12.5.2021

REWIND 30 YEARS...

Huge Pace fan, David Bond has invested much time and love into restoring this old team RC200. It really is a special bike, seeing Richard Thackray competing in many races. This is going right back to the days of our dear friend and the one and only, Steve Worland who was the Chief tester of MBUK at the time and rode XC for Pace, and brothers Richard and Rob Thackray who both started riding out in the Juniors catagory after coming across from CX background.

Richard used to ride the juniors in the morning then the Pro Elite in the afternoon. At this time we're going way back, and even pre-dates any official series like the National Champs, so it saw many cross country events, many Northern Series like the NEMBA and NAMBS and many one-off events in the South, like when Jo Burt organised a race in the park in Brighton, as well as the Malvern Classics and can't forget our own event which was staged in The North York Moors called BOMB MC (British Open Mountain Bike Masters Championship) and that's when Jason McRoy won the downhill there. Not long after this is when the National Champs started, like the photo below. 

So yeh, what an iconic ex team Pace F1 race bike. Adrian and Duncan designed this around 91/92. All hand welded from our own 7000 series aluminium extrusions coupled with our own RC35 Factory forks. Every single component part that you see on these bikes, would be welded together, be that a cable stop or seatclamp we made everything handmade on those team bikes. The external butting was there to remove the material where the tube was sufficiently strong so it could cope with a thinner wall but we even machined extra weight out of them if we could. We were teasing so much weight of these bikes, we took every other bolt out of the crank and chainring, and cut down the bars so they were ultra short. 

At the time the other sponsors were Renthal, Pearl Izumi clothing, Etto helmets, Shimano transmission and we had a great relationship with a local company called Smuggled Goods, and they supplied those iconic purple and black jackets worn in the photo below.  

The Restoration. - Words by David Bond:

The restoration is underpinned by my love of the RC100, 200 and 300 series bikes. Back in 97 after leaving the Army and joining the Fire Service I was riding a Cannondale. I was going out for a ride with a friend in the service and he turned up on a red F7. It was honestly love at first sight and I made him give me first refusal if he ever sold it. Not long after he told me he wanted to buy an Orange P7 and that was it I had bought my first Pace. This red F7 is still my “Go To” and I’ve completed the C2C 7 times on this Pace.

At the point of buying the F7 I honestly didn’t know the RC100, 6 previous iterations of the RC200 and the RC300 existed. My next two Paces were a RC100 then an RC300. I’ve spent a bit of time round Gil and Rob Butcher (a huge pace collector back in the day) over the years and learnt loads more about Paces during the time spent riding and communicating (Unfortantely I’ve not had the chance to meet your dad, I was on duty when he hosted the first Pace riders weekend ) . I fully restored the RC100 and that saw Gil and Tim Price help out. My next Paces were an F2 , then a One off Champagne F1 which I actually went to Sweden to collect (From Alec Ruston who has one of your RC295’s)

So in my mind I had made a dream list of Paces I would love to own, Richard’s ex team bike being one of them. I thought there was a slim chance at best of me owning one of them, and although this bike was on the list I never thought I stood a chance of owning it. I know that after Richard finished racing this bike it went to Adam Bentham. Adam then sold it on and it went to the Staffordshire area. It would pop up in posts on Retrobike every now and then as the owner put it into his LBS for a service. I’m pretty sure he knew the heritage and rarity of this Pace, but was not going to part with it because of this.

Out of the blue about 15/16 months ago someone posted pics of it on the FB Pace owners page claiming the owner was willing to sell. He initially indicated it was looking rough, but the full extent of the damage was not made fully known at that point. I immediately expressed an interest and started messaging the guy, but it really ended up being a rollercoaster process that blew hot and cold and finished up cold with me thinking a sale just wasn’t going to happen.

John Paddock knew of my interest in buying it and then told me the bike had featured on an episode of GMBN tech with Andrew Dodds and sent me a link to it. I established it was at Trailhead cycles in Shrewsbury. One call to the guy from Trailhead cycles on the GBMN video and I had bought it.

I had at this point established that it had sustained a crack to the headtube and some bad dents to the down tube (all pics on FB and Retrobike threads) as well as establishing that various original components had been replaced over the years. I have had the pleasure of meeting the genius that is Dan Chambers and prior to making the call I had sought his advice to establish if he could fix it? He told me he could repair it so all was good.

