I hate specialized bikes - Page 2

We spend a sizable amount of time, talk and money in the area of "effeciency" and "power transfer" as well as "comfort". In the "ride of life" those issues are equally essential. Free floating hate costs us energy better used in effective living.

See where you "against" energy can be redirected in "for" opportunities. You can become known for what you are for rather than what you are against.

But what do I know, I ride a Schwinn and like it.

Saddlesoarus has a point. Therefore I am going to go off topic and say that I really like Raleighs, old and new, older Univegas, and nearly everthing Italian. I respect all of the others, they just aren't the ride for me. Oh, and I have a low entry level Mongoose for when I feel the need to go off road.

Umm, well I suppose. But if someone had given me my Allez, for nothing, the geometry was still utterly horrible. The seat post still didn't fit the frame properly (and slid constantly). The saddle - well really I wouldn't want to say anything except it was the first bit of it to go in the trash (all of it followed though).

I fact it even for nothing, it would have still been the worst bike in the garage.

The Trek 1000 I bought to replace it on 'winter' duties, is better in every single solitary way. Brilliant in fact.

The only good thing that can come from the money I wasted on the Specialized, is that I might be able to make someone else think twice before they waste their's.

I just got a Specialized Allez Comp. and I love it. I don't have much much to compare it to (an old crosscycle), but if ignorance is bliss, I'll stay ignorant and happy. I can't say enough good things about the bike.

As a side note, I spent over 10 years as a competitive powerlifter. On the powerlifting forums, equipment companies would have their employees or sponsored lifters go on the internet and trash their competitors and promote their product. They would have 3 or so fake names and talk trash, and then log on using a different name and say "yeah the same thing happened to me." I'm not trying to accuse anyone of anything, but maybe there's some hidden propaganda here. I just don't see why someone would benefit from starting a thread trashing a bike company.

Which, of course makes this thread as worthless as your opinion.

__________________
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It is like a finger, pointing away
to the moon......
Don't concentrate on the finger,
or you'll miss all that Heavenly glory."

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"Enter The Dragon"

Being positive, I really like steel bikes. At least the one's I've ridden so far have all been very much to my liking.

Raleigh? They are a different company in the US from the UK now. I think the US one's look really good. The UK Raleighs are now a real disappointment compared to the 60's and 70's when they were at the top of the sport. It's a shame that such an historic brand is just imploding on itself (in the UK anyway). For all the hassle it would be to manufacture some high end bikes to capture the interest that Nicole Cooke's success is creating.

I really don't know how UK Raleighs are now. I have a 1970's vintage Nottingham Raliegh from just before their ill fated Rampar experiment and it is a sweet riding frame. Just a bit on the heavy side but it makes it very stable. My Supercourse and Competition are both Raleigh USA Bikes and are really nice. The stock wheelsets on the Competition are nothing to write home about, but I have a nice pair of Bontrager Race Lites to put on it when we get a good rainy day and I opt to stay dry.

I'm going to have to google Nicole Cooke. I do not follow the racing end of the sport anymore. I ride only for pleasure now and am really more into the technical end of things.

Sounds like compact geometry just isn't right for you, but your bike could as well have been a Giant or other compact frame and you still would have hated it. Don't know why you seat post was slipping. Never had any probs with mine and the saddle that came on my Ruby is the only stock saddle that I've ever kept, but it is a high end bike. Stock saddles usually suck and were the first thing to go on all of my other bikes, so I'd never judge a bike on that! No reason to trash the whole company.
Rather than trash it you should have sold it to someone it would suit better...

I can't disagree that the issue is partly about compact geometry. But it is only partly about that. There were other problems with the bike.

As I said the seat post just didn't fit the frame properly, it kept sliding until I bought a seat post that did fit the frame. Then is finally stopped slipping. By that point the clamp had shattered, since in trying to get the original post to stop slipping, is sheared into bits. The wheel bearings didn't run smoothly at all. And of course there was the geometry problem. Personally I think the saddle is vile. Compared to the stock saddle on the Trek, it's not just uncofortable it looks cheap too.

