Specialized Quality Sucks

I’ve been a long time Specialized customer.  I’ve owned an Epic since 2004, with my current ride being a 2012 Epic.  I’ve weathered a lot of crappy products from Specialized over the years and so far my new Epic is holding well.  I just can’t say that for some of their other products.

Specialized Pumps are God awful. 

In the picture to the right you can see the blue arrow.  This is the bottom of the cylinder on my floor pump.  The circle part below is the gauge.  It is in these four screws that air leaks out.  I’ve tried everything to stop it but nothing works. 

I brought the pump back to where I bought it, Cross Country Cycle, but they wouldn’t warranty it despite it only being a month old.  Another bike shop, Village Bike Shop, had zero issues taking it back despite me not even buying it there.  The new pump leaked as well, but after tightening the screws it wasn’t so bad.  At least not until recently. 

This week it was so bad, it rendered the gauge all but useless.  I have no idea what my pressure is. Thus less than a year, and this pump is garbage.  But it doesn’t end with this pump. 

This new picture is my Specialized shock pump.  This one earned two arrows.  First, you can obviously see the one need completely off of the gauge and floating on the inside.  The other you can’t see which is another needle that is gone.  I’m assuming it’s in the cylinder.  I don’t know. 

This pump is less than a year old, but thankfully I still had my old Performance Bike shock pump, one I had to Dremel to get fit, that still works fine.  It’s a pain to screw on so I bought a Topeak pump, but go figure.  Performance Bike pump better than Specialized. 

These are the most recent issues I’ve had with Specialized, but over the years I’ve had more. 

Specialized gloves fall apart after a month.  Specialized at least acknowledge this and sent me two new pairs late last year.  I’ve worn one and have a whole in the finger so I just started on the second pair.  Once they are done, I’m done with them.

Specialized jersey’s and Socks.  The jerseys are junk.  One wash and I had threads falling out and endless number of snags on itself.  I’ve even tried to wash them solo and they still come out with snags.  I think Specialized knows there jersey’s are junk.  My LBS told me that management fired a bunch of their apparel people a couple of years ago, but I can’t confirm that.  I will say their jersey line is extremely stale.  They use to have updated jersey’s every year, but I haven’t seen anything new in a long time.  As for the socks, they stay together but they put the toe seam right where you don’t want it.  Feels like I have a rock in my shoe.  Castelli is the best sock I’ve had. 

Specialized Epic 2007-2010.  The 2007 Epic line was a train wreck.  This was the first year Specialized dumped Fox and decided to make their own shocks.  I can’t even tell you how many shocks I went through on my 2007.  Thankfully Specialized kept sending new ones, but still annoying.  If I had to guesstimate, I had at least seven shocks put on my Epic.  After my 2007 I purchased the 2009 Epic.  The frame cracked and specialized replaced immediately.  That bike also went through two shocks.  Again, thankfully Specialized stepped up on this and took care of it, however it’s not something we should have to go through.

The other issue is their E100 Fork.  This is about 50/50 when you talk with people.  Some have zero issues, and others, like me, are stuck with a fork that acts like a pogo stick.  I sent it to Specialized in 2010 to get ‘annual maintenance’ but when they sent it back, my LBS had to fix some things they seemed to have overlooked.  I was then told the fork should be serviced every 100 hours at a cost of $150.  Never mind I still had my 2004 Fox Fork that has never seen maintenance, yet works flawlessly. 

Specialized owned up to their disasters and the 2012 line is back with RockShock forks and Fox shocks.  I believe they went back to Fox in 2010 or 2011.  Like I said, so far no issues with the new bike. 

Good things form Specialized:  helmets, bibs (RBX) and shoes.