by riders for riders a history of innovation - Specialized

EMPLOYEE SPOTLIGHT
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PROFILE
Jim Merz
Master Frame Designer and Builder
“MERZ WAS THE FIRST AND ONLY ENGINEER at Specialized when we made lots of
innovations,” says Specialized Founder and President Mike Sinyard, who first brought Master Frame
Builder Jim Merz into the fold in the fall of 1982. “Jim’s intuition for creating new and innovative
designs is stronger than anyone I’ve ever met--he is an understated and quiet genius.”
Known to work long hours in the solitude of a small workshop in the back of Specialized’s Morgan Hill
headquarters, Merz has always been a craftsman of the highest order and a force for innovation. Merz’s
first project was the design and prototyping of the now legendary 1984 pink Stumpjumper Team bikes.
“When I started Specialized, Merz Manufacturing in Portland was the place for intricate machining and
making stuff that nobody else could dream of,” says Sinyard. “Jim took one look at our first mountain
bikes and said, ‘I can make improvements to that.’ Then he changed everything on our bike from the
geometry right down to the tubing.” When released in 1984, all 500 of the Stumpjumper Team bikes
were snatched up by performance mountain bike fanatics for the princely sum of $950 each. If you
can find one today, hang on to it.
After the success of the Team Stumpjumper, Merz “Regardless of the material that’s
went on to drive a number of key breakthroughs and used or the method that’s employed
innovations for Specialized, including our landmark
to make a particular bike or piece
Allez carbon road and Epic carbon mountain bikes,
of equipment, it’s really important
three-spoke carbon wheel, M2 metal matrix frames and
to me that the craftsmanship and
more recently the wildly successful Roubaix and Demo
quality are absolutely impeccable.”
bikes. “The thing about all those innovations is that
Specialized supported them,” says Merz. “They gave me
and the rest of the engineers and designers the time and funding to pursue projects that would’ve
seemed crazy to a lot of people—a carbon carbon-fiber mountain bike? It’s almost normal today, but
a lot of people thought we were crazy when we started working on the Epic 20 years ago.”
More recently, Jim Merz, who once tested our first touring tire on a ride from Portland to Panama, has
been prototyping our next generation of frames, living in the hills above Big Sur, California, taking
multi-day backcountry treks in the most rugged terrain the Sierra has to offer, and riding his Roubaix
road bike up the longest climbs he can find. “Today I feel like my position is to ensure that all the newer
people at the company understand the importance of craftsmanship in everything we do,” says Merz.
“Regardless of the material that’s used or the method that’s employed to make a particular bike or piece
of equipment, it’s really important to me that the craftsmanship and quality are absolutely impeccable.”
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