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Headquarters Tour: Specialized’s amazing home base, plus museum & more!

specialized headquarters tour
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specialized headquarters tour

Few brands elicit as emotional a response as Specialized, and to walk around their offices, the passion is pervasive. And it’s easy to see why. Behind these doors are the usual assortment of cubicles and desks, but they’re tucked around huge open spaces, killer play areas, a massive R&D lab, and an entire room dedicated to nothing more than designer Robert Egger’s one-off custom creations. Curious to see how the Big Red S houses their employees?

Walk in the front door and their museum is directly to your right. It’s open to the public, so swing by anytime. We’ll come back around to it later in this post. Take a left and you roll up on the cafeteria…

…where they have Bagel & Donut Fridays. Free pastries, cold-brew coffee, kombucha, yogurt and other delicious snacks. We lucked out that we just happened to visit on Friday! The official reason for the weekly smorgasbord is to bring a couple hundred employees from all departments together to mingle. Another reason might be because they’re sort of in Silicon Valley (the outskirts, anyway) and fancy lunch programs as employee perks are common. Any other time of day, there’s a full cafe with fresh and hot lunches, smoothies, salad bar and more.

Directly across the hallway is their Body Geometry fit studio. They have multiple work stations so they can handle training classes, and they are testing new scanning equipment (more on that in a separate post). The Retül fit bike sits on the platform…Specialized bought that brand a few years back and offers several packages for sale to retailers and fitters, whether you’re a “S” dealer or not, but the software for matching you to a bike is specific to their bikes.

Around the corner are the locker rooms with more showers than I’ve ever seen at any headquarters. With so many employees (most, from the lunch time bustle) head out for mid-day rides, then grab lunch when they get back. Lockers, towel service and soap is all provided. Honestly, it’s pretty impressive. I didn’t grab a photo, but there’s also tons of indoor bike parking…

…and this giant workshop (on left). Employees get deals on bikes, and they get assembled here. And if memory serves, they have access to this enormous room full of tools and supplies to tinker with their own bikes. There’s also a rental program (free) so they can check out any of Specialized’s bikes to try out for a week. Then return it and try something else. Then something else. And so on.

The play area sits central inside the main building. To the right, through that opening, are offices. If we head down the path on the left and take a sharp left, we get to their Apparel Lab:

Inside here they can prototype and customize any piece of clothing. This is where their apparel gets designed and tested, and where sponsored pro athletes can get things tailored for them.

They even have rolls of technical fabrics and a custom sublimation printer and heat press to create one-off jerseys, shorts and other kit for top athletes or special events. On the table are some of the printed patterns for a pair of bib shorts, laying behind two custom tops they did recently.

Keep walking down that path and you come to a wide open area that’ll soon be converted to additional R&D space. Turn to your right and you’ll see the key-card accessed R&D lab of Specialized designer Robert Egger…inside which very few photos were allowed (despite our pleading). Here’s what we can show you:

They have their own paint booth for special editions. And, if you work there and will pay for the paint, they’ll create your dream paint job for nothing more than the cost of supplies.

If you know what you’re doing around an airbrush, they’ll even let you try painting it yourself.

 

Let their pros handle it and designs go from this…

…to this. This particular bike was nicknamed the Disney Cruise Ship thanks to its color selection and details, like deep sparkle paint.

Inside the walls was one of several small trailers they’ve built, shown here in extreme closeup because there was a bike in front of it that we weren’t supposed to photo. Inside is a desk, letting it serve as a private workspace when you need to focus. Most all of the offices are open floor plan, so finding one of these offers a little solitude.

Circle around and you’ll be skirting an oversized concept showroom bike shop, which was locked up with covered windows. Outside it was a (likely replica) VW bus that Sinyard sold to pay for his trip to Europe, which is where he happened upon the right contacts that led to importing parts…which is how Specialized started. Keep reading…

As if the coffee machines in the cafeteria weren’t enough, several office halls have their own coffee stations with pour-over equipment. Seriously.

A big part of their dealer training is SBCU, which has this workshop for technical lessons on things like BRAIN shocks and forks and other parts, plus a classroom outside with props…

…like this to help dealers spot the difference between real Specialized bikes and counterfeits.

And now we’re back to the museum. Inside is a replica of Mike Sinyard’s first office, which (according to legend) wasn’t much more than a stock room with a desk.

Sinyard got his start importing high end parts from Europe that were hard or impossible to find in the states. The bike in the first museum photo was the 1971 Holdsworth bicycle and trailer (which was outfitted with tubulars) used to deliver Bay Area orders.

Sinyard, at the beginning.

