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Santa Cruz Bikes Founder Rob Roskopp is Joining Specialized Bikes – Pinkbike

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6 months ago

June 1, 2024

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Santa Cruz Bikes Founder Rob Roskopp is Joining Specialized Bikes – Pinkbike

Rob Roskopp is a name long synonymous with Santa Cruz Bikes, but that might be changing after today. After founding Santa Cruz Bicycles in 1993, he went on to helm the company for over 20 years, before being acquired by Pon Holdings in 2015. He parted ways with Santa Cruz shortly thereafter, and has been pursuing other projects in the ensuing years.

Now, after some time away from involvement in the bike industry, he’s stepping back into the ring, taking on an advisory role at Specialized. He’ll be involved in all things product, giving input and providing guidance where needed. From the sounds of it, the role isn’t a daily clock-in, but more of a board position that will have him providing feedback on certain projects and coming to the design teams with ideas.

I spoke with both Rob and Mike Sinyard – the founder and active head of Specialized – to get their thoughts on the new appointment.

Why Rob Roskopp? What was the appeal of this partnership to you?

Well, first of all, I always knew of Rob and I had an admiration for what he did. And then, strangely enough, he ended up becoming my next door neighbor, at first I thought, oh geez – because I’m always riding new bikes and I thought, this is kind of a pinch on my style here. Then I got to know him, and then he said he was leaving that group [Pon Holdings]. So then we started to ride together, and then I realized, wow, this guy is smart, I could see why when he was there he made a great brand.

And then I realized he really knows a lot about how a bike rides. He knows a lot about suspension, geometry, wheels, and tires. So I was just kind of casually talking about things and introducing him to some of our team, and they really hit it off.

So then we said, well, it’s just kind of a natural thing. I think it was just kind of the natural outcome of Rob getting involved over a year. So the why is I really respect him, and he’s a very direct communicator, and he has really great ideas about riders and brands and then really helping our team, you know, with different things. So I just felt like he has that really great perspective to help us.

I’m always looking to find good people, and you know, I feel really fortunate that we have a lot of really good people. That’s why we can do well.

—Mike Sinyard

Why Specialized? What does the position mean to you?

Why Specialized? It was really just moving next to Mike and starting the talk. I bought the house across the street from him about two and a half years ago.

And we’d always been very serious competitors, because I always put Specialized as the benchmark for competition. Sure, there’s other ones, too – you’re always the competing against everybody – but Specialized was the target.

Anyway, so I bought the house, and he was pulling out garbage, and I think I was checking the mail or something. He’s like, oh, hey, how’s it going? I’m like, hey, and we started talking. He’s like, so…

Because there was rumors going around at that point that I was leaving Santa Cruz. I say yeah, it doesn’t look like it’s going to work out, and then a few weeks later I saw him again, and then he’s like, oh, we should talk.

So then we started riding, and really bouncing off ideas off one another. I love bike stuff like we all do, and I’ve always been a product guy – Mike’s that way, too.

I just still wanted to be in the bike industry, and I still wanted to have a pulse on it and be connected with… I don’t want to say the leader, but they are in a lot of ways, and I think they have the most potential, especially with what’s going on in the industry right now. They have the horsepower to develop product and really make a difference in a lot of ways, from the Outride program to the industry as a whole.

So I’m on the board, just to help give input and steer the ship, so to speak, with Mike, and then give my input with product, test it, and help out where I can.

—Rob Roskopp

I’m looking forward to seeing what comes of this partnership, the tale of a couple neighbors who happen to share a very fun common interest. For more on Rob’s backstory, head over to this longer-form interview Levy and Brian conducted with him for the Pinkbike Podcast last year.