More bullying behaviour from Specialized.

[Pax]

Can any of you who still hold a grudge here name any other major company's founder/CEO who has flown out to personally apologize and post "I own it and apologize" to the world of the web?

The owner at Roubaix seems to be OK with understanding and being open to forgiveness.

But apparently that's not good enough for you?

At some point, who is acting like a "jerk" may be shifting.

I've met and talked with Mr. Sinyard. He is a human being and not the monster you would like to make him to be. The environment he gives to his staff to work in is to be envied.
There is simply no way one person can have a finger on EVERY aspect of a company so large. He responded in as human a way as I could imagine.
I suggest you give the man some credit.

You seem to have a dog in this hunt. I don't. I can only respond to the "bigger company going after the smaller company" one at a time. Right now Specialized has behaved in a way that causes me to not trust them, right now I won't buy their product. They chose their response to a perceived threat, I'll choose my response to their perceived callousness.

[Owlie]

Do I think that Sinyard is personally responsible for any single action by the lawyers that Spec uses? No. Do I think that in large companies, there may be instances where the the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing? Sure. Do I think that companies have the right to protect their trademarks? Yes, but not the extent of the crazy that we've seen lately.

However, what about the suits that Sinyard or the other senior execs didn't choose to stop? The only reason that this one (and the Epix one) wasn't pursued was the blowback on social media and the resultant bad publicity. (And, in the case of Cafe Roubaix, ASI making a statement about it, though I don't know if that would hold up in Canada.) They have a history of bullying behavior on against small businesses that really don't represent a threat to their brand, and aren't really likely to mislead consumers (unless for some reason they had a hard time distinguishing mountain bikes from bags). Is Sinyard's apology genuine? Maybe. Or maybe it's a case of "Sorry, I was a jerk and everyone called me out on it but if no one had I wouldn't be here apologizing." Only time will tell if this really does get their legal department to back off, but until I can see evidence of that, I am not buying a Specialized product.

It's not being a jerk, it's refusing to reward bullying.

[Helene2013]

I'm glad that Specialized came out and told that story. At the same time, I'm not sure I believe them totally. Especially now, that Xmas is just around the corner, they would not want to lose too much money (gifts) from unhappy customers/cyclists. I tend to think it is more a PR thing too. To try to save the face for those who can buy into it more easily. As said, time will tell how they will treat the smaller ones later on. I think it is a lesson learned with the medias. I think other business, if read/followed that saga, will learn from it too. Medias like Facebook, Twitter, etc. can help you, but also kill you.

As for me, I am on the market to buy road shoes to put my new Keo Classic cleats. I tried a pair of Specialized Ember, which I liked - a lot. For comfort, and mostly for the BOA system. Will I buy them? Nope. Not for now. Other people referred me to Louis Garneau and Lake as they have the BOA system, which I may go try a pair of LG this afternoon.

I just can't think of purchasing Specialized just yet. Stubborn? May be. But I'm fine with this for now.

[shootingstar]

Frankly I was quite unaware of how Specialized had been a bully manufacturer in the past and how they work business-wise.

Of all the bike stuff I have, I might have had a pair gloves from a decade ago...long gone. I just haven't bought anything by them --by coincidence.
I tend to buy cycling gear ...about 30% from national sporting chains (REI, MEC) and the rest from local independent LBS's over the past 20 yrs.