1990 Specialized Allez Epic Carbon
01-27-23, 05:23 PM
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1990 Specialized Allez Epic Carbon Shifter Boss
I am trying to restore a 1990 Specialized Allez Epic 56 cm and I acquired it around 5 or 6 months ago and purchased it in non-working condition with the hopes to be able to find the one small piece needed to fix it but have found nothing anywhere. I would like to restore it to its original condition and not upgrade to new brifters. The piece that I am having trouble finding is the center shifter piece for the downtube shifters. Because of the bike being carbon, the piece is a threaded insert and as my research has told me, that it was a proprietary piece for these bikes.
The shifter boss that broke was broken during a fall and broken within one of the concave pieces that sets on the downtube. The other problem with it is that it is froze onto the threads and neither end of the bosses will screw off to be able to reinstall. I have visited multiple shops and they have only suggested doing a full overhaul build of the bike and I’d like to keep it as close to original as possible. I went to a vintage bike shop near me a not to long ago and he told me that I would need to be able to push the shifter boss out of the surround that sits on the downtube in order to make it work regardless of if I could a new threaded boss to go through the downtube. I am still working to push the boss out of the surround slowly with penetrating lubrication but there is a heavy amount of corrosion.
The shifter boss that broke was broken during a fall and broken within one of the concave pieces that sets on the downtube. The other problem with it is that it is froze onto the threads and neither end of the bosses will screw off to be able to reinstall. I have visited multiple shops and they have only suggested doing a full overhaul build of the bike and I’d like to keep it as close to original as possible. I went to a vintage bike shop near me a not to long ago and he told me that I would need to be able to push the shifter boss out of the surround that sits on the downtube in order to make it work regardless of if I could a new threaded boss to go through the downtube. I am still working to push the boss out of the surround slowly with penetrating lubrication but there is a heavy amount of corrosion.
Last edited by biker42069; 01-27-23 at 05:26 PM.
01-27-23, 09:57 PM
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Clark W. Griswold
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I am not as familiar with the older Allez Epics, I did have a co-worker who had one he built into a single speed so he didn't use those bosses and he is long gone onto better things so I cannot look at it anymore.
I will say as much as I love vintage bikes build a practical bike if you are planning on riding it. I built a bike for looks and am regretting not making it work better for me.
01-27-23, 10:51 PM
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The carbon/aluminum Epic frames had near 100% failure rate for the tubes unbonding from the lugs. The shift boss coming off just seems like more of the same.
Whatever you decide to do, don't ride this.
Whatever you decide to do, don't ride this.
