Specialized Bicycles has its headquarters in Morgan Hill and has a nice museum on-site. My Tuesday riding group had visited it before in spring 2020, right before the Covid pandemic took off. We went again last Tuesday, and this time our guide was Robert Egger, who has been their creative director for years. He designs their concept bikes, a lot of which are in the museum, and also guides future directions of the product lines. He is also a good and funny guy and a great storyteller.
It was fun to hear him tell the story of how Mike Sinyard, the CEO, founded Specialized Bicycle Imports, which grew into the current company. I told that story here, but we got some new tidbits from Robert.
The next fun anecdote was how Robert got involved with the company. He had graduated with a degree in industrial design, and was working for a bike dealer in Los Gatos in the early 80s. A customer came in that Robert didn’t recognize and was asking questions about a lot of products made by Specialized. Robert would say the Specialized product was pretty good, but here is why a competitors model was better (their bike bags are a made a little sturdier, or their water bottles have a more wide-mouthed opening so it’s easy to put ice in them). When he later found out that this was Mike Sinyard, he thought he would get fired if Mike complained to the owner of the store. Instead, Mike called him up and arranged to have him come down to Morgan Hill for a visit. He hired Robert on the spot, and gave him his first assignment- to oversee improving all the parts Robert had thought were not the best.
Our Group is standing in front of the bike trailer Mike Sinyard used to deliver imported Italian bike parts in the early days
There a a lot of displays of bikes ridden by Specialized-sponsored riders to win famous races. These are bikes ridden by Peter Sagan in winning the World Championship road race three times
Robert (right) is explaining about the giant cowbell he made to cheer on Specialized riders at races. It takes two people to lift and ring, but unfortunately makes a rather discordant sound so was not a success.Roberts concept of an electric-assist recumbent trike, complete with roll-cageThe bike Robert designed and made for Jason Momoa. Jason visited Specialized a couple of years ago and spent time with Robert, who describes him as a super-nice guy. Jason talked about what he thought would be cool in a bike and they came up with a prototype for this one. Robert made two of them, giving one to Jason and keeping one for the museum. Jason is 6’4″ (1.93 m) tall. Robert insisted the bike accommodates a range of heights, so got our shortest rider 5’0″ (1.52 m) to try it .Concept For a Cowboy Bike. With a a six-shooter holster on the handlebars, Robert says he has less trouble with cars when riding this
Robert showing how to ride the fire pole Specialized has for employees to get quickly to the 1st floor. I tried it out, a little scary but fun.
Share this:
Related
Published by BionicOldGuy
I am a Mechanical Engineer born in 1953, Ph. D, Stanford, 1980. I have been active in the mechanical CAE field for decades. I also have a lifelong interest in outdoor activities and fitness. I have had both hips replaced and a heart valve replacement due to a genetic condition. This blog chronicles my adventures in staying active despite these bumps in the road.
View all posts by BionicOldGuy
