File this under “Damn the Man.”
SPECIALIZED BICYCLES SUES FORMER EMPLOYEES WHO CREATE START-UP.
Specialized is no different than any other large corporation. These non-compete clauses are very common, and they are ridiculous. I understand trying to protect your proprietary developments in house, but honestly, the day a corporation owns my thoughts is the day I leave this country for good. Seems to be heading that way. I hear Pripyat is nice this time of year.
Support Volagi. Not sure exactly how to do that, but if the opportunity to stand with these guys comes along, do it. And if you’re interested in reading more about why the title of this post is relevant, click HERE and HERE.
On that note, I apologize for injecting politics into this. That shit’s lame. Let’s go drink and ride bikes, or whatever.
Hey BGW,
No you’re not an idiot, the same way Charlie & JP are not idiots, you’ve stood by & respected an ideal & a principle.
Everyone else went off & made a livelihood out of bikes to various degrees of exploitation, (not that there is anything wrong with that except that Fuck it there’s lots)..
Many of them are now enjoying the status of ‘Elder statesmen’.
Sorta like the ANC in my home country at the moment.
In my opinion, you three have been true.
But that’s just me..
…thanks, hurben…it’s a dichotomy to be sure…
…all the original guys who are still heavily involved hadda make choices along the way & i guess sometimes those choices led them away from the ‘sense of purpose’ that defined the early days & while i can’t fault that natural evolution (biz is biz, no matter the industry, ya ???), it is a shame in a way to see the present results…
…i’m not naive enough to think any industry could really set it’s own ethical standards & maintain them but i do have mixed feelings, having watched something grow & blossom from such tiny roots to the absolute world wide phenomena it’s become, especially in light of having worked in that industry & creating certain ‘accoutrements’ that are still in use today…
…years ago, i was asked by a headhunting firm to work for ‘specialized’ with an offer of considerably more money & despite my intrigue, i spurned the offer to stay with gary fisher’s company which i felt truly was innovative…
…6 months later, that iteration of fisher folded, leaving 30 of us jobless & i’d burned that particular bridge…c’est la vie…i wasn’t really enamored of leaving marin, so i guess i didn’t look too hard for work elsewhere in the biz…
…with some of the machinations i see throughout the industry these days, i can’t say i honestly regret that decision despite the money i might have made…call me crazy but i have my own sense of ‘standards’…
You ain’t crazy.
Hurben
“My hypocrisy knows no bounds.” Doc Holliday in Tombstone.
…cycling…what is it about this wonderful, healthy & amazing activity that draws some of the personalities it does ???…
…i guess it starts with the competitive nature of the sport which evolved out of simply enjoying a bike ride…
…the sinyard’s, the armstrong’s, the flagstaff ‘attitude’…
…i don’t have a real point other than to point out the obvious…
…for each of us, it all started with simply enjoying a bike ride…
…SPECIALIZED WINS !!!…breach of contract…damages = $1.00…
…bwahahaha ad infinitum…
…waiting for more info but this was the first word out a’ the courtroom…
…so justice was done, the contract was upheld & volagi pays for their insolence…that’ll work out to $0.50 per man…
… http://www.bicycleretailer.com/news/newsDetail/6366.html …
…actually robert choi will have to shoulder the bill…barley forsman found not liable…
…“Specialized founder and president Mike Sinyard said he was satisfied with the outcome.
…”This lawsuit was a matter of principle and about protecting our culture of trust and innovation. We respect the ruling of the court in our favor. We are very satisfied with the outcome and the damages set at $1.00. We really want to put all our passion and time into growing the sport of cycling.”…
…ya, sure…okey, dokey…
…“According to earlier court filings, Specialized had spent $1.5 million in legal fees up to the start of the trial last week.”…
…yep…all about principals…
blah blah blah… I’m kind of embarrassed that I own three big S bikes. My Stumpy from 1996 is now about to die, so I’ll have to find another brand to replace it with.
Looks like volagi won! According to their tweets they get their patent and have to pay big S $1!
https://twitter.com/#!/volagi
I gots a Special ed Allez I snagged for twenty clams at a thrift store. Two or three sizes too small, but for twenty bucks it’s a great donor bike. The lugged steel frame will probably hang on my garage wall until I’m done picking it clean.
My partner and I absolutely love your blog and find most of your post’s to be exactly I’m looking for. Does one offer guest writers to write content to suit your needs? I wouldn’t mind creating a post or elaborating on a number of the subjects you write related to here. Again, awesome weblog!
To all of you who (still) own a Spezialized… Are your Chesse Meters broken?!!
In ’89 someone gave me a Hardrock, took me about 2 mos. to save up for a Ritchey that hard rocked my world forever. (especially after retrofitting w/Unishock & Pederson Brakes)
In 2000, bought a house where there were no trails but epic mtn. roads, after a 12 yr hiatus from skinnies & overacheiving trigeeks, I got a S. Allez w/105 for half price($500) from Supergo(Purveyors of massive amounts of low grade dairy). In 2001 I crushed my friends(and a few fallen rocks) up L’ Alpe Du Huez w/40# panniers in freezing rain while they rode carbon w/record. Two days later I snapped the deraileur hanger in Provence and was taken in by a Frenchman who was a rider and a chef on vaca. The next 3days were spent riding his old bike 54(I use 61) w/rusted(fused) seat post tiny ’80’s shoes(pedlas also fused), watching all day live coverage of the tour, while eating gourmet food. FOR FREE! Truly an “Epic”(used w/permission from “MR.” Sinyard).
A point? You ask…I have S. to thank for taking me there & on my first MTB ride. As do millions of other riders who got their start on an S. Fortunately we owe them nothing in return, cause those bikes were all acquired through legal means. We get to move on to bigger and better things. If we love riding exciting high quality products from craftsmen and innovators and entrepreneurs who raise the bar(usually much higher than any of the big 3 with their megamillions) we get to purchase those products without fear of impunity. What a country! Even partial Capitalism is better than what the other guys got.
The big S may have sold a few good products(wether they stole them or not) but, how big a mtn of cheese would you have to nibble through to find that needle in a haystack? For every good bike that they ever sold there were 10 others out there on the free market that you could and still can purchase which are as good or better than an S.
When I ride by someone riding that Queso, I don’t chastise them or spit on them but, I do silently pity them(except of course for those riding a Roubaix with those innovative(cute) little dampeners in the seat stays) and hope they eventually discover a better alternative.
For those of us who’ve been around long enough to make such historical correlations, Specialized IS the new Schwinn! I suspect they too will die such an uncerimonious death. Hopefully through the purchase by a large Chinese manufacturer who will likely take the big S. to the next and final level. Please God, in my lifetime?
Ride whatcha got!