Pace RC627 and a little story

[eldridge]

You may have seen this in the classifieds, its a long story, but looked like I would have to part with it before I'd finished it due to some major, major car issues.
I'd not written about it due to my incompetence at being able to load pics without the laptop and digital camera and I rarely get time for all that anymore

Thanks to Betsy for showing me the simpler way!

I'm able to keep the bike now, so here 12 months later on pictured on its christening ride in Dalby, and I can tell you it's ace. I was expecting it to feel heavier than previous bikes but it's the opposite, it's very lively and very quick off the mark, really chuffed. I opted for this from my last Trance as I got fed up with linkages and broken shocks and with little time for maintenance this solves all that.
Always loved the RC200, always ridden in Dalby and Langdale since the mid 90's with my dad, had some years away from bikes, then the DH/Nambs era with my brother, then more time away from it all, but always come back to MTB, so very fitting then to find myself finally owning and riding one, and now showing my daughters the trails, full circle.

Hopefully I'll be posting a bit more now, as I've never really shared much about my bikes etc, I find my favourite thing about RB is reading about readers bikes and the stories that go with them.

Though I have scaled down greatly I still have a couple of retrobikes including the Cannondale frankenbike on my profile pic, a '95 Marin,


and another project has recently joined me somewhat by accident, a Klein Adept....

 

[brocklanders023]

Lovely stuff. Mine's ace, I love how responsive it is and how easy it is to pull the front up due to the short chain stays.

 

[coomber]

Very nice

 

[raidan73]

That looks lovely. Interesting to read your comments about your old Trance; I'm thinking of investing in a modern full sus bike (far out of my comfort zone) but the maintenance costs are a bit of an unknown to me.

 

[eldridge]

I think if you're pro-active with maintenance and be prepared to replace bearings and get the shock serviced every 1-2 yrs? (Depends how much ride/ conditions )then full sus is great depending where and how you ride. My trance frame was already tired when I got it. Still needed like 8 or 10 bearings iirc.

If like me you're a little more 'reactive' ( or more like when something breaks ) , I find the benefits of the hardtail now outweigh the full sus. And just as fun albeit in a different way.

I'd love to try one of these full sus e bikes just to let me ride further and easier, but I know as soon as something goes wrong I'd wish I hadn't and had stuck to something simpler!

 

[raidan73]

I think if you're pro-active with maintenance and be prepared to replace bearings and get the shock serviced every 1-2 yrs? (Depends how much ride/ conditions )then full sus is great depending where and how you ride. My trance frame was already tired when I got it. Still needed like 8 or 10 bearings iirc.

If like me you're a little more 'reactive' ( or more like when something breaks ) , I find the benefits of the hardtail now outweigh the full sus. And just as fun albeit in a different way.

I'd love to try one of these full sus e bikes just to let me ride further and easier, but I know as soon as something goes wrong I'd wish I hadn't and had stuck to something simpler!

Thanks for that. Certainly food for thought

 

[brocklanders023]

That looks lovely. Interesting to read your comments about your old Trance; I'm thinking of investing in a modern full sus bike (far out of my comfort zone) but the maintenance costs are a bit of an unknown to me.

Some great deals on Orange full suss atm on their website, especially the Black Friday ones. Not much maintenance with single pivot

 

[stevet1]

That's a nice looking hardtail, proper wheelsize as well Now get a dropper post fitted...

 

[Lacuna]

That looks lovely. Interesting to read your comments about your old Trance; I'm thinking of investing in a modern full sus bike (far out of my comfort zone) but the maintenance costs are a bit of an unknown to me.

I wouldn't worry about maintenance. If the frame starts creaking then replace the bearings but I've never had any issues. I built my Lapierre Zesty back in 2017 and all I have needed to do since then is oil the chain. If the shock needed a service it would be more cost effective to sell it and buy a different one.

Its not really a fair comparison against most frames but I built my Banshee Scream in 2003, took it the Alps several times, Fort William and various trail centres. Never serviced the shock or replaced the bearings and regularly pressure washed it. When I came to sell it last year there was still no play or creaks in the frame and the shock was still working perfectly.

 

[Rebikecumbria]

thing with full sussers is matching them to what your riding and how you are treating them especially getting the shock set up properly
I think most people who have had problems with full sussers is because they never have the shock set properly and this inturn causes lots more stress on bushing and bearings and then obviously lots of recurring failures
, used to have a Giant Reign X that got an absolute thrashing and got me down the Mega Avalanche and most the time what I was riding it through i was probably a little underbiked but never had to change the bearings surprisingly but went through many a bushing and lots of bottom brackets but thats another issue ahaha
got a 10 year old DH bike these days and again its never had a bearing change and they are still smooth when i ve stripped the bike but when i first got it second hand i was going through bushings rapidly till i got the shock set up properly with proper spring weight ect then not had a problem since
Do miss my reign x though giant do make great bikes and the suspension worked great
do like a single pivot aswell though
never had to send off a shock but then i stick with oil and springy things generally because i can service myself they are reliable and just work especially zocchs forks they just go one forever with a little care
I would be dubious of most modern stuff every one i know has problems all the time with mechanicals and they all take the p1ss out of my old heavy DH but i rarely have any problems with it
cant beat a well set up strong hardtail though for general ease and reliability my 2005 custom gringo mullet will just about do anything and although it doesnt go quite as fast down things i send the DH it will make it down the same routes
miss riding round dalby used to be my local and memories of racing national U16 XC there in my young teens and doing quite well on a bottom of the range marin hawk hill at the time 97/98 ish : )
great looking Pace : )