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

R0012394-1.jpg 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
 

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Re: Richard Thackray Team Pace - Restoration Thread

OK, next chapter:

After I had fed and waxed the anodising, I turned to re-fitting the steel and aluminium small parts.

Sourced the correct rivnuts to match originals, so M5 in silver aluminium (not the usual plated steel, which would tend to cause galvanic corrosion of the aluminium frame), with a large flat flange. Here on the right:

Rivnut fitted. This one is for the front mech roller:

On to the helicoils.
These are stainless steel shaped wire that fits into an oversized tapped thread. These are often used for repairs of damaged threads, but are also very useful where a durable thread needs to be made in a relatively soft, weak material such as aluminium. The green colour of some here is an anti-galling coating over stainless steel.

4x M5 for the Magura mounts, and 1x M6 for the seat clamp. Here is one in place, you can see the larger holding thread in the other hole:

Little plastic hose guide rivetted back onto the top tube (3mm aluminium pop rivets).
Decent colour match between the original fork crown, the re-anodised purple frame and the changed colour bar ends. Probably 3 different alloys, and from 2 different manufacturers.

Head tube bore and faces reamed of anodising, chamfered, then headset cups fitted.
All wrapped up cosy and into its box back home.


All the best,
 

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Re: Richard Thackray Team Pace - Restoration Thread

And a small side note on the stem/steerer combo.

The one supplied had been spray can painted a rough grey/silver colour, but Dave wants a chrome finish like Richard's.

So strip the paint to have a look underneath. No sign of previous chrome or nickel coats, but plenty of rust worms:

Light sand and polish all over:


Then off to the seaside to the chrome platers.
Still waiting on this to return...their work is good (mostly classic motorbike parts etc), but the communications can be terrible..they're always a weird bunch to deal with, chrome platers...I put it down to breathing those fumes all day. :D

All the best,
 

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Re: Richard Thackray Team Pace - Restoration Thread

I’m honestly lost for words and that doesn’t happen very often. Truly stunning Dan and I can’t thank you enough.

To think that thanks to your expertise and craftsmanship Richard’s ex team F1 is now in a position where it can be rebuilt and ridden is truly awesome

Thank you so much for this contribution and for showing the levels of craftsmanship and skills that have gone into returning this to an awesome standard
 
Re: Richard Thackray Team Pace - Restoration Thread

Sooooo good, can't wait to see this get bolted together, please give us loads of progress photos when you get going Dave, it would be a crime if we next saw it finished.. :D
 
Re: Richard Thackray Team Pace - Restoration Thread

I got my dates wrong and the F1 frame is due to arrive back from Dan tomorrow. It’s not all bad news and Christmas still came early today as this arrived. I can feel a mega double unboxing coming up
 

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Re: Richard Thackray Team Pace - Restoration Thread

Great to see the details of the work that's gone into it, even the little ones, all adds to a great restoration thread.
 
Re: Richard Thackray Team Pace - Restoration Thread

This was delivered today, I’ll inbox on Saturday and take pics. A monumental point in the restoration


I now only need to send the fork crown to Tim for him to finish building the forks. Then it’s a case of having the wheels rebuilt and the decals and I am in a position to start the rebuilding

Many thanks Dan Chambers ( danson67)
 

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Re: Richard Thackray Team Pace - Restoration Thread

Time to show what the boxes contained in more detail. It's fair to say I am totally blown away with the work Dan Chambers (danson67) and then subsequently Acorn Plating have undertaken. I only took on the restoration following two pieces of advice from Dan.. The first was just to make sure it was repairable and secondly to secure his expertise and craftsmanship to undertake the repairs (I personally wouldn't have taken it to anyone else).

a video and lots of pics, the video can be found here :

https://youtu.be/fn29KF8Bc_c
 

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