I couldn’t see such an iconic Pace rode by Richard languish cracked and damaged so once in my possession I stripped it down and off it went to Dan for him to work his magic. Rich Matthews and I have become really good friends and once he knew I had bought the F1 he immediately offered to send original parts back from the bike that he had obtained from Adam all the way from New Zealand. That saw the original fork crown, stanchions and seatpost (bent) arrive from NZ. Likewise Adam was fantastic and the original Royce BB arrived to me form his home in Canada.

Dan , Tim Price, Gil and a few other talented guys then applied their expertise to the frame, forks, stem, wheels , decals , brakes and a few other areas. 

So with the help of some super talented people as well as being fortunate to be able to acquire both original (to the bike) as well as period correct (spec as Richard rode it) parts I’ve managed to have this iconic Pace restored to a rideable condition. My aims were to do this sympathetically retaining as much originality as I could, and in doing so showcase the expertise and craftsmanship of those who. Had helped me. If you’ve had a chance to look the the RB thread the whole story is laid out there. I’m genuinely chuffed how its turned out. I’ve tried to contact Andrew Dodds as I thought it would be brilliant for him to do a follow up to the bike on his show and wouldn’t that be fantastic if that was at your HQ in Thornton-le-Dale.

Specification:

Frame: Pace RC200 F1 – Modified team frame with additional material milled away
Fork: Original Pace RC35 with direct Magura mounts and original Pace team fork crown. Original stanchions and decals
Headset: Mavic Stem:
Original Pace A-head stem
Handlebar: Renthal Sub 130’s (donated by Ian Collins at Renthal)
Grips: Ritchey WCS Foam Grips
Bar ends: X-Lite (not yet fitted)
Brakes: Hydraulic rim brakes
Brake Pads: Magura Brake Hose: Original Magura Hose
Brake Levers: Early Magura Racelines with dual clamp design (Original)
Shifters: Shimano Deore XT
Front Derailleur: Shimano
Rear Derailleur: Shimano M735 (NOS)
Derailleur Cables: Shimano
Cassette: Sunrace 7 speed screw on cassette
Chain: Shimano
Shimano Cranks: Shimano FC MT60 - 175
Crank Bolts: Royce Titanium
Chainrings: Pace Champagne colour
Chainring bolts: Pace
Bottom Bracket: Royce (original to bike)
Pedals: Shimano M737 (NOS)
Hub Skewers: X-Lite Rims: Mavic 231 CD
Hubs: Pace RC50 Composite hubs Alloy rear (NOS) and Acetol Black front (Original)
Tyres: Specialized Ground Control 26x 1.95
Saddle: Original Selle Italia
Seatpost: Original American Classic
Seatpost Binder: X-LiteWater
Bottle Cage: American Classic (Not yet fitted)

In the episode my bike featured in 112 on GMBN Tech Show. Andrew Dodd mentioned the new RC295 and showed a brief image of it. That show was based at Trailhead cycles as I mentioned and I just thought it would be awesome for him to come to your place. If you would ever want to do a photoshoot with this or any of my other early Pace’s I would be only to happy to help. If you ever get the time to read the full RB thread it would be great and it can be found here below:

https://www.retrobike.co.uk/threads/completed-richard-thackray-original-team-pace-f1-restoration-thread.408832/

As I mentioned at the beginning I love the 100,200 and 300 series and now own 7 of them although sadly one will have to go to make room. Ive really got an affinity for the F1’s in particular as they seem to be the rarest models, so im now lucky enough to own 3 of them. I only own Pace’s and no other bikes, so to its fair to say I'm a big fan. I know you’ve posed the question if there was to be an anniversary bike would the preference be in Titanium or Carbon? I think if you asked me and Rich Matthews we would say Titanium as this would capture the essence of the early bikes. It’s the bike every real Pace fan wants to see and hopefully will one day be a reality.

Thanks for your interest in this. Good luck agin with your ride and I’ll be donating to the great cause,

Best Regards,

Dave

Thanks for sharing this Dave and for still flying the Pace flag high.

Interested in sharing your Pace story? Email it to sophie@pacecycles.com.