Homeland Security Seizes Multiple Cycling Websites Selling Fraudulent Goods

In other news, US Homeland Security revealed that the counterfeit bike jerseys, despite being made by the same contract manufacturers and the same material as the ‘real’ Specialized jerseys, can spontaneously combust due to the presence of unlicensed intellectual property.

Rule #1 If it ships from China its counterfeit.
Rule #2 See Rule #1.

lol @ the Big S’s Brand Security guy being named Love

Spot on Ummmm

You have to respect Specialized for what they do: regardless of the actual similarities of the counterfeits to the actual products, Specialized protects their brand more than any other company out there.
How frustrating do you think it is for a brick-and-mortar retailer to be showing a customer some shoes, the customer finds their perfect size and color and everything is right and they say, “Well, I’m just going to think about it”. Yeah. They went outside, hit “confirm order” on the same pair of shoes after checking on size at your shop.
That can’t be done with Specialized. You can’t buy a Venge online, you can’t buy S-Works shoes online, and you can’t get their jerseys online. None of it can be bought at cut-rate websites.

This is coming from someone who’s never had a Specialized, doesn’t work for Specialized, doesn’t owe Specialized, and probably won’t buy a Specialized (Unless they revert back to a standard BB).

Ha! You couldn’t pay me to wear Specialized kit.

Specialized are banging on about counterfeit frames but the article is talking about counterfeit clothing. Careful guys, you might have a bad crash if you wear counterfeit Specialized clothing?

Cycling Yong’s AliExpress page is still up haha.

I hate to rain on the “piss on Specialized” fest going on, but Cervelo, Invista, and at least one other frame maker (Pinarello, I think) were also party to this (as might have others). Add to that the fact that the government was doing its job. I realize that it’s popular and uber cool to not think, but if people actually stopped for a minute and actually engaged in critical thought, they’d realize that not only is the fraud a threat to the health of the bike industry (which is not the most robust industry around), it’s also a threat to anyone who buys a fake frame. Further, the fake items only drive the prices up on legitimate items.

Jeff nailed it. We all make money as employees because someone upstream is working to turn a profit in order to cover our paychecks. Lose that profit and you lose your job. Sure the boss makes a (hopefully) nice payment to his own account….but did YOU start the company?

Nope. So you don’t get to make what he makes nor do you shoulder his responsibilities. We can’t have “dirt cheap goods” and “nice high paying jobs” in the same country folks – you make god money because your company sells something at a nice price. Anyone selling goods for dirt cheap is paying slave wages and that, my friends, is not cool. If you want to pay less for a jersey just buy off season and — surprise — they are always on sale.

Specialized is not hurting for cash. They can afford to do all this bc their bikes are very overpriced. Doesnt suprise me however. Another good piont is the fact that the rate of inflation probabably isnt as high where they make them so they might make more off charging 30% less then we do charging “fool price” since when did bicycling become so expensive…..finding a good deal is too good to be true? This is just propaganda in my oponion. Those jerseys where probably made in the same factory as the specialized frames…………wake up people 99% of the bikes we buy in America are made at 3 factories in China or Tiawan…dont believe me …google it. All specialized does is order the frame and slap logos on it.

Sorry, chris ragland, you appear to not understand manufacturing. Even if things are made in the same factory, that doesn’t mean they’re the same and that the only difference is what logos are “slapped” on. In fact, if that were the case, the fake frames wouldn’t failed the tests that the genuine frames passed. There’s more to a product than the location in which it was made. Jerseys and frames made in the same factory? Wow. You should look up the difference between clothing and bicycle frames.

The issue involves more than Specialized, but I realize it’s tough for some to see beyond their irrational hate for a company and to be objective. Being a grown-up can be a b*tch.

And, Mr. Sinyard you can drop the my name is Jeff act, we all know its you. I will play along though. We all know that LBS is your own company. Wheres my mask?

You’d think with the massive amounts of mountain bikes, road bikes, wheels, stems, bars, and cranks being made out of carbon fiber these days, the price would come down, but is seems to just keep going up… For the consumer that is. Carbon keeps getting cheaper for the manufacturer, but that’s never passed down to the consumer. Cry me a river Specialized. We all know your profit margin increases every year. I’m not saying I agree with pirating bike gear, but why should I pay $80 for a jersey that was made in Taiwan and total costs to Spec is $10 just because it has an S on it.

Friends do not let friends buy Specialized. Especially “genuine”.

So the problem is with online shopping? They can go and stuff themselves.

So.. I want them to order some of those (not fake, just one of the direct sellers) direct Chinese carbon frames and test them head to head, in public, not just assert something.

$300 frame against $3000 one (on which they had multiple recalls). Make it happen. Don’t be a (deleted).

I think Mindless has a good idea. I challenge dave and psi Squared to a race anywhere anytime. I will ride the cheap frame and drop you b*tches! All joking aside your opinions do matter, however it gets under my skin that we use homeland security manpower to bust fake jeresys. In my opinion we have other issues to solve that are more important.

Homeland Security was used because that’s the agency that takes down web sites.

@ Psi Squared….. we all read the article and are aware of that. I could ust repeat what I said before but……………………AIN’T NOBODY GOT TIME FOR THAT! PEACE!

Isn’t everything in cycling a knock off?

Ummmm – 05/04/13 – 11:11am
And, Mr. Sinyard you can drop the my name is Jeff act, we all know its you. I will play along though. We all know that LBS is your own company. Wheres my mask?

Wrong……. Name is really Jeff, I live in Omaha Nebraska, don’t own a bike shop, don’t even own a Specialized and never have. Every single thing I typed is 100% accurate and true, no disclaimers needed. If you dislike the message, then it’s a you problem, cause it was the truth.

Specialized makes way too much money and has way too much influence. How dare they operate within the tenets of free market capitalism by doing what every other corporation needs to do to protect itself. If it’s Apple or any other tech company, everyone backs them up with big time atta-boys.

But since the cycling community is made up of a bunch of hipster, hoppy beer-drinking bro-hams, cycling companies need to also sit around the campfire, sing kumbaya, and give its products away instead of, you know, selling them for a profit. HOW DARE THEY!

Specialized and Sinyard needs to buy a guitar, fire its lawyers, buy a Vanagon, and just go sit by the beach. The company will be alright, because the bro-hams will support a brand that isn’t it to make money, but is in it to give away its products at cost. Because that’s the American way.

My favorite are the I Only Buy American Made Bikes bro-hams, who have to let everyone at the trailhead know about their domestic allegiance, as they conveniently glance over the Shimano drivetrain and Taiwanese-made SRAM components on their Intense.

Get real, braaaahs. It’s okay for Apple to do what it has to do to protect its intellectual properties, but when a pot smoking-bike company does it, it’s undermining the unofficial code of the laidback mountain biker. Whatever.

Patrik, that is absolutely out of line.

I don’t like hoppy beers.

you people that complain of specialized or other big successful companies are hard balling everyone or rule with an iron fist are closet/deep rooted hypocrites…….If anyone of you owned a company and built that company to some success with a brand/or unique item that the public really wanted. Then you find out that someone out there is copying it and ripping you off. and selling it and is making money off of something YOU created/poured your heart and soul into. You cannot honestly tell anyone “ah its cool, no big deal, let someone else sell what I created…..and do nothing about it. So whether it is specialized clothing or bikes or bubba the love sponge “bubba chicken dip”…anyone out there would want to take the measures to stop and regain control of what is actually theres……..ya’ll must be to high on some good stuff to say that you would not do something or not care