As shocking as it may be, in 2010 when I was buying my first road bike, I'd never even heard of Specialized. I spent literally all day test riding bikes and bought the one I thought felt best - a Specialized Roubaix. I rode over tons of railroad tracks during the test ride, and was intending to do a thing called "centuries" I'd read about. The bike simply was the best for my needs that I had a chance to try.

My point is, the name brand had zero value to me at that point, other than me being able to verify that they were a well respected and reputable brand before I purchased. They make great stuff, and more than just the name brand is carrying them through. They are so gigantic they can put the money into R&D (and probably 5x more into marketing). The downside of being gigantic is apparently they don't need the "little guy" LBS shops anymore, and for that I'm sad and annoyed.

6000 miles later and I bought another Roubaix. It was cheap (compared to anything else similarly spec'd that I found). It's super light. It's comfy as can be. This time I knew the name on the downtube.