WandsworthRouleur
Pace Fan
So, bit of an update...
Being motivated to get the bike ready for an Easter cycle, I've finally got Mrs R's P7 ready to go. Still a couple of tweaks needed, but it's totally rideable now.
The forks were the main problem. I wanted a set of F7s (still do!), but haven't managed to find anything suitable. So, time to refurb the RC35 MXCDs that came with it. Inevitably, most of the elastomers were completely shot. I didn't really want to buy a replacement Pace set, as they only seem to have medium still (and Mrs R is a little light for those). I tried buying some polyurethane tube or rod, but could only find some on Amazon that didn't involve me buying industrial quantities. What to do...
Fortunately I had a set of functioning RS Indy S forks that I had intended to modify for Master Rouleur's baby Zaskar. Decided to go a different way with that, so I could salvage the MCU elastomer from that. The Indy S just has a single solid rod of elastomer in one leg (really cheap forks when new -- no rebound adjust, no damping!). I chopped this up and drilled it out and it did a pretty good job of replacing the crumbled Pace elastomers. And now I had a bit of a proressive spring rate thing going on. A bit of light buffing with wire wool later, and they were ready to be fitted.
Got up early on Monday morning to cable up and fit the levers, shifter and wheels, and off we all went on the maiden voyage. 26k around Bewl Water with the offspring in tow (on their decidedly non-retro Islabike Beinns), and all good. Mrs R very pleased with how much lighter the P7 is than her old Trek. And more comfy too (although slightly too stretched out).
Photo bucket seems to be playing up, so no pics yet. I'll get some up (including of the fork elastomers) asap.
Being motivated to get the bike ready for an Easter cycle, I've finally got Mrs R's P7 ready to go. Still a couple of tweaks needed, but it's totally rideable now.
The forks were the main problem. I wanted a set of F7s (still do!), but haven't managed to find anything suitable. So, time to refurb the RC35 MXCDs that came with it. Inevitably, most of the elastomers were completely shot. I didn't really want to buy a replacement Pace set, as they only seem to have medium still (and Mrs R is a little light for those). I tried buying some polyurethane tube or rod, but could only find some on Amazon that didn't involve me buying industrial quantities. What to do...
Fortunately I had a set of functioning RS Indy S forks that I had intended to modify for Master Rouleur's baby Zaskar. Decided to go a different way with that, so I could salvage the MCU elastomer from that. The Indy S just has a single solid rod of elastomer in one leg (really cheap forks when new -- no rebound adjust, no damping!). I chopped this up and drilled it out and it did a pretty good job of replacing the crumbled Pace elastomers. And now I had a bit of a proressive spring rate thing going on. A bit of light buffing with wire wool later, and they were ready to be fitted.
Got up early on Monday morning to cable up and fit the levers, shifter and wheels, and off we all went on the maiden voyage. 26k around Bewl Water with the offspring in tow (on their decidedly non-retro Islabike Beinns), and all good. Mrs R very pleased with how much lighter the P7 is than her old Trek. And more comfy too (although slightly too stretched out).
Photo bucket seems to be playing up, so no pics yet. I'll get some up (including of the fork elastomers) asap.
