View Larger Specialized Bikes story: King of the mountain bike
“When Mike Sinyard started importing Italian bike parts in 1974, his toughest challenge was finding space to store them inside his eight- by 30-foot trailer.
That turned out to be the least of his problems. Over the next 30 year he battled bankruptcy and monster competitors and competed for customers among finicky, demanding cyclists. Today Specialized, whose products sell in 1,200 of the nation’s high-end bike shops, is a profitable $500-million-a-year company that will relaunch 150 of its models by the end of the year, including one designed specifically for women.”
