[via Bicycle Retailer and Industry News]
Congrats to local shop River City Bicycles for being named the #1 single-location Specialized Bicycle dealer in the country.
I guess that despite the community’s misgivings about how Specialized treated locally-based Mountain Cycle, plenty of people still prefer bikes from the “Big S” (I have to admit, they do make some nice rigs).
So go check out River City. Besides being just an all-around amazing shop with a shrine to Eddy Merckx and metal people riding on their rooftop, they brew a mean espresso and they run the funniest ads in the Willamette Week (which not everyone appreciates).
But best of all they’re a BikePortland.org advertiser. Thanks for the support River City and congrats to everyone on the crew.
Big Whoop! Lots of big brands name their number one single shop dealer and nobody makes a big deal of it. why should it be a big deal who Specialized names as theirs? Specialized should just be thankful there arent more people that know their typical egregious business tactics.
anyone remember the one where Specialized wouldnt even aknowledge the cease and desist letter they got from Transition Bikes for using the name Transition for their triathlon bike lineup? well, Specialized, only after being pressed by an industry magazine to give a statement said, “obviously they are different bikes, I dont understand why we cant peacefully co-exist”. Then they go after Portland-based Mtn Cycles with a cease and desist letter because Mtn Cycles was using the Stumptown name which had very little resemblence to Stumpjumper in name and physical appearance. A conscious decision Specialized made that ultimately was the tip of iceberg to Kinesis closing down Mtn Cycle.
this incident is just the most recent of a long history of nasty things Specialized is guilty of doing.
Instead of praising a brand that is very aggressive and produces everything offshore why dont we talk about all the well-meaning, sustainably ran, and built brands of bikes out there.
I don’t think my post praised Specialized.
I agree with you that Specialized is a bad corporate citizen but that wasn’t the point of my post.
River City is a member of our community and I feel they deserve credit for a job well done.
You might also like to know that River City supports many small, “sustainably ran” bike brands.
Joseph Ahearne of Ahearne Cycles is a former employee and River City has been very supportive of his work.
And just FYI, there is no proof that the Specialized lawsuit is what brought down Mountain Cycle. I reported on this story in depth and I still feel the two situations were not related.
I’m not sticking up for Specialized at all. I know about their bad treatment of Transition Bikes and have talked with the owner of that company about it. I decided that it didn’t warrant coverage on this site but I’m open to your input if you think I’m wrong.
Thanks for commenting.
joseph ahearne still works at river city.
So Jonathan tries to post something on his blog other than the Jammin 95.5 stuff and people still complain? (see comment re:coventry cycles, also). Jeeze…let’s celebrate the good bikey stuff in this City!
River City and Coventry support a lot of good events, local NPOs, and provide great products and information to our city’s riders.
During Specialized’s Stumptown attack, I thought it would be delicious if shops in our “best overall cycling city” quit selling Specialized. Or we all boycotted Specialized. Of course that’s not realistic and River City is entitled to sell whatever brands they see fit. Not to mention, a boycott like that would hurt local shops a lot more than it would hurt Specialized.
There are other manufacturers with issues, too. It’s not River City’s fault that Specialized is a lurching corporate Frankenstein.
[PS — Loving my MC Stumptown!]
I have no problem with Specialized since it has been stated that they were making a fair negotiation with Mountain cycles. I did write them a nasty letter before the negotioations started and waited until I saw a fair deal in progress before picking up a new StumpJumper this summer.
I love the variety of product in the River City and the service there.
My bike, Tankagnolo, the NWsts first and recogagnized by the MTB Hall of Fame as the first with a disc brake, will be on a long term display at River City in the near future.
In short, the Specialized contraversy is over for me and I love the old Sequoia and my new Stumpjumper.
Tankognolo Bob