After a few years of importing products and then making tires, Specialized started with bikes…like this 1981 Sequoia built by Yoshi Kono, the noted “San Rensho” Keirin frame builder in Japan.

This one’s a prototype Stumpjumper from 1983.

A 1987 Specialized Allez.

The original full suspension bikes started out as modified hardtails with this unit to test the Horst Link.

Which became bikes like this FSR downhill model for Shawn Palmer in 1996.

Looks about like today’s enduro bikes, no? No.

Things progress quickly, showcasing more modern machines like Jaroslav Kulhavy’s 2012 Olympic XC race bike…

And Olympic gold medalist Gwen Jorgensen’s 2016 Amira road bike with heat sensitive Torch paint.

Other memorabilia is scattered about, like this 1990 Specialized/Dupont tai-spoke aero wheel designed using a Cray Supercomputer. They say it’s so good, the design is still in use today.

An entire wall shows off the different carbon pieces used to create different size frames. Size specific layups aren’t exclusive to Specialized, but it’s pretty cool to see it laid out life size.

Want more? Check out our tour of the Win Tunnel, and stay tuned for a gallery of prototypes and one-off concepts found on the second floor of the museum!

Specialized.com

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Chase
Chase
6 years ago

Pretty much illustrates the reason their products are so monstrously priced and why I don’t buy them. They need a reset.

caliente
caliente
6 years ago
Reply to  Chase

Gotta pay for all the sinyard worship!

SomePeople
SomePeople
6 years ago
Reply to  Chase

Right? What a bunch of jerks having fun doing something they are passionate about and enjoying the success their hard work has brought them. They need to reset and start giving bikes out for free, duh.

Robin
Robin
6 years ago
Reply to  Chase

Actually it doesn’t. The reason their products are priced the way they are is because the market will bear those prices. It’s pretty simple really. If they were overpriced, they wouldn’t be selling.

Maybe taking care of their employees upsets you.

Aaron
Aaron
6 years ago
Reply to  Robin

Taking care of their employees? LOL Red room

Robin
Robin
6 years ago
Reply to  Aaron

Yeah, you’re right: that static display must add loads of dollars to the cost of a Specialized bike component.

James
James
6 years ago
Reply to  Chase

I buy Specialized because their products are innovative and always one step ahead, and incredible quality. and the brand image, and they have history ..

Pete
Pete
6 years ago

DreamJob

Rocky Balboa
Rocky Balboa
6 years ago

Prepare yourselves,

Specialized articles: the one time the Bike Rumor comment section turns into Pinkbike.

lop
lop
6 years ago
Reply to  Rocky Balboa

I wager this thread makes it 80-100 comments, before it gets shut down.

Naik
Naik
6 years ago

Been there couple of times but they only let me stroll the museum area. Either way is a must do for all Specialized fanboys. Haters gonna hate but the place is cool,there’s a magic aurea around it,even if you don’t ride Specialized.

Anonymous
Anonymous
6 years ago

“Few brands elicit as emotional a response as Specialized”

You mean utter disgust?

Wiscomark
Wiscomark
6 years ago
Reply to  Anonymous

Far more people like them than hate them.

Aaron
Aaron
6 years ago
Reply to  Wiscomark

I wonder how many people are blind and how many can see. Probably not an easy number to figure out. Somehow the story of the Pied Piper comes to mind.

Andrew
Andrew
6 years ago

I’m with Pete…. Working at Specialized would be my dream job!

Joey Dye
Joey Dye
6 years ago

Specialized has done more to elevate this sport than almost any one single company. It’s funny to hear people throw out ill informed quips about Specialized because it makes them feel more “core”. Hey guys, maybe don’t have your ego so wrapped up in your brands, it doesn’t make you sound cool. PS: Most of us are just grown ups on bikes. LIGHTEN UP! I’d work for Spesh

Beat_the_trail
Beat_the_trail
6 years ago
Reply to  Joey Dye

What, like sue a small shop out of existence and steal the original Stumpjumper from Gary Fisher and Tom Ritchey?

Joey Dye
Joey Dye
6 years ago
Reply to  Beat_the_trail

#thingsthattotallyhappened

Michael
Michael
6 years ago
Reply to  Joey Dye

I hope you are kidding with that comment. Cause all of that totally happened.
Just look up the Cafe Roubaix case or the Epix Clothing case or Epic Bicycles in GA. Those are just two of them. Hell, he’s even gone after Portland Oregon for calling themselves “Stumptown” Something which they’ve been calling themselves for decades. Long before Specialized was around.

As for the bikes, again, totally happened. Watch Clunkerz. Talk to anyone who was at the start of mountain biking.

