In Pictures: The Special History of Specialized

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One of Robert Egger's mad creations decorates the lobby at Specialized.

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Vincenzo Nabili's Tour de France victory is properly celebrated just inside the front door at headquarters.

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The Mario Cipolini room holds a special place in my heart. Cipo hurled a bike through time and space like no one else.

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I had one of these Cactus Cup Series jerseys and I thought I was bomber.

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A 1987 Specialized Allez sporting Specialized branded cranks, pedals, saddle, etc.

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The Specialized Future Shock was a Specialized branded Rock Shox Mag 21. Everybody wanted one.

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The 1990 Specialized/Dupont Tri Spoke was ahead of its time.

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The 1981 Specialized Stumpjumper.

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The museum also pays tribute to the current Specialized Shiv.

A trip to Specialized’s headquarters should be on every true bike geek’s “Top Ten Must Visit List,” but we understand most of you would be hard pressed to convince your significant others to vacation in Morgan Hill.



Luckily for you, we had to drop a bike off at Spesh HQ a while back, and while we were in the building we couldn’t help ourselves from firing off a few frames in the museum that occupies part of their lobby.

As you can imagine, there’s a lot to look at, even in a fairly small space. Vincenzo Nibali won the Tour de France this year aboard a Specialized whip so there’s a gigantic display celebrating him and his bike. But there are also several historical displays that walk you through the long, rich history of this company.

We couldn’t photograph everything, so here is just a small glimpse into their storied past.