squared
10 years ago

Sinyard back tracked and apologized because the owners of the trademark that he uses forced him to do so. I won’t believe that Sinyard has had any change of heart or has any concern for the small businessman until his company abandons its aggressive legal actions against small businesses.

Tom
Tom
10 years ago

Baby steps, for sure, but good on ya Sinyard!

Maybe time for some new outside lawyers. I’ve heard you can still find one with a heart, if you REALLY look hard.

pornitswhatlwouldratherbmaking
pornitswhatlwouldratherbmaking
10 years ago

Ahh, how sweet…

Pete
Pete
10 years ago

Heads are sure to roll in the legal dept. There’ll probably be a job position open for head OS Spec Canada…

john
john
10 years ago

this is great news for my soon to be opened shop Canntrekalized!

landoobi
landoobi
10 years ago

What a weak apology.

Eyal
Eyal
10 years ago

So Sinyard is gonna get a time-machine and apologize to all the people he sent his lawyers after and also stop bullying shops to carry his brand or else.

Timbo!
Timbo!
10 years ago

The hug at the end was a nice touch… as opposed to the really awkward separation afterward.

Chris
Chris
10 years ago

Not much of an apology.

MissedThePoint
MissedThePoint
10 years ago

I didn’t even know what Mike Sinyard looked like until this.

Video too awkward to watch. I honestly didn’t consider any of this to be any more than tabloid level news.

Scott
Scott
10 years ago

Was it when Sinyard said ” really I just want to say a big apology and I take full responsibility for this whole thing” that was not much of an apology?

Peter
Peter
10 years ago

LOL “I just want to say a big apology” is not a real apology. I’m sure he isn’t sorry at all.

alex
alex
10 years ago

“Weak Apology”??? What more do you guys want? In my opinion this was the real deal and I have a lot of respect for Mike Sinyard for going up there and working things out.

David
David
10 years ago

He just trying to smooth things over for the camera rolling, at least until the next PR s**tstorm hits the fan. Mike S. establishes the bullying policy for the lawyers, but he can’t control our opinions on the matter. Show him what you really think when you buy a bike, clothing or accessories.

wheelguy
wheelguy
10 years ago

Not many CEOs have the strength of will to say “I’m sorry, we screwed up.” Very glad to see he came around to doing the right thing. Would have been yet another brand I’d avoid otherwise.

gravity
gravity
10 years ago

Any CEO has the strength of will to say whatever keeps his ass in the black for another year.

greg
greg
10 years ago

you know, specialized takes it as well as it dishes it out. The Carve/Crave hardtail, for instance.

weird
weird
10 years ago

Weird at best

@james – best comment

John V
John V
10 years ago

_”Hi, this is Dan Richter of Cafe Roubaix bicycles …(err, uh) bicycle studio”. (blink blink)

_ Nice of Mike Sinyard to withdraw all claims against the owner seeing as he legally had none, or so we were led to believe from ASI’s statements.

satisFACTORYrider
satisFACTORYrider
10 years ago

I guess some of you were wanting a circle jerk?

savage
savage
10 years ago

I think ‘Fuji’ was the big winner in all this. Time for them to cancel their license agreement with specilized.

Nns
Nns
10 years ago

The talk of counterfeit product is completely unrelated, misdirection. Are any of you daft enough to bight? Its silly to think its anything but an attempt to soften their image. There’s no rug big enough to sweep this mess under.

Mike C
Mike C
10 years ago

There’s plenty of big companies who don’t sue and don’t hire legal “help” to do so on their part in the first place.

Maybe Specialized should focus less on legal shenanigans and more on making awesome bieks.

hello?
hello?
10 years ago

Nope. Nope. Nope. Read the Velonews article folks, and support the other vendors who have been sued/forced to change their name by Special Ed.

http://velonews.competitor.com/2013/12/bikes-and-tech/must-read-fuji-owner-says-specialized-overstepped-in-roubaix-case_310965

Rico
Rico
10 years ago

They did the right thing, that apology was fine, especially in person. Sore, it was a PR opportunity as well, to face the issue and make up looking good.

It was a very modern and fair way to handle the thing. What’s most interesting to me is the weight that the cycling community put on this issue via social media, comments, etc. I have to wonder how things would be if there were no internet.

John V
John V
10 years ago

“Maybe Specialized should focus less on legal shenanigans and more on making awesome bieks.”

bieks… I like it! Can I trademark that?

Bas
Bas
10 years ago

without internet, nobody would have known the roubaix shop. neither did specialized. clumsy video, but sinyard did the right thing by heading up there. hope his company (and others!) gets some common sense now in these kind of subjects, and focus on engineering better bikes.

Mike
Mike
10 years ago

goodbye S-Works Pro SL4 . . . I’m sure you didn’t need more 4 grand for your frame anyway.

Jdog
Jdog
10 years ago

I was sort of expecting Sinyard to give him a concept store or somehow offset the damage he has caused. He also looks in pretty poor health. Interesting time in the world of social media backlash.