#NOTfakenews

Anonymous
Anonymous
6 years ago
Reply to  Michael

It’s not like you’ll ever convince a specialized fanboy from worshiping their god-emperor or spouting their alternative facts.

Joey Dye
Joey Dye
6 years ago
Reply to  Anonymous

Not likely to be able to convince you of being capable of independent thought, or to use logic and not just emotion to come to your conclusions. I just like bikes, don’t really care what brand. Please point out one alternative fact that I used……

Beat_the_trail
Beat_the_trail
6 years ago
Reply to  Michael

Don’t forget, they just lost a patent lawsuit for stealing Stan’s rim profile. Yet another infringement by the big S.

Joey Dye
Joey Dye
6 years ago
Reply to  Michael

Your facts need a little work. https://www.outsideonline.com/1920596/war-specialized

I have seen Klunkerz and it left me with the opinion that Sinyard was the only guy around with any business sense in the group. Ritchey and Fisher did not invent MTB. They both made great contributions to the sport, but if left in their hands we’d all still be riding Kunkerz. (They have also made a lot of money in the industry) I don’t think the sport would be where it is with out the vision and business sense of Sinyard.

James Mason
James Mason
5 years ago
Reply to  Joey Dye

Tom Ritchey has plenty of business sense. He was just interested in doing it in a different way than Sinyard was.

John
John
6 years ago
Reply to  Joey Dye

Could you name me a few things Specialized invented or did to elevate the sport more than other companies as I honestly cannot think of much, other than selling a lot of bikes…

Aaron
Aaron
6 years ago
Reply to  Joey Dye

Sounds like you’re wrap up in a brand too. LOL

Joey Dye
Joey Dye
6 years ago
Reply to  Aaron

Good one!

Eric "ForestCat" Lynch
Eric "ForestCat" Lynch
6 years ago

Oh, how I long for my return to the Mothership… Alas, someday…

Michael
Michael
6 years ago

I like how they make it sound like they came up with the Horst Link design. Ummm….Pretty sure AMP Research was making them before Specialized was.

Gillis
Gillis
6 years ago
Reply to  Michael

Correct, Amp was offering the B4, I think, in 1990. That picture states development in ’91/92. That said, Spesh did license the design I believe.

Michael
Michael
6 years ago
Reply to  Gillis

They didn’t license it till 95 or 96 I think. They had their own FSR design with the suspension mount to the seat collar.
But yeah, AMP had been doing the Horst Link design back in the 70’s on motorcycles and then into the mountain bike arena in the late 80’s.
Horst Leitner was done with the bike world and licensed it to Specialized and then eventually sold it to them i think in 2000.

Raoul Morley
6 years ago

“This is the part of the company where we take European words and try and trade mark them”…

Dave
Dave
6 years ago
Reply to  Raoul Morley

We have a winner!

Goodone
Goodone
6 years ago
Reply to  Raoul Morley

I have a number of sweet riding Specalized bikes, but so far, this ^ has made me chuckle the most…too funny! No I need the finish the rest of the comments below.

Ashok Captain
6 years ago
Reply to  Raoul Morley

: D!!

Patrick Miller
Patrick Miller
6 years ago

OMG MY TRACK BIKE!!!!!!!!!!!!ahhhhahahhaha

Dhbomber
Dhbomber
6 years ago

Nice to see Aldo Ilesic’s london red hook crit frame! Awesome paint job! Better than last years London frame that’s for sure. Now, let’s see if he wins this time!

Ben Arians
Ben Arians
6 years ago

“And Mike Sinyard came down from the mount, and laid His hands on the lowly bicycle, and it was good. And the downtrodden bikers prostrated themselves and worshipped Him.”

Robert
Robert
6 years ago

They do a great job of going after customers and not just selling bikes but selling “an experience”.Always start with knowing who to sell to and let them know you are “family” as opposed to just doing a great product and hoping someone will buy. Sure they make some good stuff but one pays big dollars for the aura of association.

Chase
Chase
6 years ago
Reply to  Robert

I think you nailed why I dislike them so much. That approach repels customers as well.

mikedeep
mikedeep
6 years ago
Reply to  Chase

….so you don’t want a cycle company to design a product with the desired/intended experience in mind? How does one avoid that? Blindly glue tubes together and hope it works?

Alex
Alex
6 years ago

The 1981 Sequoias framebuilder was Yoshi Konno. And the famous Keirin brand he is working for is named 3Rensho.

