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

 

[mk one]

Re: Re:

Sorry for the poor sound...

https://youtu.be/GY8djlUwlZ8

thanks for sharing that.

 

[daveyla]

Re: Richard Thackeray Team Pace - Restoration Thread

I mentioned at the outset of the restoration that the success of the project would be through some talented people helping me. I also mentioned that it would be my intention to ensure they received the recognition they deserve. I am now in the position to showcase the work of one of the afore mentioned talented people, known on this site as Baznap

The Brakes:

The bike came with Magura Racelines on which are period correct. The main apparent issue was that the levers were miss-matched. The original lever is the right hand lever. I then began the search to source a replacement lever. The issue I learnt was that the model on my ex-race bike is a rare one. I have been informed that the dual band design was fragile and prone to easily breaking which might explain the replacement left hand lever. It is thought that for this reason the dual band design was not made in large numbers. I had many offers of Racelines but none were the dual band design. Someone kindly pointed out they had seen the correct lever type on another site a while back. I was pointed to the listing, contacted the seller and ended up buying it

The replacement lever was in better condition than the original but still not at a standard I wanted for the restoration. The original lever definitely needed some love. The fact that they needed refurbishing was obvious, who could do it not so. That was until I popped a search here on Retrobike which brought up Baznap's (Barry) post of his first attempt at restoring a set of Magura HS33 (you can find that here: viewtopic.php?t=385879 )

I messaged Barry to ask if he was up for restoring another set? and he responded straight away to let me know he would be more than willing to give it a go ( top guy) . I duly got all the bits together and sent them off to Barry. To think this is only Barry's second restoration of a set of these is amazing. I am over the moon at the quality and I only hope within the pictures I can do justice as to how great these have turned out. Its fair to say I'm over the moon

The pictures:

Pics 1, 2 and 3 were the state they were in before being sent off to Barry
Pics 4, 5 and 6 Barry works his magic
Pics 7 -12 Their return

 

[daveyla]

Re: Richard Thackeray Team Pace - Restoration Thread

Remaining Pics 8 -12

Thanks again Barry Fantastic work

 

[Paul R]

Re: Richard Thackeray Team Pace - Restoration Thread

they look great

 

[longun]

Re:

They look great dude

 

[MR OX]

Re:

This thread is a whole lot of Wow! I'm properly excited

 

[enc]

Re:

leavers look ace. Whats the script with the decals on them?

 

[brocklanders023]

Re:

Yep, this is turning into a beauter.

 

[Retro Spud]

Re: Richard Thackeray Team Pace - Restoration Thread

Baz got me hooked as well and ended up with two sets in Flouro Yellow (HS33 below are original)

I opted for the Hydo stop decal on mine - but now you've got me thinking :facepalm:
btw your earlier ones do look a lot nicer with the twin bands (kind of racier)

 

[mk one]

Re: Richard Thackeray Team Pace - Restoration Thread

Great job on those levers, im sure he will be getting more work his way now too.

And yes, the open banded clamps are harder to come by but do pop up for sale now and again, could maybe cut out some more common black ones and get them resprayed? and im sure the yellow hydro stops came with race line decals instead of hydro stop decals Nick :?