Typical Spesh
Typical Spesh
10 years ago

Having been an employee for a number of years on the inside (and quit because of BS like this), I have to say this whole ordeal is completely typical of Specialized, and the attitude that is imbued into it’s employees and corporate culture. In the same way they treat employees to react fearfully about keeping their jobs and push them into submission, they place scare tactics against the rest of the industry, regardless of if it’s competition or not.

Between this, Volagi, and a number of other incidents, I can wholeheartedly say that this sort of culture isn’t going to change until the company implodes. The only reason Mike and their short-leashed lawyers are backing down is because they realized they have no ground to stand on and the negative consumer reaction.

Sorry Specialized/Sinyard, Your weak attempt at an apology can’t and won’t wash the bitter taste from the public’s mouths.

Matt
Matt
10 years ago

Maybe if Sinyard would have made his apology on Oprah it would have been more convincing.

srsly?
srsly?
10 years ago

This is such high-school drama.

*sigh* yet another sign that this industry has no plans to grow up

Sheepkiller
Sheepkiller
10 years ago

As I read this I keep thinking of what would have transpired if they were successful in their lawsuit…Just kept on throwing around weight and money.. Total bullsh*t that Specialized is trying to spin this as “working it out” and “finding other options”. The deal is they got called on sh*tty big company actions and now that we have outlets to express our discontent hopefully we’ll read fewer about things like this. I planned on a Stumpjumper this year, think I’ll go for the Niner instead…And just for good measure I’ve stopped saying “Epic” and moved back to saying “BRUTAL”.

Joey B
Joey B
10 years ago

Good move by the big S albeit the only move they had left at this point.

ifbikes
ifbikes
10 years ago

Why was that video so awkward?

EndoRando
EndoRando
10 years ago

So can we expect Sinyard to make a trip to Anchorage next to tell Eric he can change the name of his framebag-making business back to Epic Designs? I doubt it. This doesn’t appear to be a wholesale shift by the big S, just putting out one small fire.

tw
tw
10 years ago

The links provided here in the original article clearly indicated that the trademark pertained specifically to bike related items: frame, handlebars etc, not a shop. There was no case.

The law, which requires defense of the trademark or lose it, is designed to reduce frivolous use of the tm process. It becomes very expensive to defend a poorly designed tm.

The legal team representing Specialized will likely have some pink slips, which they richly deserve in this instance.

AlanM
AlanM
10 years ago

@TW, just to clarify, he was also selling wheels with the Cafe Roubaix name on them.

Ripnshread
Ripnshread
10 years ago

What a PR nightmare. Good luck Spesh, it used to be that just industry insiders knew that your business model centered around stealing/co-opting others ideas and using your lawyers to beat the little guy into submission. Now it looks like social media has revealed your true colors to the world.

Jeff
Jeff
10 years ago

Still not buying anything from Specialized…

Zap?
Zap?
10 years ago

Trek isn’t privy to what’s going on here apparently. I guess they made enough money during the Lance Armstrong years that they don’t have to worry about how tarnished their reputation is as a brand.

Good on Specialized for sorta making an apology I guess.

gravity
gravity
10 years ago

No one outside of a handful of nerds who already hated the brand, care about Trek’s relationship to Lance. NO ONE.

Also, if you think Specialized, or any other bike brand, wouldn’t have given their left nut (pun intended) to sponsor Lance through seven tour victories, you’re just diluting yourself. They didn’t take some moral high-road, they just missed the opportunity. And I have no doubt that, behind the scenes, Sinyard attempted to steal Lance away. He would have been an idiot not to at least try.

MeroMasta
MeroMasta
10 years ago

@Zap? What does Trek have to do with this story? They are not the ones who didn’t know how to handle a simple trademark dispute with a small business, nevermind ASI owns the trademark and not Spesh. Yeah, Trek sues companies for trademark like Spesh does (Trek Winery, Subaru), but they don’t seem as heavy handed or show up in the press as frequently as Spesh does (Epic, Stumptown, Volagi).

Every brand in the US made off like bandits during the LA times and LA wasn’t the only one doping. In fact, name me a bicycle brand that hasn’t sponsored a doper. Are you going to say Pinarello’s and Giant’s brand is tarnished bc of Ullrich and Zabel? Or Bianchi’s bc of Pantani? What about Contador?

Sinyard personally visiting Dan was a good move, but personally I think it was too little too late. Also the “apology” seemed half assed, like it was forced out of him. What does counterfeiting have to do with this anyhow? The wheels? One look and you know they aren’t Spesh wheels!

I think they realized (a little late) that this was not going away and that it was going to impact the bottomline. Either way, Spesh made the best out of the mess they made.

Eyal
Eyal
10 years ago

Wow! They’ve sent a C&D letter to this company: https://www.facebook.com/epixgear/posts/10152089763882505

Robo
Robo
10 years ago

ew someone needed to send them a c&d just to quit making those horrible kits.

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