Specialized Bicycle Components Specialized Bicycle Components Specialized Bicycle Components, Inc., commonly called "Specialized", is a United States-based company that designs, manufactures and markets bicycles, bicycle components and related products under the brand name "Specialized". The Morgan Hill, California-based company was founded in 1974 by Mike Sinyard — and since 2001 has been 49% owned by Taiwan-based Merida Bikes. The company was founded in 1974 by Mike Sinyard, a cycling enthusiast who sold his Volkswagen Bus for $1,500 to fund a cycle tour of Europe, where he bought handlebars and stems made by Cinelli to take back to the US. Sinyard started out importing
Bicycle suspension named "Split Pivot". Trek Bicycle Corporation also released a version of the split pivot design called "Active Braking Pivot" (ABP) in early 2007. Cycles Devinci has released a licensed implementation of the "Split Pivot" design which Dave Weagle managed to patent. "Horst Link" suspension is a type of four-bar linkage suspension. It is characterized by having both connecting links pivot on the seat tube, with the lower pivot located above the center of the bottom bracket, and the rear axle being located higher than the pivot connecting floating link and lower connecting link. Specialized has bought several of Leitner's patents