Mike Sinyard

Mike Sinyard is the founder and chairman of Specialized Bicycle Components, an American manufacturer of bicycles and cycling components.^[1][2]

Sinyard's passion for bicycles developed at San Jose State University, where he cycled to class. After graduating in 1974, at the age of 24, Sinyard began importing European components, supplying them to West Coast bike shops and frame builders. He continued to sell these parts out of a trailer in San Jose, California and developed a network of shops that provided him with input as to what was needed to make their customer's riding experiences more enjoyable. Through this insight and his own passion for cycling performance, Mike recognized the need for better tires than those that were being developed in Europe. With this mission, he created the first Specialized touring tire. In this spirit of innovation and enthusiasm, Specialized Bicycle Components was born.

For 36 years, Specialized has helped to grow the sports of mountain and road cycling and has become one of the top manufacturers in the international bicycling industry. Following the introduction of the touring tires, Mike moved on to develop custom components which, in turn, led to the production of complete bikes. Combining the comfort and durability of “cruiser” bikes and the lightweight performance of road bike components, small frame builders created a new ride known today as the mountain bike. Specialized’s 1980 introduction of the StumpJumper, the first production mountain bike, heralded the international boom in off-road biking. The StumpJumper was similar to the purpose-built mountain bikes, but at $750, cost half as much. Today, these multi-purpose off-road bikes account for over 75% of the cycling market’s unit sales. Innovation on the areas of advanced materials, industrial design and marketing continues to keep Specialized one of the top manufacturers in the industry.

Sinyard was inducted to the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame in 1988. The StumpJumper mountain bike was added to the Smithsonian National Museum of American History's collection^[1] in 1994. He was profiled in the 2007 documentary film Klunkerz: A Film About Mountain Bikes.^[3]

Mike Sinyard is the father of three children, Anthony 29, Julina 27 and Alyssa 21 who he enjoys taking out on the trails and sharing what the spirit of mountain biking has to offer. Sinyard is a cycling fanatic who rides every chance he gets. He enjoys long road and mountain bike rides in the California hills.

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Maggie Overfelt (2008-05-20). "King of the mountain bike". CNN. http://money.cnn.com/2008/05/15/smbusiness/specialized_bikes.fsb/index.htm. Retrieved 2010-07-21. 
2. ^ "The Mountain Bike Hall of Fame: Hall of Fame Inductees: Mike Sinyard". http://www.completesite.com/mbhof/page.cfm?pageid=6&year=1988&memberid=29. Retrieved 2010-07-21. 
3. ^ John Stevenson (19 Oct 2007). "Who really invented the mountain bike?". BikeRadar. http://www.bikeradar.com/news/article/who-really-invented-the-mountain-bike-12927. Retrieved 2010-07-21. 

External links

• Mike Sinyard interview with CNN money, May 2008
• Klunkerz: A Film About Mountain Bikes Mike Sinyard Bio

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