Serious question - why would you spend the money on the Specialised when you can get a better spec bike for same money from another manufacturer? Interested to know.
Let me tell you why.
First off all, I would like to support my friends Specialized Shop, which I'm a customer for over 10 years now. Good discount don't need to mention. The main thing is the support, as from main company and all the staff in the shop, that we all know each other for years. So every problem, upgrade, new or test bike purchase is easily resolved.
For this reasons, I'm basically "stuck" with Specialized, for better or for worse...