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Mike Sinyard: "I was crazy for bicycles"

The Californian Mike Sinyard, general manager of Specialized, has personally experienced the birth and development of the Mountain-Bike.

Mike Sinyard
Specialized founder Mike Sinyard, now no longer in charge

After the Mike Sinyard's resignation from "boss" Specialized, here is a historical article taken from Tutto Mountainbike 1989, edited by Caroline Hamille, which traces the story of Mike.

I was in the street racing business in Europe, from Holland to Italy. I noticed the large number of factories like "Regina_Chain", I made contacts. I went back to the United States. Back then there were small frame builders, like the ones from Marin County, who were also friends; I've been with them
involved in what we call the “grass root level” of MTBs. It was at the beginning, I was going
crazy for bicycles and I realized it was very exciting ...

In 1974, I was twenty-four, we started importing various components from Europe, from Italy. Those were boom years for European research, I was finding pieces that weren't there.
Tim Neenan, a very gifted guy who worked with us, designed our first MTB. When. we made it in the mid-70s, everything was very difficult because what we needed was not available, tires, tubes. But we were the first to do a series MTB, two years before any other.

THE IMPRESSION OF BEING FOURTEEN

I didn't smell the deal, as they say about someone who broke through and has a nose for business ..., I was involved in MTB from a cyclist's point of view, cycling was what I did for passion, so I knew what the point was of view of the user. Perhaps this is why I understood very early on for MTB.
It represents a new way of expression, because the road bike, of course, was fantastic, but it had something so serious…. , with MTB, on the other hand, whoever won the races was the one who had the most fun. MTB gave you the impression of being fourteen and having a great time, like surfing ...

CALIFORNIA AND COLORADO ALSO

The terrain is perfect. And then, in these two places, the MTB is suitable for the lifestyle.
People here have always looked for alternative ways of living outdoors and this gives, as it were, a greater curiosity towards new things. In the east it is not like that, there they are "colder" ...
We work for a very large audience, children and retirees, even if most of it is made up of young people. Almost everyone has a bicycle, especially women who in America, I believe, are more than half of those who ride.

WE HAVE WORKED EVERY YEAR TO MAKE IT BECOME LIGHTER

aunt we learn comes from the team. They are four really strong athletes. They have taught us a lot. Of course we have a development department, seven people work there, that's where the solutions come from. We also collaborate with people from outside, we have several friends to whom we can propose one
joint research. In the beginning, the MTBs were very heavy. We have worked every year to make them more
light and to give it the functionality of road bicycles.

AMERICAN CYCLES AND ITALIAN CYCLES

In Italy there are excellent MTBs, but I think that American production takes better care of the homogeneity of the various components of the bicycle. Too often in Italian bicycles there is a mixture of different things, such as level, between them: class frames on tires that don't fit and so on.

ABOUT NON-STEEL FRAMES

I think they are worth something. No, I'm not talking about those in aluminum, because to achieve the resistance qualities of the usual frames they have to weigh dr more, at least until significant progress is made in the treatment of aluminum. For what today's technology is, I haven't seen anything yet
of satisfactory. Besides, she gets too tired. Carbon fiber, on the other hand, improves the weight of the bicycle and its stiffness. And I am among those who think that it is also pleasant to drive:
the "bonding" technique (carbon fiber tubes glued to internal fittings) has been sufficiently tested, so our "Epic;" is built.

It is now a question of seeing what results can be given to frames printed in one piece (“molding”): such as for example the Kestrel. It can be very interesting, but we need to eliminate the weight problems that still exist. The carbon fiber applied to the frame is not only of interest to the riders. It is not a material
reserved solely for them.
There are a lot of people who may want it, even the Sunday user, who wants to own something different. It is clear, however, that if the material makes you make a qualitative leap, you still pay more for it in relation to the more it gives.

ONE DEFINITION

A definition? MTB is a bike that has been designed to go off-road. But it would be much nicer to say it's a virus ...



Written by

[email protected] I am a fan of everything that has 2 wheels: at a young age I practiced road and track cycling (Italian Allievi champion). At the age of 18 I passed into the cross country competing at national/international level as an Under23. Past Elite, I made the choice to take things more lightly from a training point of view, and my love for gravity disciplines was born, training me as an FCI MTB instructor and guide. Now I have made passion my profession by managing 2 MTB centers on the island of Elba (Bike Center Elba and Elba MTB), creating the FANTAmtb and telling in an ironic but professional way everything that revolves around MTB thanks to 365mountainbike and 365TV (YouTube'PULITI dentro BIKER fuori').

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