How long has SPECIALIZED been coming to Interbike?

Ever since there has been an Interbike. I know I hear Mike (Sinyard, founder and President of Specialized) talking about when he produced the first Stumpjumper in '81 at the Long Beach show........ everyone was pretty blown away and thought that it probably wouldn't work and they were wondering what these fat tire bikes were doing there...... they called 'em big kids BMX bikes but of course that was the first production mountain bike and it's all history since then.

What is your focus for the show this year?

Well definitely we're staying true to our roots and we've got a lot of great developments in the way of high end mountain bikes.........but also what is really happening a lot in the cycling industry is........ people are moving into more paved surface riding so we've really focused on our road bike range........ we've also focused on hybrids and sport bikes as well. We've done incredible developments in the high end mountain bikes both in the S-Works, FSR and seasoned hardtails as well as the enduro range so...... those are our focuses.

This is the largest gathering of cycling industry representatives from all over the world. What is your take on the general attitude for 2002?

The attitude is that the last year industry wise has been pretty tough. The sport of cycling was growing for a number of years...... really from the early '80s until a couple of years ago........ then it leveled off and actually it started to shrink...... because of that a lot of companies infrastructure has been for a bigger volume than they could do in this new environment....... so it's been a challenging past year for a lot of companies but the overriding consensus is that we are through that...... and the businesses are more stable now and that's great because what it means is that we can focus on developing the kind of bikes and equipment riders are really going to enjoy and it's going to move the sport forward.

Will the Sept. 11th attacks on America and its effect on the economy change any of your business plans for 2002?

Well, certainly the attacks will change a lot of things and our hearts go out to everyone who has suffered in regards to that........ the bicycle industry is funny in that if you look at economic downturns traditionally those are times that the bike business has grown. There are various reasons for that....... no one knows for sure why that's the case but as fuel costs go up and so forth..... cycling increases....... when people are well to do they tend to buy things like a brand new car that's really expensive to satisfy some emotional need that they might have......... whereas when times are tighter and they don't have several thousands of dollars to spend......... they might spend two or three and get the peak of performance out of a bicycle......... because in the context of other consumer goods the bicycle is an inexpensive way to satisfy those emotional desires and certainly it's a great thing transportation wise........ it's a great thing health wise so usually when economic downturns happen the bike business goes up.......... we tend to be counter-economy. It's impossible to say and it never feels like it's a good thing when the economy is in a hard way......... but history has shown us that we've often done well in adverse conditions.

Are you happy with this year's show?

Yes...... absolutely....... I think the attendance is a little smaller than it would have been if our nation hadn't been attacked........ but the attitude of people is good and people's hopes are high....... people are receiving our lines really well........ obviously we've worked really hard to put together all of the bikes and equipment that we make...... it's always so exciting to put them in the racks and let the world see them for the first time........ it's kind of like giving birth........ and everyone likes our babies from what we can tell.