Feature Bike Richard Thackray Original Team Pace F1 - Restoration Thread - Completed

Completed May 2021

Setting The Scene: Its fair to say I'm a huge Pace fan taking inspiration from Jerky, Gil M ,Rich Matthews, Bollox64 as well as many others

Through the years I've seen some epic Pace builds. DR s (pretty sure he sprayed his RC100 six times until he was happy with the colour) , Neil Millard's, Rich's Pink Pace (Mavic Groupset) and the perfection that Bollox64 goes to with his builds. I can't write about amazing Paces and not mention Bibbsey's original RC100 with a Campy groupset which is outstanding

In the late 90's a friend turned up on a Red F7 to go for a bike ride and id honestly never seen anything as stunning. I made him give me first refusal and when he later wanted to buy an Orange I jumped at the chance of owning it.

At the time of buying my F7 I genuinely wasn't aware that there were 6 previous iterations of this model, let alone that the RC100 existed. I made obtaining a RC100 and then an RC300 a goal and thanks to Jerky and the Caramba kid I got one of each. Since then I've added a stunning F1 finished in Champagne from Bollox64 and an F2 to my collection

I have previously mentioned there being 4 Pace's around that I would love to add to my collection, but that in reality I only stood a slim chance of buying one of them .

The Bike:

After a few ups and downs but definitely finishing on an up I've managed to buy Richard Thackray’s iconic ex team Pace F1 from around the 92 era (It definitely was the era of Purple or 3DV) . Although this bike was one of the four id love to own, I didn't think I stood a chance of buying it

The bad news however is that its been ridden over the years. Not normally a bad point but regrettably its been ridden to a point where damage has occurred. Its my aim with the help of some very talented people to restore this to as original a condition as I can. Thanks to Adam Bentham and Rich Matthews I have an idea of how the bike looked in its heyday and the component spec and what I aspire to return it to

For me its about keeping this as original as possible and showcasing the work of the talented people who without their help it would not be possible to see this return to becoming a rider.

This actually featured on an episode of the GMBN tech show. If interested follow the link at its at 7mins in (Thanks John Paddock aka Spud):

The talented people I will be engaging will hopefully add to this thread to showcase their specialisms as they undertake the work. This thread may go quiet given the current climate but will be added to as and when I can

The first order of business is to get it stripped down. The frame will be going off to the Leg End that is Dan Chambers, the Forks to Tim at Fork English. GIL M is kindly going to build the wheels and Retrodecals are working on producing a set of decals to match the bike in its sponsored race livery

I do need the following parts to help with this special build:

1) Rear 32H Pace Alloy Hub
2) Early Renthal (Shimmed Bars) sorted
3) M735 Shortcage Rear Mech (must be v.good + condition)
4) Silver or Purple X-Lite Crank Caps
5) X-Lite Cam Lock Seatpost Pin
6) Purple American Classic Bottle Cage (Fingers crossed that is in hand) Now sorted

Thanks already to SI33 for the pedals, its really appreciated and I will hopefully be receiving some special parts to make this build truly authentic. More on that as it happens

Pics:

Pic 1 - Damage to downtube
Pic 2 - Crack to Headtube Weld
Pic 3 - Miss-matched brake levers
Pic 4- In my kitchen strip down commenced
Pic 5 - Ready for collection
Pic 6 - Parked up looking good
Pic 7 - The Bike in its heyday being ridden by Rich

 

[daveyla]

Epic thread, always frustrating though when you read through a huge thread and no pic of finished bike yet! haha

Looking forward to seeing the finished project.

Amazing skills and dedication.

Jim Really great that you enjoyed reading the thread and took the time to message. The date for the build up is getting closer and hopefully you’ll be seeing finished pics in just over a months time

 

[daveyla]

Less than 3 weeks to the rebuild

 

[daveyla]

So I needed some bar ends plugs to fit into the amazing bars gifted to the restoration as a one off by Ian Collins at Renthal. Easy I thought I will just take the old ones out of the previous bars.

The reality was not easy at all, in fact nigh on impossible in my case without destroying the plugs. Step in my great friend and engineering guru James. Last time we caught up he chatted whist he effortlessly hand made two bespoke brackets for the American Classic water bottle cage for Richard's former flying machine

This time he switched from the milling machine to his lathe to make from a rod of aluminium a pair of beautiful plugs. It’s sad to think that the majority of these beautiful plugs will not be seen once fitted

He’s switched from making components for four wheeled F1’s to my two wheeled F1 variety. For those interested the other component in the picture attaches Pace forks to an Ahead stem and is for another Pace project I will be moving onto after this

He’s a great friend and amazing engineer and has previously made me a device to provide horizontal compression to Bullseye cranks for my RC100 that proved so popular that he has sent them around the world to Pace and Yeti fans

 

[pliche]

very nice bike, these frame are so beautifull

 

[daveyla]

Two weeks today the rebuild commences

 

[marc two tone]

Narrr...I've gone off the idea now.

Flog all the bits, move onto to a mtb with provenance such as a raleigh marauder.



But really, once done we must meet our kid. I will find a nice ride down here for you to join me on.

