Galic Ho said:
I said I was almost tempted to give a prize. I didn't say i would, because I suspected there were some triathlon followers roaming the site. However, I expected it to take more than the first guess. How did you know Cervelo (which it is by a massive margin, roughly 60%) was the correct answer?
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In recent years as in the past, bicycle brands are getting involved more and more in the professional peloton, to the extent that one of them, Cervelo, sponsors one of the strongest groups in international cycling: Carlos Sastre’s team. In 2010, BMC—Evans’ new team—will also be a strong player in the market, and for that reason its competitors are forced to stick to its wheel.
In this context, Specialized’s reaction is perfectly understandable as a company running the risk of falling behind in the battle with rival firms, especially Trek, the other American giant that has been linked from the beginning to Armstrong, Bruyneel and their teams: US Postal, Discovery Channel and especially, Astana.
And so, although Contador has loved the Trek bicycles that he’s used for the last three years, since signing with Discovery Channel, Armstrong’s comeback has changed everything. Knowing that Trek will go with Armstrong and his new RadioShack team, Contador has searched for a technically and economically effective manufacturer, one that can supply him with cutting-edge equipment, including doing as many tests in the wind tunnel or in the velodrome as needed to put him ahead.
And that’s the agreement that has been reached with Specialized, a company launched in 1974 by Mike Sinyard, a 24-year-old who had to sell his van in order to come to Europe, to buy components here and sell them afterwards in the USA.
Sinyard founded Specialized with $1,500, and in the first year, sales had already reached $64,000, which allowed him to take a new step and to create in that same year a new bike called the Allez, his first great success. In 1981 he created his first mountain bike, the Stumpjumper, which lent its name to a mountain biking team, a discipline in which Specialized enjoys great prestige.
Nevertheless, the biggest bicycle manufacturer in the world is neither Trek nor Specialized, but Giant, whose machines are used by Rabobank (and formerly by Telekom and Liberty). Giant, in fact, does not only make bicycles in Taiwan with its own name, but also for other companies and, sometimes, for its direct competitors.
According to 2008 figures, Giant did business worth $750,000,000 (on its brand of bicycles only), compared to $725,000,000 by Trek and $650,000,000 by Specialized, which accounts for the top three spots in the world ranking.
However, the signing of Contador could help Specialized, a dependent for several years of the multinational corporation Merida, expand its market and rise on the points scale.
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