# No more Specialized for you SoCal



## glance2 (Jan 2, 2011)

The Path Bike Shop in Tustin, CA just announced that Specialized ended it's contract with them. It sounds like they have also terminated relationships with several shops in Orange County, CA. 

Is this only going on in SoCal? Is it mostly mountain bike-centric shops?

http://thepathbikeshop.com/blog/


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## Taskmaxter (Apr 11, 2004)

I noticed a thred about this same subject over on MTB Review:

http://forums.mtbr.com/specialized/i-think-specialized-preparing-file-bankruptcy-794058.html

Sounds like they are either pushing their concept stores or maybe having financial difficulties?


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## joshmo (Dec 19, 2011)

*there goes asking what kind of*

there goes asking what kind of specialized road bike to buy.


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## DM67 (Dec 23, 2008)

Rock n' Road and Surf City still cary Specialized, if you're still looking for one. Sounds like they were dropping stores which carried certain brands...


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## glance2 (Jan 2, 2011)

Yeah, I think the other stores that got dropped carried Giant. 

What is funny is The Path did not carry Giant, Trek or Cannnondale, but still got dropped. Go figure.


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## havanabama (May 11, 2010)

They seem to be pushing their concept stores. University Bike in Tampa FL got dropped and then Specialized opened a Concept Store, bummer for Uni Bike, but the concept store is very nice with some smart people there. Like Apple...controlling their product and pricing.


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## charlox5 (Jan 31, 2011)

Sounds like my LBS is probably at risk of being dropped. Giant Dealer, small shop...if it's true i'm almost happy for them, but I do need to pick up another pair of shoes before S pulls out. As much as I hate the company i HAVE to use their shoes.


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## FindTheRiver (May 26, 2012)

There are still several shops here in the San Diego area that carry Specialized. The one spot that I do know of that dropped them was the place I bought my MTB (Specialized) several years back. They do carry Giant, which makes some sense now after reading this thread.


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## Sablotny (Aug 15, 2002)

Bummer - I don't think I'll ever buy anything from a concept store. Too 1984 for me.


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## daniyarm (Aug 19, 2008)

I actually like the idea of having a Specialized Concept store. I imagine prices won't be as good, but on the other hand they always have most of the items in stock. It's so hard to buy high end Spec components or even certain bike models when you have to special order them. You can't always get the feel or see the true color without looking at the product. Something simple as S-Wrap classic handlebar tape is carried by only 2 store in Tucson, and even then it's only in 2 colors. I am all for having one stop shop for all Spec stuff.


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## philbennett (Jan 20, 2012)

Specialized prices are seldom good. Just look at gloves for example. They're much like Apple in this regard. They build nice products -- though maybe not quite as distinctive as Apple's -- and then charge a premium for them and apparently police their channels to limit discounting and mail orders at cut prices.
It's a great business strategy if you can make it work and apparently they are. Like apple, they also do things like fiddle their designs to try to shoehorn you into using, say, their cranksets...
If they continue to design stuff, I won't begrudge them the extra margin... but a Tarmac, as nice as it is, is not an iPhone, not quite a category killer in the same way.
What that means is, if they make some missteps or have a stretch of several products that are serviceable but bland, they will get their butts handed to them in the marketplace.... essentially, when you shore up this kind of marketing model you are betting the farm that you can continue to crank out superlative products.
They have a lot of hungry competitors waiting for a misstep. I hope they are smart enough to realize all of this means that they need to continuously outspend the competition on their R&D.
Let's say their margins are 20 percent more than many of their comptitors under this strategy. They may need to take a third of that and roll it back into R&D on top of whatever the norm is... 
But bargains they aint. Their helmets and shoes fit me exceptionally well, so I'm willing to spend on those. But $40 for gloves that are built exactly the same as the $20 ones on the next rack? Not in this lifetime.


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## SkiRacer55 (Apr 29, 2005)

*Agree...*



daniyarm said:


> I actually like the idea of having a Specialized Concept store. I imagine prices won't be as good, but on the other hand they always have most of the items in stock. It's so hard to buy high end Spec components or even certain bike models when you have to special order them. You can't always get the feel or see the true color without looking at the product. Something simple as S-Wrap classic handlebar tape is carried by only 2 store in Tucson, and even then it's only in 2 colors. I am all for having one stop shop for all Spec stuff.


...I sold my two Titus Oseos and decided to move to something easier for the long miles on my aging, less flexible body. I got a 2008 Roubaix Quick Step (warranty exchange, new frame) built up with SRAM Apex and Mavic CXP-22 wheels. I liked it so much I decided to step up to a 2012 Roubaix Pro SL3 frameset, and build it up. All the Spec dealers in the area swore up and down that the Pro SL3 in a 54 was sold out for the year...except for a concept store that got me the frame and color I wanted for less than MSRP...the SRAM Force group is coming in as we speak, I'll have the Boyd Vitesse wheels tomorrow, and the whole thing will be up in running by next week some time...


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## Mosovich (Feb 3, 2004)

*I disagree on one statement..*

The Giant dealer here (the only brand they've ever sold) picked up S a couple of years ago and have had a VERY good relationship working with BOTH brands. S dropped another LBS in town simply because they were selling four other brands, mostly Trek, but also Cervelo, Fuji and Bianchi and really weren't focused on any of them.. Also, they didn't do any MTBing.. The Giant dealer is huge in MTB and does well in road and also is much more focused and progressive.. 

So, it could be the fact that S felt that the shop wasn't doing enough business or representing them like they should. This happens in other industries as well, Orvis is good at doing this..


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