I hate specialized bikes

[KellyT]

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.

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.

 

[kdelong]

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.

 

[Eden]

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.

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...

 

[KellyT]

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 ****, 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.

 

[bentwheel]

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 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.

 

[Stu07]

I can't trash the whole company, I don't think I did ... I would only ever recommend to my ex-boss that he buy a Specialized, (I hated him).

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).

 

[KellyT]

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.

 

[KellyT]

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,

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.

 

[BigUgly]

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.

 

[alienator]

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.

 

[mtb229]

I ride a Specialized Sequoia Comp and my face looks like this -> every time I mount up. I don't know Specialized from Trek, but I do know that at my age and at my skill level it responds like a rocket for me. OK, maybe a bottle rocket, but it feels like sports car compared to the 1975 Nishiki Olympic I used to ride. I really don't hate many things, and don't have the personal energy to waste on hating bicycles.

 

[BigUgly]

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.

And now I know. Plus I did some more reading as I'm a mewbie myself and I initially thought the discussion was on cranks. I ride a standard frame with a compact crank.duh

 

[jcthomasjr]

Im not really sure why... ive never owned a specialized bike, don't know anyone who does..

I once test road a specialized allez it was okayish... went with a felt F55 in the end tho..

but for some reason i hate all specialized bikes and all those ride them..

i think it might be inpart due to the fact that specialized bikes tend to be very over priced and to me look ugly..

but its more than just that.. anyone know why i hate specialized so much?

I read posts like this and just have to smile or laugh. What foolishness. You certainly are entitled to your opinion but why do some people feel the necessity to bash something that someone else might be perfectly content with. I agree with one of the replier's who stated why not focus on the positive.

I have an older 1991 Specialized Sirrus that was my first road bike and although it is by far, and that is a very big far, not the best bicycle out there, it worked just fine for the 13+ years of service it provided. It now is mounted on my wind trainer but I have taken it out occasionally to look back at what I bought then and how much I have learned and changed in regards to the sport of cycling. I now own a very nice hand crafted bicycle that I am sure some people would say I spent way too much money for but I don't care - it is my money and I love my bike. Which brings me back to your original post - only you can know why you hate Specialized bikes so much. Why do you have to ask us? Figure it out for yourself and be content with whatever decisions you make in the world of cycling (or life for that matter) - just like I am sure thousands of owners of Specialized bikes have done.

And one more thing, don't ever take me too seriously, because I am 1/2 crazy!

 

[IEatRice4Dinner]

specialized puts alot of R+D into there products. If you look at the frame tests (bb stiffness, lateral stiffness, vertical compliance) Most of there s-works bikes beat everything out there.

 

[gffcom]

but for some reason i hate all specialized bikes and all those ride them..

anyone know why i hate specialized so much?

Don't hate me because I ride specialized..... hate me because I'm faster and stronger than you.

 

[wheelist]

Didn't Specialized start out as an MTB company?

I rode a steel Stumpjumper Team for a couple of years (many, many moons ago)- the nicest off the peg MTB I've ever had. I didn't ever have any problems with it, unless you count it being so attractive that some ******* nicked it.

And I've just bought a Stumpy WS for my good lady - she loves it - and the bike is a stunning piece of kit.(That offset wishbone seatstay is one of the prettiest pieces of frame design I've seen)

My old 70's Raleigh 531 is still functioning perfectly well on the road. (You can't beat steel )

One point I should make: Get your bike fitted and take it for a test ride BEFORE you part with cash. If you're not happy don't buy it. Complaining afterwards serves little purpose.

Nicole probably has a custom frame badged as Raleigh. But then Nicole is probably Lance with a different paint job.

 

[kaikane]

I like their logo. That whooshy "S" is kewl!

 

[roadnsnh]

Funny how we respond to certain trolls. Guess I got suckered too. I currently and happily ride a Specialized Allez Sport A1, certainly a bike on the cheap side. I got it for $699. I find that it rides well and comfortably, after a bit of tweaking. It is on the ugly side, but then my favorite bikes have "standard" diameter tubes. I rode an Alan Record Aluminio until a head tube lug cracked.

There are many good bikes, and your favorite is your personal choice. Why trash someone's personal choice?

Leland Yee
North Sandwich, NH

 

[KellyT]

Funny how we respond to certain trolls. Guess I got suckered too. I currently and happily ride a Specialized Allez Sport A1, certainly a bike on the cheap side. I got it for $699. I find that it rides well and comfortably, after a bit of tweaking. It is on the ugly side, but then my favorite bikes have "standard" diameter tubes. I rode an Alan Record Aluminio until a head tube lug cracked.

There are many good bikes, and your favorite is your personal choice. Why trash someone's personal choice?

Leland Yee
North Sandwich, NH

I didn't particulary want to return to this thread. But, in my case, because I bought one in good faith and;

1. It had a seat pin that resisted all attempts to sit in the one place in the frame.
2. Then the seat pin collar eventually snapped.
3. The wheels spun as if the axles were made from sandpaper and balsa wood.
4. The geometry just stank.
5. Back to the seat pin, it was supposed to be 'carbon'. It was actually aluminium with a layer of carbon that looked thinner than some paints I've seen.
6. The saddle, well it was the worst made thing out of about 15 bikes I have ever bought. It's shouldn't have graced a child's extra low budget bicycle.

In short, it was simply bad. Perhaps someone else found there's to be better, which is great for them, well done! But the one I parted with my money for, was ****.

 

[roadnsnh]

I didn't particulary want to return to this thread. But, in my case, because I bought one in good faith and;

1. It had a seat pin that resisted all attempts to sit in the one place in the frame.
2. Then the seat pin collar eventually snapped.
3. The wheels spun as if the axles were made from sandpaper and balsa wood.
4. The geometry just stank.
5. Back to the seat pin, it was supposed to be 'carbon'. It was actually aluminium with a layer of carbon that looked thinner than some paints I've seen.
6. The saddle, well it was the worst made thing out of about 15 bikes I have ever bought. It's shouldn't have graced a child's extra low budget bicycle.

In short, it was simply bad. Perhaps someone else found there's to be better, which is great for them, well done! But the one I parted with my money for, was ****.

At least Kelly, you had actual experience with a Specialized bike, unlike the OP. Sorry it wa such a bad experience.

Leland