Specialized bikes: product line, selection and operation tips

Choosing a good bike for a beginner is a difficult and responsible task. Relying solely on the company is impossible in any case, and yet it can provide some valuable information if you study all the available information about the brand. Consider Specialized bikes, which have become quite popular in our market in recent years.

If a person has not heard of Specialized bicycles at all, he really should be considered a novice, because this brand is one of the most recognizable in the whole world.

It all started like in a movie - Mike Sinyard, a US motorcyclist, decided to go on a bicycle tour in Europe, and on the way managed to meet with several Italian suppliers of top parts of the time to collect goods from them for sale overseas.

The guy’s profit with just one batch of his own brought in was 200 dollars (which at that time was good money), but Sinyard realized that market demand was far from being satisfied with such a volume. Then the young man, having got in touch with sellers from whom he purchased parts for the first time, agreed on the purchase and direct supply of bicycle parts to the United States in order to organize full-fledged trade.

The business immediately became successful, and Mike thought about his own production. True, at first his thoughts were directed not to whole bicycles, but to parts, because tires were the first product in 1976, but what kind of young American businessman surpassed even his Italian suppliers in product quality. In 1981, the manufacturer reached a completely new level, finally introducing the first batch of its own bicycles, and even three years later it even got its own team of cyclists.

Over the years, Specialized has been the pioneer in so many cycling technologies and fixtures that millions of cyclists around the world need today. The products of this company are often called the most technologically advanced bike in the world.

Since the reader decided to choose a bike, largely focusing on the brand’s good name, it is worth considering what it consists of, that is, to understand the advantages and disadvantages. By tradition, let's start with the good.

• Top-level quality. There is nothing to doubt - the manufacturer’s brand is listed among the best in the world, it is a widely recognized brand that achieved success not at all due to low prices, but precisely due to a responsible attitude to work. Buying such a bike is a long-term investment.

• Technological attachments. This may not be expressed in the form of gadgets customary for a modern person, but the technology of Specialized bicycles is felt literally in everything. Here, each screw is designed to work to increase speed, perfect grip or any other positive results.

• Wide range of. As befits a global brand, Specialized produces bikes of all kinds and purposes, so that every cyclist will find a suitable model for themselves here. In addition, the company produces both relatively inexpensive amateur bikes, which are fundamentally no different from similar products of any other company, as well as advanced sports bikes, which even champions are not ashamed to sit on.

As for the shortcomings in general, they are practically not there, although some models have certain weaknesses. They may relate to the imperfect operation of one or another node of the bike, for example, grips slip, the speed is insufficiently recorded when switching, and so on. However, the company is diligently working to eliminate defects, so the situation in which criticism of two years ago is no longer relevant today is the norm.

Specialized brand products are also good because different wide variety of bicycles for every taste. For the younger generation, children's bicycles are produced, for adults - a whole scattering of specific models for a specific type of riding with a spread of wheel sizes from 20 to 29 inches.

Given the variety of bikes described, it would be inappropriate to consider all their models here, but at least a few characteristic examples should be highlighted. You need to immediately clarify that our review is not a ranking of the best models or a direct recommendation for purchase - you still need to choose a two-wheeled transport for yourself purely by your own criteria, we will only consider a few typical representatives of the brand.

It’s not even one bike, but the whole series of top hardtail class mountain bikes (depreciation only on the front fork). The main modification assumes a wheel diameter of 26 inches, but there are variations of 29 inches.

Transport is equally convenient for representatives of both sexes and differs not only in increased reliability, but also indescribable style. This is one of the most recognizable series of the brand, which is regularly updated.

Children's bicycle models rarely become recognizable and insanely popular, but this is just the case when we are faced with an exception to the rule.The manufacturer himself positions his brainchild as universal - it may be the first bicycle for a child who is not even ready to give up additional side wheels, and a transition to a new level for someone who has already outgrown his previous 12-inch bicycle.

This model, as the name implies, has a wheel diameter of 16 inches, while many competitors start producing children's models with only 20 inches.

Another popular line of the manufacturer, which is presented by the brand as an attempt to combat the typical problems of modern civilization in the form of environmental pollution. From here we make the obvious conclusion that This bike is primarily designed for city driving. - It is designed to make people abandon private cars and even public transport in favor of cycling.

As with the Hardrock line, This bike is designed for all categories of the population, and therefore there are different wheel diameters - from 24 inches and above. In addition, a special version is issued for ladies with a purposefully lowered upper tube, which simplifies the embarkation and disembarkation of passengers in dresses.

From all of the above, two significant conclusions can be drawn: the first says that Specialized produces bicycles for every taste and offers a good choice of two-wheeled vehicles, the second - that the brand itself is quite trustworthy and its bikes can and should be chosen. Another thing is that transport must be chosen strictly for you, and it would be wrong to think that any model will suit you simply because "the company is good."

To avoid common mistakes, consider what you need to build on when determining the ideal bike.

• Type of bike. Answer your question why you need a bike and what your typical route will look like. Specialized at one time began as a manufacturer of mountain bikes, but if you plan to ride only on asphalt in the city, give preference to one of the city bicycles, and for regular long-distance trips, pay attention to the highways - all of these options also have decent quality.

• Specific features of each type. Take, for example, a city bike - in conditions of moving around the city you may need accessories typical for a car: a bell, a headlight, and a trunk. The call, in principle, is always relevant, but the last two devices are optional: you may not be traveling in the dark and prefer a more practical and comfortable backpack.

• Dimensions and weight. Many beginners buy a bike to ride and completely forget that in between trips the bike needs to be stored somewhere. If your apartment is quite cramped, pay attention to compact models with small wheels. In folding models, this manufacturer is not strong, which is due to its "mountain" origin.

• Year of issue. For most other manufacturers, this criterion would have no meaning, but not for the high-tech Specialized. The engineers of the company constantly come up with new tricks that make their products better and better, and although the model may be called the same, with a difference in output of several years, one should not be surprised that the newer model has improved driving characteristics.

• Cost. If you were planning to buy an inexpensive bike, then you were clearly interested in the wrong company - the well-known brands of the world-famous brand usually do not make cheap products.Another thing is that in this case, the high cost pays off entirely.

A bicycle seems to be an extremely simple design, familiar to all of us from childhood, but the manufacturer always supplies each copy of its bikes with instructions and at the beginning indicates that only a thorough study of this brochure can guarantee the correct and safe use of the vehicle.

Considerable attention is paid to bike tuning issues which will allow you to correctly adjust the height of the seat and steering wheel for the most comfortable and safe ride. The authors also specifically focus on safety issues during operation in rainy weather and at night. The manual also provides comprehensive information about which parts fit the bike and how often it needs to be serviced.

The following video provides an overview of the Specialized Rockhopper Comp 29 '' mountain bike (2019).