Specialized Sues Volagi Cycles, Claims Disc Brake Liscio Rips Off Roubaix

Tough to say, they both look a lot like road bikes.

All kidding aside, I have seem the Volagi’s up close and it didn’t jump at me that they were Roubaix copies. This is much more interesting than Specialized more mundane law suits.

Ahh the american dream… to sue somebody.

I just got off the Specialized website, and I didn’t see any Roubaix models spec’d with disc brakes… hmmm.

Work is slow and I was going to apply for a job at McDonald’s, but this makes me think twice… what if they come back and sue me when I try to open a burger stand later on….

Be careful what you say on the thread. You could be sued.

The true irony here is that neither company makes bicycles; they both “design” them. OK, one bike utilizes disc brakes; one does not. The respective forks are visually very different and one is purpose designed for disc brakes. The shapes of the frames are similar but that’s only cosmetic. Unless Spec’ can prove that Velogi mimicked their carbon lay-up or had their ex-employees sign a non-compete agreement, prior to employment, they don’t have a leg to stand on. Regardless, Spec’ suing a competitor selling 150 units is poor form! IMO, Velogi has been wronged. Besides, if someone claimed that a bike I designed looked like a Specialized I’d be pissed!

“now they are seeking monetary damages and ownership of Volagi’s patents”. So if Volagi has it’s own patents, and I’m sure Specialed has it’s own, they aren’t really the same thing. But I guess if ou sue every small pperson then you win

I don’t see much resemblance. TT-ST junction is dramatically different, the Volagi has a proprietary seatpost, integrated seatpost clamp, and I don’t even see any vibration-reducing inserts. The only similarities I see are that they both have compact top tubes and both are comfort-oriented. Unless these guys actually “stole” something from Specialized, I don’t see anything wrong there. Hard to make an informed decision without being more in the know.

And the award goes to Kovas for the dumbest comment of the thread….

First: Nothing wrong with keeping the lawyers busy. We need to eat and buy enve wheels too.

Second: My guess is that there is likely more going on here than the cosmetic similarities. I would guess that the allegation is something closer to what was suggested above–that proprietary lay-up designs or techniques were used.

Third: Notwithstanding my first two comments, Specialized has been rather aggressive in pursuing small bike/equipment manufacturers. I know of at least two occasions where they have come after very small, local operations for using the name “Epic” and “Stumptown.” I dont think Specialized would have prevailed on either claim if it had been decided on the merits. But neither instances was decided on the merits. They were decided on the basis of intimidation.

Fourth: What comes around goes around.

I just posted to the Specialized Facebook this following comment. Lets give them a shitstorm, and make it public enough that they feel embarresed.

“You sure do start a lot of frivolous law suits. I have every belief that your last suit against Volagi has no merit and is simply an effort to take it further in court then what they can afford, to remove them due to personal feelings.

Wonder how much i can sell my Enduro on EBAY for.”

How many people who commented on this actually work at Specialized and know for a fact that these guys didn’t have access to designs that either are on the books or were scrapped, but still developed by Specialized? Hate on Specialized all you want, but they don’t go around suing everyone just because they make bikes that resemble their bikes. They’re not an evil corporation. They’re a bike company. They love bikes more than most people in this business, and only hire like-minded people. Its obvious when you speak to anyone involved with the company. They eat sleep and breath cycling. And they’re damn good at what they do.

i wish they would have stolen some comfort from the roubaix. i had a conversation with choi about his bike a few months ago when he was trying to get a shop i worked for to carry his bikes, and it’s apparent that he is not a fan of specialized at all. i’m glad to see it goes both ways. i rode both of these bikes back to back, and i found the only similarity the terribly named liscio has with any specialized is that it turns in like a tarmac. a liscio is nothing like a roubaix.

I don’t have enough info to really have an opinion on this other than if Specialized is going to win this lawsuit I think they better have overwhelming evidence that the guys from Volagi stole the design of this bike. If not, they’re going to look like big dicks.

They are suing because the Volagi was supposedly designed while Choi and Forsman worked at Specialized, not necessarily for any similarities between it and the Roubaix. If I designed a product now and went to market with it after I leave my current employer, they can sue me. It doesn’t matter if my employer makes TVs and I develop a bulldozer. They probably don’t want anything to do with bulldozers, so they probably won’t sue me, but if I develop a competing TV brand I would expect to be sued!

Suing the competition has been a trademark of Specialized. Specialized spent millions trying to take down Scott from selling their bikes in the US. Must be killing Mike Seynard that Scott has grown to what it is now. And looking at the Roubaix, it also looks like a number of Bianchi models as well as the Pinarello Rokh and Traviso to name a few. Just having a bike with a curved top tube barely makes it unique. And one of the new features of Volagi is the disc brake which the Roubaix doesn’t have. If anything the Roubaix is just another vanilla road bike while the Volagi has some new unique and innovative features. Maybe Seynard’s plan is to put disc brakes and bow seat stays on the next Roubaix in hopes that Volagi wouldn’t be around. Specialized should look to the advice of PR firms because this is portraying them as bullies in the industry.

Specialized is the most litigious company in cycling. I own a Volagi and never did I think it had any similarities to a Specialized or I would not have bought it. I totally respect their right to protect intellectual property but I do not see any conflict here. But perhaps they had a prototype on the drawing board before these guys left and then I would say they have a case. Otherwise they should be countersued for a frivolous lawsuit.

This is why I love working for Trek.

Thats kinda like the Split Pivot and Treks ABP. They look a like but different.

This case has nothing to do with design of the frames , this is a clear cut case of Specializing using their power to take out the competition . Anyone remember what Specialized did to Stratos suspension ?
Specialized clearly stole ideas used on Stratos products , patented them then sued Stratos out of business .
This is nothing new for Specialized , they take ideas from smaller builders all the time then integrate these ideas into their complete bike to help kill the competition … Even the small frame builder .
Specialized doesn’t care who you are if you make bikes your competing with them !

One of the growing list of reasons why Specialized will never get my money!

After reading this, I feel absolutely no sympathy for Sinyard’s appeal to his distributors regarding Amazon. To show great concern that small businesses are being hammered by a big online behemoth and at the same time suing a two-guy start-up.

Shameless.

Initially I had the impression that this was a trade secret case, in which case, it would be focusing on technologies that Specialized used, not the appearance of the bike, which cannot be a trade secret.

However, Sinyard’s quote below suggests something else:

“Specialized alleges in court documents that Choi and Forsman schemed to design a bike to rival their line of “Roubaix” bikes, which can sell for as much as $11,000 and is described as one of the company’s “most significant sources of revenue.”

Mike Sinyard, Specialized’s CEO and founder, said in a deposition that when he visited Volagi’s website after hearing about it from a Las Vegas trade show, he recalled, There was our bike.”

This suggests a violation of design patents or trademark post-sale confusion. The ornamental appearance of the Liscio is not even close to the Roubaix, and it is not likely to confuse either the relevant market or the general public to think they’re seeing a Roubaix.

So if it’s not a trade secret issue, not a design patent issue, and not a trademark issue, what the heck is the basis of the lawsuit? Specialized is either going to have to find proof that Choi and Forsman developed the Liscio on company time. Good luck with that.

Is it sad even though I work at a specialized dealer and can get bikes at cost I am very seriously considering paying full retail on a Giant this spring for my wife’s bike. The shop I used to work for sold Giant and even though they are a big company they were always great to deal with and you never saw drama come from them.

Specialized is turning into the walmart of the bicycle industry trying to strong arm the little guy out of business.