On the geometry issue. Prior to trashing the brute, I replaced the saddle, stem, and seat post, to get every dimension identical to my Trek 2000 (the good bike at the time). I succeeded in getting every major dimension the same and yet it still rode horribly. I've never spent so much time and money, trying to redeem something that I had bought, just out of stubborness and refusal to be 'beaten'. But, it won, it got trashed.

I can't trash the whole company, I don't think I did (the original poster certainly did). But, the one I bought was a pile of crap, and I would only ever recommend to my ex-boss that he buy a Specialized, (I hated him). I wouldn't want anyone else to feel as disappointed with a purchase, as I was with it. I spent a lot of mileage trying to 'ride it into submission' but all it did was spoil my cycling. I wouldn't have sold it to anyone else. I would have felt guilty.

I ride a 2005 Raleigh Supercourse. The bike shop also carried Specialized and Trek. I found the Raleigh rode smoother than the Allez and the Trek, and it offered better components for less money than both, so I went with the Raleigh. I also agree the stock wheelsets aren't all that special, but then again I'm riding for fitness and recreation, not trying to be a racer.

I just googled Nicole Cooke and was surprised to see a pro racer riding Raleigh. It's not a name you see in pro racing, though I wonder if that's merely because of individual companies make different choices of where to spend their marketing $$$.

Anyway, regarding Specialized, I don't really see how they're better or worse than other bike manufacturers. Isn't the kind of hatred the OP talks about usually reserved for the leader in the field (in this case, Trek)?

My partner rides a Specialized Roubaix and is very happy with it, but then again he also just got a warranty replacement from Specialized because the rear wheel (cassette mechanism, I think) was defective. But Specialized paid for the replacement parts and labor, so at least they do stand behind their product.

Um, in the paragraph you claim you are not trashing the whole company you do just that!

Methinks that there are some other bike company employees making some mischief in this thread - quite frankly it really is not helpful (and pretty hard to understand to a lot of very happy Specialized owners out there).

I didn't trash the company. I trashed the bike. They produced a really dire bike, sadly I bought it. It was one bike. My bike. It was horrible. Perhaps they are not all that bad. I didn't buy all the others, so I wouldn't know, thank God. I only bought one, and it was awful and that's what I said.

The bike employees thing, that's just sad. That must mean that for everyone that you don't agree with, you just presume they have a vested interest, rather than respect their opinion? I respect that you clearly hold a different opinion to me, but it doesn't change my opinion, or the waste of aluminium that was my Specialized Allez.

Nicole is from Wales and her bike definitely doesn't resemble any UK Raleigh that's on sale. I am pretty certain it's another make entirely, or a bespoke build, with Raleigh stickers on it. I would like to be patriotic in bike buying, and would like to support Raleigh UK and for that reason I e mailed them last year asking why they didn't produce any 'high end' bikes in the UK. They said they were planning a range for 07, of which one carbon bike has been released (circa $ 1,500 RRP). But it's a far cry from pro racer stuff. In fact it's a far cry from a Madone.

As I said before, a real shame for a company that produced the best of the best in the 60's and 70's. But the US Raleighs do look like very respectable bikes indeed, and quite a wide range too.

As it goes for geometry on a bike i.e. compact design I thiink is all personal. You say your bike was a compact design and you have no speed. I own a bike that is considered a compact design and I seem to have lots of speed. Top out at 80km/h just because of self preservation instinct and average around 26-30km/h when by myself depending on hills and headwinds. Maybe not where near as fast as others but fast enough to keep up with and pass most of the members in my club if I chose to. I do agree about the specialized hate though. I don't hate them just that I'd rather ride something from where I live. I'm from Canada and I ride an OPUS made in Quebec.

Compact certainly doesn't make someone slow. What might make someone slow is if their bike didn't fit them properly, but that's got diddly to do with standard, semi-compact, compact issues. It's a matter of someone not being able to correctly find a bike that fits....or it's a matter of someone's bias affecting their perspective.

The difference between compact and traditional geometry is aesthetic only. Full stop.