Specialized Products history

In 1878 Armstrong established an international presence when it began to process corkwood in Spain and directly import to the United States.

A linoleum plant was built in Lancaster and in 1909 Armstrong began to market its linoleum.

By the time he was 24, in 1860, he was able to save enough money to invest $300 and buy into a two-man cork cutting shop owned by John O. Glass in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It also purchased the Lancaster Cork Works in southeastern Pennsylvania, which the company's headquarters would relocate in 1929.

Formation of Armstrong Contracting and Supply Corporation in 1957

After graduating from San Jose State University in 1974, 24-year-old Mike Sinyard sold his van for $1500 and flew off to Europe on a bicycling tour.

1976: Specializes produces and sells their first self-made product, a tire designed for the touring market.

After earning an economics degree from Princeton as well as an M.B.A. and law degree from the University of Chicago, Liddell was working for the Washington, D.C. law firm of Covington and Burling in 1980 when he decided to move back to Lancaster and take a position as Irex's general counsel.

In 1981, Specialized changed the way that the world rode and thought about biking when they introduced mountain bikes to the general public.

Specialized grew quickly in the seven years after it was founded, and, in 1982, the company moved out of its warehouse in San Jose and into a much larger Morgan Hill space.

In 1989, Specialized once again made tracks where other bike companies had not dared venture.

An advertising campaign that Specialized launched in 1990, featuring Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, attracted a significant amount of attention to the company and characterized their advertising methods to be almost as revolutionary as their bicycling technology.

Unfortunately for Stoycos, his health was failing and in May 1997 he died.

In May 1999 Acoustical & Interior Distributors was bought, adding to SPI's capacity to service the midwestern commercial building industry.