Road Cycling - Carbon frame questions

I'm a new member to the forum and am getting back on the bikes after a 5 year layoff. Gotta get rid of the couch attached to my rear somehow :)

So I pulled the road bike out of the garage and cleaned her off. It's a Specialized Epic maybe 93 or 94 vintage. It's blue with yellow decals. The frame is carbon fiber with an aluminum fork and Shimano 105 group. Everything is stock as far as I can tell and it's in really good shape.

I currently weigh 223 lbs and my goal weight is 185/190 or thereabouts. Can the frame handle my weight? Is there a shelf life to a carbon fiber frame? A bike shop owner told me about a chemical reaction that occurs when carbon fiber is attached to aluminum lugs and that it can be dangerous for someone my weight "if" the frame is degrading. We happened to be standing in front of several of his Italian dream machines. Is he on the mark here or was he trying to make a sale.

Any other information regarding this specific bike would be much appreciated. TIA

lugged CF/Al frames can fail at the lugs due to galvanic corrosion.It was more of a problem in the earlier ones like yours.No telling if your is or will.If you are the original owner and can prove it and it does,specialized will likely make it right.

I am your same size (I fluctuate between 200-225 depending on the year -- my doctor hates me) and I ride the same type/vintage bike. My bike is a Trek 2300 with construction exactly like your Specialized. I have had the bike approximately six years. Shop guys love to tell me about the bonding problems with the earlier versions of this type of frame. Any decent mechanic is going to be able to tell you if your frame is OK. It's going to be able to handle you. I have given my bike some pretty good tests and it is holding up just fine.

You can see a picture of me and my bike if you go to the RAGBRAI XXX post under "Big Rides and Schedules". Gus Riley and I had our picture taken side by side and Gus posted the pic.

For what it's worth.... Many current Carbon Road frames; Colnago c-40, VINER Full Carbon, Look, Kestrel, etc, have placed a 75kg (165 lb.) maximum rider weight limitation on their frames.

Bull!!!

When carbon frames fail due to galvanic corrosion or delamination, how do they fail, suddenly or gradually. Do you get a warning ?

Thanks for the responses guys. I took it in and the owner of the shop said it looked to be in good shape with low miles on it. Heck, I could have told him that...or maybe he took one look at me and figured it out. :) Anyway, he checked it out and said it looked fine. Now for a tune up and it's off to the races. :rolleyes:


If I can reach my goal weight by spring I'm going to invest in a quality machine. By then I'll have enough miles on to hopefully appreciate the technological progress that's been made since mine was made. I've got to soak up alot of info by then to make an informed choice, and from what I've read so far, this is the site to do it on. Thanks again.

Pokey - I am glad you are so well informed (NOT)
Here is viners all-carbon http://www.rlaenterprises.com/cycling/viner/images/page8.html (please notice the picture of the little man with a "<75kg" next to it.)

I will get more references for you if you need them......

Please do.......that Viner suggested weight limit is meaningless without frame size imput. Small frames handle weight better than large ones. The new superlight stuff and what may apply to them is out of context with the original post too.FWIW.