James Mason
James Mason
5 years ago
Reply to  Alex

Yoshi was 3Rensho. He didn’t “work for them.”

dustytires
6 years ago

emotional is the WORD, dammmm. We can all get uppity about Specialized in one direction or another, but the underlying thread here is that the people, them people kinda like us but that work at Specialized are riders. Mike was a rider first, then a businessman, and they make a huge effort to support their peoples access to riding. thats pretty cool.

Double ZZ
Double ZZ
6 years ago

Organization health can sometimes get missed through the lavish, autonomous, creative caves that they build.

LowRider
LowRider
6 years ago

Please do a tour of the Impec Lab.

LowRider
LowRider
6 years ago
Reply to  Tyler Benedict

Thanks Tyler. I’m looking forward to reading your article. Or even better if you don’t mind me tagging along you I’d gladly take a train to meet you there!

Tim Crane
Tim Crane
6 years ago

The Sinyard worship seems a bit weird, but they build nice bikes. I’ve owned and still own, Cannondale, Klein, Litespeed,Titus, Schwinn, Merlin, and Specialized. For me, it always comes down to the bike shop and the relationship we build.

Raymond Epstein
Raymond Epstein
6 years ago

I have nothing against the big S. They have long been the company everyone loves to hate and hates to love. They’ve brought many innovations and much creativity to the cycling world, but at the same time have made some sleazy moves throughout their history. Cyclists will debate their travesties and virtues until the end of time. However, one thing in particular that I find in poor taste regarding the story presented here are Mr Sinyard’s monuments to his success. The recreated original office and all his pictures are an acme of self-aggrandizement. I know many with money and power that have never felt it necessary to put their stamp, name or history out there for glory. Conversely, I know plenty of people however that do and find them far more unpleasant to be around.

Dave
Dave
6 years ago

Agreed. It made me think of Gavin Belson’s garage.

Raymond Epstein
Raymond Epstein
6 years ago
Reply to  Dave

@Dave: Yep, exactly.

tyler
tyler
6 years ago

SHAUN Palmer, not Shawn – how old r u

can you ask sinyard why sworks tarmac frames are so expensive AND heavy AND unaero all at the same ?

blah blah blah
blah blah blah
6 years ago
Reply to  tyler

but they sure do win a lot a sh@t tho

Gillis
Gillis
6 years ago
Reply to  blah blah blah

You mean they pay the people most likely to win to use their product.

Matt
Matt
6 years ago
Reply to  tyler

Best road bike I have ever raced on and I have raced on them all.

TruckNutZ
TruckNutZ
6 years ago
Reply to  Matt

all of them(!!!!!) Wow!

JustSomeGuy
JustSomeGuy
6 years ago
Reply to  TruckNutZ

ALL. OF. THEM.
Apparently Matt goes around, borrowing bikes, taking them out for “test rides” from shops, even sneaking bikes out of garages at night, all so he can race all bikes. Road, mountain, cross, track. Makes no difference, Matt has raced YOUR bike.

VeloFreak
VeloFreak
6 years ago

I will never ever buy anything specialized. It’s a marketing company that happens to sell bicycles. that been said, I think Sinyard is a nice decent guy, who is still on the company, a company that he just happens to work for, more that his own. He could have sold it and move away, he prefered to stay… He was importing Cinelli bikes, funny there is no single Cinelli logo in that first office recreation, typical fake marketing thing. This is not a museum, just a gimmick for marketing, just another one from the big S. He killed the california mtb market by working with the japanese, which was a great and fair move if you ask me, nothing beats the japanese; ask sram.

I´m sure he does not like many of the things of the new specialized, but so many great brands have died and/or turned to mediocre products that I think the guy had no other choice, and overall he made the right moves every time. Again, will never buy anything S, though. But business related, it’s all great, just like Apple. And just like Apple, it’s a shit brand. An example for any MBA, a shit for any decent cyclist that has been in this for a while and knows what is and what is not proper cycling culture and material.

Enter-net
Enter-net
6 years ago
Reply to  VeloFreak

Um, what?

Flatbiller
Flatbiller
6 years ago
Reply to  VeloFreak

“It’s a marketing company”

I see this phrase used a lot, but I never really understood what it means, in a literal sense. I think it’s used the same way as “paradigm shift” or “corporate synergy” or “deep dive” or “diverse market bifurcations,” but I could be wrong.

So, are you implying they don’t make anything? They just take photos, make ads, and products just show up at retailers? If I go to Asia, the factories are just filled with Social Media Managers and Marketing Communications Directors?

I took a tour of their HQ and they do not have an Engineering department; it’s all Marketing people writing copy and taking photos (apparently of products they don’t create, design and manufacture).