 

[daveyla]

Its time to wrap the restoration up and in doing so take a moment to thank as many people as I can possibly remember who have helped make this as stunning as I think it looks. I’ll apologise now if I do forget someone



To recap I’d resigned myself to never being able to own this and then out of the blue a post came up intimating that the owner may be willing to sell. I just couldn’t pass up the potential of owning this and immediately started a conversation with the poster. This initially petered out and I disappointingly gave up thinking it had been a waste of time. Thankfully for me a guy called John Paddock (aka Spud) had seen my messages about trying to buy it. He was then watching an episode of GMBN Tech and Andrew Dodd featured this bike on episode 112 of his show which was based out of Trailside cycles, where the bike was located at the time. I saw the owners name was Sandy Plenty and then with one call made to him I bought the bike; it was a simple as that. If you haven’t seen the episode it featured in you can view it here at around 7:10 into the show

I knew the bike had been ridden hard which isn’t normally a bad thing but, in this case, and probably the reason why it was being sold was that it had sustained a fracture to the headtube. Luckily, I know the Leg End that is Dan Chambers and had asked his thoughts on the viability of a repair prior to committing to buying



Once with me it was stripped down and off the frame and Ahead stem went to Dan Chambers. Two absolutely great guys Adam Bentham (who owned the bike straight after Richard and used to work for Pace) and Rich Matthews who actually runs his own website dedicated to Pace’s sent me original components from the bike over from Canada and New Zealand respectively where they live



Rich sent me the original fork crown, seatpost and fork stanchions and Adam sent me the original Royce BB. The fork crown went to Dan for colour matching as well as the seatpost which was bent and needed straightening. The stanchions went to another Pace Leg End Mr Tim Price (aka Fork English) who set about rebuilding the forks. He managed a stunning job and in the process reunited one of the original stanchions as well as the Fork crown (when that had finished on the colour matching front). He also gave up his second to last set of original fork decals for which I can’t thank him enough. A tough decision for him that I am so grateful for which ensured the forks look aesthetically stunning. Last but not least was that the BB went off to Royce for a factory service



If you have followed the post you will hopefully have seen the work Dan undertook in repairing the Headtube weld as well as filling and then milling, dents to the downtube. As if that wasn’t enough I had also sent him the original Ahead stem that was looking rough for re-chroming and the bent seatpost to see if he could straighten this. The pictures Dan has added as well as his descriptions of the processes he undertook showcase the phenomenal engineer and master craftsman that he is. After Dan had applied his expertise the frame as well as some smaller components all went off to Steve at Acorn plating. At a later date when Dan mind-blowingly straightened the American Classic seatpost this went off to Acorn as well. All in all a phenomenal anodising finish to all components



I initially had miss-matched brake levers and once I had acquired a matching lever it was evident that they looked in need of work. A search on Retrobike saw me looking at a thread from a guy called Baz Napierski (Baznap) who had refurbished a set of his brakes. A message to Baz got a really great response in that he was only too happy to help and not only refurb the brakes but also my brake mounts, they look great and his work plays a big part in the finished look



The generosity of people is such situations shows what a good community both the Retrobike and Pace communities are. I had emailed Renthal with an enquiry regarding the bars and the outcome was a one-off gesture by Ian Collins for this project due to it being Richard’s ex race bike by a personal donation by Ian of a set of never before seen the light of days bars. I’ve had some brilliant assistance from my great mate and CNC engineer James Thomas. He’s manufactured from scratch bottle mounts as well as bar ends. If you need a 1 off component making its definitely worth getting in touch with him



I’m conscious I’ve written a lot and want to get on to showing you the pics of the F1 being rebuilt. A quick thanks to Rich Matthews, Adam Bentham, Alec Ruston and Matt Scholey for their continued support and encouragement. Also to Richard and Ruth Thackray who I know have followed the thread on the FB Pace owners page



So getting it over the line was Gil M and Retrodecals. I’ve known Gil a while now and he epitomises another great guy who is an expert in his field. Not only is he the go to person for all things decals, but he also happens to be an authority on Pace’s owning some real beauties of his own. An original Pace RC-50 Acetol front hub was already on the bike and thanks to Tim Price I obtained an NOS Aluminium rear. Gil kindly rebuilt these wheels for me and they look stunning



Retrodecals then set about reproducing the exact decals to have the bike look as it did when Richard rode it in its heyday. Gil also worked on the assembly and the many headaches that brought



All in all a massive massive thanks to: Dan Chambers, Gil , Retrodecals Tim Price, Fork English, Acorn Plating, Baz Napierski, James Thomas, Ian Collins, Rich Matthews and Adam Bentham because without all of your assistance it wouldn’t be as it is today



Finally just to say this for me was about restoring an iconic Pace back to a rideable condition and in doing so showcasing the incredible talents of some very gifted people who are out there supporting us making our bikes work and look great. It was never about returning this to being totally pristine, it has had a life and I wanted to make sure that was still reflected in the final finish. This restoration has certainly been a godsend for me being an outlet during some incredibly tough times in the past year, I think there will be others like me who have sought sanctuary in their bikes to help get through the difficulties that have spread worldwide. There are bar ends, a bottle cage and a crudcatcher to fit and I may well add a further pic in the future once I have fitted those



There’s the pictures of it coming together and finally one idol meeting another



Thank you to each and every person who’s followed the thread over the past year and also for the great comments received . They really have been appreciated and spurred me on to complete this

 

[daveyla]

Next Set , one final one to go

 

[daveyla]

Two Idols meet and the Pace goes to the Historic Quay. I'm thinking of entering this into BOTM which will be my first submission ever if someone can kindly let me know what the process is to enter

 

[Spudly]

Dude, next post, I'm getting goosebumps

*edit*

Scratch that, oh my word