Specialized was founded in 1974 by 24 year old -then- Mike Sinyard, at a time that high-end cycling equipment was not available to the American public. Initially, Mike imported Italian components to put his bicycles together, which he supplied to select California bicycle shops. While at first he only produced the Allez (road racing bicycle) and Sequoia (touring bicycle) in 1981, when Mountain Bikes started catching on, Specialized offered the Stumpjumper to the public, the first production Mountain Bike ever.

Since then, the company motto has beeb "Innovate or die", a motto from which Mike Sinyard has never backed down, always offering cycling technological innovations, continuously upping the ante of evolution.

Today, Specialized produces a large array of cycling products such as clothing, helmets, optics, peripheral components, accessories, as well as over 25 lines of bicycles for different uses: From children's and affordable everyday bikes, to the technologically advanced racing series S-Works that includes bicycles for road and off-road use. The Demo series is also considered an impressive product, intended for freeride and downhill use.

Some of the greatest names in cycling use Specialized bicycles and equipment: From road cycling's 2005 World Champion Tom Boonen, the Quick Step-Innergetic professional cycling team, Liam Killeen and Ned Overend in Mountain Biking, to Kyle Strait, winner of the Red Bull Rampage.

A few years ago, Mike Sinyard was inducted in the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame, while the Stumpjumper is exhibited in the Smithsonian Museum of American National History because of the revolution it brought to the cycling market and Mountain Biking as a sport...