Mountain Biking - How much can my bike handle??

I posted this elswhere but have yet to get help, so maybe you guys can help me. The bike is an 08 XTC Alliance.

I got my bike thinking I would not be comfortable doing any drops or jumps so I did not worry about my frame. I figured It would be cross country single track and multi-use trails with the occasional logs and what not. But, now that I am much more comfortable on my bike I occasionally see something that I want to do, but am worried about breaking the carbon seat stays. For example, I was recently out in St Charles, Missouri and was cruising around the multi-use trail with my girlfriends brother in law. On one section we were in a parking lot that is higher than the trail by about 2 1/2' with a 4' gap separating the trail for the parking lot, it kind of was like a small drop with a slope into the trail. So the first day I just did a manual/wheelie or whatever down back into the trail, but on the second day I was going fast and wanted to jump it, but got nervus about my frame. In downtown St Charles we were behind some factory that had some awesome rolling drop offs in this parking lot, maybe 24-30" but again I didnt do it because I dont want my frame failing from under me. Am I being too paranoid about this? I thought I read somewhere that XC is classified as 2' drops and under, am I right on this? I just want to know how much I can throw at this bike, and I will not be doing anyting crazy at all...I suck and dont have the balls to do anyting big. Does anyone have any insight for me? I will be getting a fs of some sort next year, I just dont want to break this frame. Sorry for the lenghty post, I just am weary about carbon frames in certain situations. Thanks for any guidance.

sorry, i personally don't have an answer for you that would be anything other than pure speculation. With that being said, i would think it has to do with lots of factors such as your weight, the speed you are going, what you are landing on, how good you are at using your legs to soften the landing ect. But i'm sure the frame will take alot more abuse than you think.

I like the looks of the xtc aliance alot. I ride an anthem 2 and am interested in trying a hardtail. What are your first impressions of the bike, and do you have any idea what it weighs?

Carbon fiber is stornger than steel or aluminum. It take some good abuse. The main thing that causes carbon fiber to fail is when the Resin gets cracked. It usually happens when it's bashed of something hard.
You can make your frame take a good drop by using your legs as a shock absorber and landing smoothly.

Well, thats a little re-assuring for sure. I weigh in at 190, lost 5 lbs since I started again, and do know how to use my legs to absorb shock. I did actually already scuff the clear coat a bit on a very small section of seat stay, but it was minimal and I covered it with some nail polish.

As far as the bike, I love it! I am just starting to really get a feel for it and am comfortable with it. It is fast and handles well. I was going to get a shorter stem, but decided to stick with this one. For weight, I swapped out the shifters and rear derailuer and lost some more not even worth mentioning weight by removing the reflectors and dork disc, so lost nearly no weight at all hahaha, but i weighed it in on the digital scale at the shop and it was a hair over 27 lbs. I will probably get a new fork at the end of summer/fall and drop a few pounds there, not that it needs it though.

I still will not be doing anything even remotely big in most of your guys standards, just riding and having fun and pushing myself from time to time.

just out of curiosity, what are you riding?

just out of curiosity, what are you riding?

Multi-use and single track mostly, nothing technical just the occasional log pile. I guess the easy answer is cross country.

I've done 4-5ft jumps, drops on my Salsa bashed the stays on rocks cracked the resin, and just put clear fingernail polish over it. Don't worry about it, just shut up and ride =]

Multi-use and single track mostly, nothing technical just the occasional log pile. I guess the easy answer is cross country.

:D

I meant what bike?

edit: I see it in your post. My bad, XTC Alliance.

Carbon explodes.

A guy at thomson today has a Sweet Stuntjumper. Fully carbon... it was so sick looking. It was amazing! lol.
the headtube was so massive it was like a coke bottle.