Last magazine I looked in, they had as many ads as all other companies “marketing” their wares (read: one). Shockingly, one of their ads had a guy riding a bike down a hill, and below it were words that said something about how great they are and how awesome the things they “market” are compared to other products from other companies (who actually MAKE stuff). I am pretty Specialized were the only company that had an ad that said their products were the best; all the other companies just had a big peace sign and a humble statement (e.g., “Our products are pretty good, but we’ll let you decide. We’re not as good as Specialized, but we’re humble and don’t want to make us out to be more than we are.”).

Is that what “marketing” company means?

Haromania
Haromania
6 years ago

Love Specialized, and Trek. When they produce a kick ass product, it makes everyone else produce a kick ass product or get left behind. More choices = we all win.

Dauber Jenkins
Dauber Jenkins
6 years ago

One of my best experiences working at a shop was my time at tech class. Admittedly, there was a ton of Kool-Aid being dispensed. However their SBCU staff was amazing and inspired me as a new service manager to strive and aspire to great things, not just be a wrench. I give kudos to those guys for being a part of my career that continues today.

comrad
comrad
6 years ago

That awkward moment when their grammar is wrong in their museum info

Patricia
Patricia
6 years ago

Only one thing missing….the possibility of bumping into Peter Sagan!!..YES PLEASE(Huuuuuuuge fan)

Enter-net
Enter-net
6 years ago

Dunno.

Maybe it’s the lighting or the flash from the camera used (or the unrelenting overhyped marketing goop) but the place seems “stale.”. (BR, consider investing in some remote flashes for indoor shoots like this, would help provide depth and warmth.)

Or maybe a half-baked attempt to seem like a S. Valley new age tech firm ’cause of the CA address. It’s the bike industry, so I’m accustomed to expecting less for more (and more) $$. Here’s to hoping they TRULY are treating their employees well.

Biff
Biff
6 years ago

Such a joke. Dream job? Haters gonna hate? This isn’t where bikes are made and I doubt their overseas factory workers are enjoying donut Fridays and midday rides. Call it what you want and eat it up if you don’t care but this is just a shameful display of wealth and privilege.

Matt
Matt
6 years ago
Reply to  Biff

Jealous much?

Biff
Biff
6 years ago
Reply to  Matt

Of what? I would be embarrassed to work there.

comrad
comrad
6 years ago
Reply to  Biff

“their overseas factory workers are enjoying donut Fridays and midday rides.” Good thing they are actually Orbea’s workers

PabloE432
PabloE432
6 years ago
Reply to  comrad

Er, Merida?

Flatbiller
Flatbiller
6 years ago

I only support the small mom-and-pop bike brands and bike shops.

Until, that is, they become too popular and too big, after which I dump them for selling out. I prefer that they waddle in mediocrity so that they retain their street cred, and I sound cool at the trailhead, like that smarmy guy at the cocktail party who takes pride in being into bands no one has ever heard about.

Tom
Tom
6 years ago

jesus. some people need to lighten up. Sinyard = dark Sythe Lord? Come off it. He played hard in a business where it is hard to make money. He built a real company. Don’t like them? Fine, don’t buy their bikes. And for the record, I wouldn’t call his office recreation a shrine of ego aggrandizement. I’d think of it more as a testimony to what hard work can achieve. Specialized is not a monolith, it started in a garage, and through the hard work and creativity of people, became something big and successful. And for the record, trademark infringement is a serious concern, and has to be proactively protected or people will take advantage of the investments Spec have made for their own benefit. In the IP world, you snooze, you lose.
And for the record, I’m not a Spec fan boy, and have never owned any of their gear. I just don’t think they are the evil empire.

Anonymous
Anonymous
6 years ago
Reply to  Tom

It wasn’t even his trademark.

patrick
patrick
6 years ago

Look at that flat saddle angle. Clearly that is not Kulhavý bike. :-p

https://bikerumor.com/2015/05/27/nove-mesto-world-cup-xc-pro-bike-check-kulavy-wins-on-s-works-epic/

Jan Marjee
Jan Marjee
6 years ago

WOW… I would love to visit there….

Tim
Tim
6 years ago

In the 90s specialized jumped on the bmx bandwagon and produced some really, realy bad bikes. Later I learned about thier business practices. I will never like or respect this company… although I do run a used S bottle cage on my road bike… reluctantly :0)

Gerald
Gerald
6 years ago

The only thing I owned that says Specialized is a pair of leg warmers I needed and wanted to support my local bike shop.
The photo’s for your story were pretty uninspiring. It may of been your lighting, or just the composure, but it sure didn’t inspire me to work for them. Your previous photo’s of small time builders in cluttered workshops with lots of old industrial machinery wowed me into thinking it would of been great to take up frame building in my younger days.

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