Love it or list it ? Vintage carbon fibre Specialized road bike...

Markoneswift

Quartz locked n ready to rock
Hey all,

I can ride a bike, but I don't ride a bike. if you know what I mean. Found this cool old Specialized down at the waste transfer station today so picked it up for $60. It's an Epic Comp of roughly 1993/4 vintage, all complete with the Shimano 105 group set on it. It needs a repair to the right shift lever and probably new cables, other that that just some air in the tyres.

What do you guys think - give road riding a go on this lightweight vintage machine or list it and see what she fetches ? I know it's kind of a dollar & sense question but I'm not asking for a valuation - more a should it stay or should it go opinion :)

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That was a nice bike in it's day. As far as keeping it goes, it looks pretty tall, does it fit you?
 
Ride it! You'd most likely get $300-400 for it on the market. If it's the only road bike you have just keep it. Those were nice riding bikes. I raced on the series prior to this one with the aluminum lugs and carbon fiber tubes. Mine was a 1990 Specialized Allez. If it is too big, sell it. Life it too short to ride in pain.
 
Ride it! You'd most likely get $300-400 for it on the market. If it's the only road bike you have just keep it. Those were nice riding bikes. I raced on the series prior to this one with the aluminum lugs and carbon fiber tubes. Mine was a 1990 Specialized Allez. If it is too big, sell it. Life it too short to ride in pain.

I've never ridden a road bike, except a fairly bargain basement 10 speed drop when I was a kid. I'm kinda curious to try riding a 'proper' bike, I must admit. I tried riding to work on a Giant hard tail a while back and it nearly killed me !
 
At 6'3" that bike won't be too big. It looks like a 58- 60cm from just looking at the pic.
 
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You can measure the seat tube (c-c). Measure from center of crankarm bolt to center of top tube where it intersects the seat tube. You can measure in inches and convert to centimeters with an online converter.
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I need to replace the right shifter cable so online research coming up. I will need to find or borrow some shoes with cleats too and hope I don't kill myself
 
If you don't want to jump into clipless pedals , you could buy cheap platform.
Clipless are in fact a lot better but take a little getting used to. I've seen more than a few take a spill at a stop failing to unclip
 
If you don't want to jump into clipless pedals , you could buy cheap platform.
Clipless are in fact a lot better but take a little getting used to. I've seen more than a few take a spill at a stop failing to unclip

Truth right here! Haha. I remember my first days. The funniest were the slow..almost no motion falls in front of a dozen other riders.
 
You say you've never ridden anything better than a dept store bike? Well then by all means get this bike road worthy and give it a try. It will be like hearing a Mid to Hi Fi after only hearing crappy boom boxes and cheap car stereos all your life. I distinctly remember the first time I rode a nice 10-speed after never having anything better than a heavy Schwinn 5-speed. I agree the current pedals may be a problem. Just get some platform pedals for the first rides. And have the frame checked out to make sure its road worthy.
 
The frame size might be on the rear of the seat tube---I have seen it both on the front or back of their bikes, depending on model and age.
 
Ah the initial idea was to flip this thing but the more I look at these classic old road bikes, the more I wanna keep it (or at least ride it a bit). Will have to see how much cash I have in the reserves....
 
ride first. sell if you decide you want something 'more'. it's not like your going to lose $ on it riding it for a season.
 
The 2018 Epic Comp Carbon is a completely different style of bicycle (it is now a mountain bike, not a road bike). $5,200 MSRP. It has the full suspension with the "brain" that absorbs bumps while not wasting energy due to pedaling. A neat system once it's adjusted to your riding preference.

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First day with my brand new park-pre I went to work slammed on the brakes and went right over the bars lol.A guy comes running over and asks if I'm hurt, I said only my pride.
 
ride first. sell if you decide you want something 'more'. it's not like your going to lose $ on it riding it for a season.

I know what you're saying. I shot myself in the foot a bit with the wife and bikes though. I picked up a Giant ATX a while back for small change and spent some more on it at the local bike shop getting it road worthy. I had intentions of riding to work on it but tried it once and nearly died (due to lack of fitness, not the bikes fault !). It has sat ever since, with me saying to myself 'I will get riding that again one day.....'

She's already having a seizure at me spending more money on yet another bike and the only way I justified it is with the old 'well it might be worth more than I paid for it' line. If I start wheeling it to the local shop for a quote to fix, I'm not sure I can justify that - other than 'well, it will be worth more as a runner' :)

I do like the style of the thing though - and it's SOOooo light......
 
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