I’m not talking about the Status, the new helmet or even the carbon Demo. I’m talking about a Zerode. You might like to know that Specialized engineers and product developers were riding the Bike Park on a Zerode. They purchased it and want to test it out to see what all the fuss is about. I had a quick chat with them and they said that it was the best of all the gearbox bikes they had previously ridden. There you have it, scoop tastic. Now go set the forums and chat rooms on fire speculating what this means…
look out Rob. They are going to copy you!
The Zerode is the best bike period.
i wonder how pleased Paul Blow is about his illustration being used?
Specialized most likely method of stealing this great bike design is to threaten to sue Rob for using the letter z in his brandname, which along with all the other letters of the alphabet they have trademarked, for exclusive use in the bicycle industry, then once he has had to sell his house, arse, everything in order to pay for lawyers to defend him they will offer to take the design in exchange for leaving him alone. Ahh the patent / trademark / copyright / reveiw and duplicate industry. This method has worked for them before, though it may be more ackward this time, since the words rock stump jump or hop aren’t used. Great to see the big boys are waking up to the demand though. Maybe a few more companies will follow suit and in a few years you all won’t have to have that silly nonsence dragging in the branches by your back wheel. That sounds possibly unduely harsh, but hopefully it all works out well (ie Rob still making and selling the best bikes, and still owning his house, but also Specialized and other companies having the clout to really make gear box bikes happen)
this means that scooby will be working closely with big S to somehow incorporate an FSR link into the next generation zerode design. also, that painting is hot shit.
None of the below. The Specialized engineers and product developers are just serious bikers who are dedicated to working out the very best way of doing everything. Of course after the hype of the Zerode they were curious about the bikes technology and design, not to steal it but learn from it. What works, what doesn’t, what are other manufacturers doing, is this viable, and should they be looking at gearboxes again? They aren’t going to steal it. They just want a better knowledge of the designs and technology that is out there.