Pace RC200 Gravel / Adventure Conversion.. A little Help Here?

[Betsy]

Morning everyone..

I'm considering building a RC200 gravel / adventure bike.. but before i get too bogged down with the details, i'd just like to ask y'all a few questions..

Most weekends, i'll hit the Peak District on my RC200 (as you've probably seen in Today's Ride thread) i'll often loop around Edale, up Mam Tor through Castleton and back home.. meaning that 60% of my ride is road, 35% trails and 5% carrying up rocks with the bike on my shoulder.. thankfully, my bike is light af.. but if i had something akin to a gravel bike i could probably push my rides a little further.. anywho, that's my justification for spending a few £1000s on more bike crap..

I want the aesthetic to lean towards 'modern gravel with retro frame' .. if the aesthetic ends up as 'drop bar 90s MTB' then i'm not going to bother taking this any further... this is where you lot come in.. if you assume i know anything about modern standards, their interchangeability or bikes built after 2004 then you'd have me all wrong.. obvs, i can find the answers to all my questions online but what i don't want to do is start a project only to find out half way through that it isn't going to fit my criteria because of something i haven't considered in the early stages.

Questions as follows..

1) Wheels?
After a quick measure.. 650b should fit if i keep the tyres around 40mm.. SimWorks Volummy is 42mm but i would prefer these Ultradynamicos, i love the Ultras i'm currently running but i'm not sure these will fit, i'm going to ask Ultradynamico for the outside dia of the tyre and make a little segment template at work from the hub center to see how much frame clearance i will have.. but if any of y'all have experience running 650b on a RC200. please let me know.


2) 1 1/8" Carbon Forks?
This is what's going to elevate the build above 'drop bar 26" MTB' status.. I've narrowed my choice down to either.. Wilde .. Crust .. or most probably these Sporks from Rodeo Labs, for one, they come in a quick release variety which would keep my options open for a QR 650b wheelset but more importantly, they come with googly eyes as an optional extra.. .. Regarding the 12 or 15mm axle option, i appreciate this would stiffen up the front end but am i gaining anything worthwhile considering it would narrow my wheelset options with QR rear and Thru Axle front? .. I'm a Peak District weekend rider, i'm not looking for a competitive edge here and yes.. i understand that i can't twat a starnut in there.. Also, do these work with a regular ahead set?

3) Would any of you recommend going down a frame size from my usual 18" to 16" because of the change in drop bar geometry and go with a longer stem or would you stick with 18" frame and use a shorter stem if need be?

4) Crank, BB, Gearing, Cassette..
This is where i really need some help people? ... I don't understand any of this
Most of the Sonder gravel bikes i see at Alpkit use 12 x1 so is this narrow wide on the front? i've never ridden 12 x1 i would expect a gravel bike would have faster gearing.. which is really (for road sections) what i'm looking for, no point doing this if it tops out at a lower speed than my current Pace MTB.. but just looking at the size of the chainrings gives me doubts? .. but that aside, what modern gearing will fit a 135mm hub? will this work with a square taper BB and single chainring crank or will i have to go with something more akin to 90s gearing with a double chainring (36t / 50t maybe?) and a front and rear derailleur? .. even though i'm riding in the Peak District.. out of the 27gears i have, i use less than a 1/4 of them.. i'm never in the bottom chainring.. but road sections, i'm in the largest chainring (48t) my legs are going 10 to the dozen but i still can't keep up with the gravel bikes?
I'm also thinking barend shifters which come in 11sp or 12sp.. but again.. will the shifters dictate what cassette i use.. and will it fit 135mm?

5) Brakes, i'll probably stick with Pauls (short pull) Klampers and roadbike levers.. saddle, stem, seatpost ect are all straight forward..

6) Anything else i haven't considered, it's mainly #4^ +will there be chainline issues?

Answers on a postcard

Thx

 

[d8mok]

I think a 650 wheel would fit personally.

You’ll struggle for reach as it’ll end up too long on drops unless you mess around with a short stem.

 

[highlandsflyer]

Thread 'Drop Bar Pace RC200'

May 12, 2015

Managed to pick up an RC200F8 frame a good while back now - was in a pretty poor condition Ano was very worn, bad chain suck on the chain stay. Onle the plus side it came with a new Thompson Elite Seatpost and an XTR Front Mech. Also slightly too big for me for comfortable MTB'ing so road/cross inspired build seemed the way to go. First order of business was to tidy the frame up. After a few enquiries it seemed like powder coating was the way to go - so after a few enquiries it's off to ArmourTex in North London for some treatment.

I think they did a pretty good job ...

• secret_squirrel
• Replies: 29
• Forum: Reader's MTBs --> 1997

The frame design is iconic enough to withstand any treatment.

 

[db95]

Regarding 4 if it's 1x it'll most likely be a narrow wide and probably a mech with a clutch to help with retention and stop chain slap. Biggest ring on a 1x I've seen was 42 on GRX. Plenty of 2x offerings out there if you're concerned, not 100% sure if GRX or any of the gravel specific (marketing lol) chainsets reach 50t, the Shimano Cues stuff that came out recently definitely has 50/34 options. 135mm would be 10/11s/maybe 12 speed? Assuming HG hub I think for 12s it needs to have an 11t as the smallest cog due to 10t fitting microspline (Sunrace CSMZ90 comes to mind). Road 12s should also fit but requires a spacer which size I cannot remember off the top of my head. Easy enough to put any theoretical gearing into a gear inch calculator and compare if 1x or 2x would be better.

 

[nodding dog]

I recently built some DT R500's for a 700c gravel bike and out of curiosity I've just fitted one to my F5 to see how much clearance it had...



That's with a Pirelli Cinturato M 700x40mm and there's still enough room for mudguards.

That frame is a 16.5 inch so it would probably look a bit bonkers on 700's. I reckon your 18 with 650b wheels would look alright though.

 

[highlandsflyer]

If you want to retain your current low end, by the way what is it?, and gain faster road gearing then a two by is likely the best option, after a triple. You have a triple, so going to 1x would limit you in some way.

 

[Betsy]

This is all gold gents.. thank you!

For the sake of clarity, i'm keeping the current RC200 as is

I'm considering buying a second.. let's say doner frame, then should the worst happen, i can just flip the components over onto a second frame while i get the other one repaired.. never mention the 'c' word..

Then i thought.. the frame could (and hopefully) will be hanging on the wall for eternity so why not build it into something useful, so this will be a new build with a mix of old and new parts.. i just didn't want to buy anything other than the frame if there is something i haven't considered.. and/or i didn't want to build something which is the same as what i already have but with drops.. it needs to be more gravel-esque have the gearing to shift a bit quicker on road sections with some squaretubed charm

 

[highlandsflyer]

What is the 'current' gearing? Looks like you have a fairly large ring as it is?

 

[Betsy]

9sp 49/36/27

edit- of course when i say 'i can't keep up with the 'gravel bikes' on the roads.. these could easily just be road bikes with fatter tyres!?, which would explain why i can't keep up.. i'd have a closer look but they're way off in the distance

..but this is what i'm aiming to build, 650b, light weight carbon forks, drops, 42-48mm tyres and faster gearing.

 

[Betsy]

@nodding dog can I see a photo of the clearance between the tyre and the inside of the stays please?