My @1993 Specialized Epic Carbon. Yep, that name that has since been re-branded as their popular high-end FSR rig, was originally a carbon and aluminum road bike. Carbon fiber tubing glued into aluminum lugs.
I bought it at Belmont Wheelworks in 1994. Not sure if it's a '94, or if it was NOS from a previous year , but I got it for a sweet 700 clams. At any rate, the salesman told me that in previous versions of the frame , the interface(glue) of the tubes and lugs was prone to react with the materials, breaking down and causing them to separate....but this particular model year they had painted the surfaces first so this chemical reaction would not happen. I believed him, and couldn't pas up on this fully-105- equipped, light weight machine. I test rode it and loved it. And to this day, ( knock on carbon fiber) , no sign of anything separating....
I once or twice tried to sell this beast back in the day of internet bb's, then decided I wanted to keep it, and for years after kept getting emails about the original posting. One guy insisted on giving me exactly what I paid for it but at that point I had realized how much I loved the ride and that carbon fiber bikes were getting really expensive....
I've really never ridden another road bike ( except for the Reynolds steel bianchi-styled St Etienne with Campy-copy components that I bought in 1975) , so I don't have much point of reference, but the Epic rode like a dream. And still does.
On a warming pre-spring day when the trails were still soaked from 36 hours of rain, a rare ride on the road was Epic.
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