pedaladdiction
Dirt Disciple
Hey guys thought i'd finally share this bike with everyone after keeping quiet while i slowly and delicately restored this back to survivor condition over the last 3-4 years. I took it to the malverns this year and it won the retro show and shine. Which since then i have read it upset a few people but we won't dwell on that it is what it is. (its very strange feeling having people congratulate you on winning something like that when its all the bike and definitely not the rider like i'm used to) i'm just stoked everyone was as excited as i was when i saw it for the first time!
Frame - Prototype pace T rc100 trials frame
headset - Silver threaded unknown
Fork - Prototype pace unicrown rigid fork
handlebar - Renthal motocross bars
Stem - Custom shortened and fillet brazed 1” quill
Grips - ODI attack
Brakes - Very early Magura Hydrostop
Cranks - Custom Bullseye singlespeed
Pedals - Shimano Deore XT
Post - Unknown polished layback
Saddle - Vetta elite
Wheels - Araya rm20 24” built on bullseye hubs
Tyres - Tioga comp 3 rainbow stripe
A rare piece of mtb history that was originally built around 1987/1988 at the very beginning of pace cycles journey the bike was stolen shortly after and was never seen by press or documented that we know of.
Heres what we know of this bikes amazing story. The bike was built around 1987/1988 when Duncan Macdonald was welding the first batch of pace rc100 frames. Some of the square tubes that pace became iconic for fell from a pallet and got damaged on the ends after being cut and mitred ready to weld. Unfortunately they could not be used so Duncan not wanting them to go to waste decided to cut them down and turn them into a moto inspired 24” trials bike this spawned some very interesting touches that likely inspired quite a bit in paces future designs in particular the forks which are the first set of pace forks ever made and feature straight fork legs using a moto inspired triple clamp design.
Sadly shortly after it was built, It got stolen every mountain bikers nightmare. It was sadly never seen again that is until a strange eBay advert on the german version of the site appeared listing what appeared to be a very early pace rc100 like bike. The photos were terrible the listing equally so, it was shared on a few forums but nobody had ever heard of it or seen it before the retro bike world palmed it off as a fake and not a genuine pace the general consensus was that of disregard. The listing sold though despite this and fell into the hands of an avid pace collector who managed to track down and speak to Duncan who told him this amazing story which has stayed with the bike ever since.
The frame has lots of uniques features like the custom nylon bash guard that sits under the bb. its purposeful and to the point from the various manufacturing marks it appears to have been cut out roughly on a bandsaw and had some massive holes drilled into it, very much a function over form addition.
The more you look at this bike the more you notice, theres a custom made single speed bullseye crankset, Custom welded rear freewheel sprocket to give a super low gear ratio, the custom brazed 40mm reach stem (remember this was the 80’s sub 100mm stems didn’t exist). The original magura hydrostops still work amazingly well and this was one of the first bikes to have dedicated magura mounts which later became prolific in the trials and mtb world. these are mounted on a set of vintage renthal moto bars with some serious rise again mtb bars of this era were pretty much all flat! You could say this bike was ridiculously ahead of its time and this wasn’t going to be the first of Duncan Macdonalds unique exploratory bikes having later developed the famous dunc’s purple descender which later became the rc500 dh bike we all pined over in the mags. Its a fact that this was the very first of Duncans side projects that pre dated his purple descender imagine if this hadn’t been stolen what could have been? would we have all been riding bikes with super short stems and big rise handlebars long before it got trendy? Who knows but the fact it re surfaced and has been saved after all these years is truly amazing.
I have carefully and meticulously stripped it cleaned it and carried out a very light touch restoration to bring it up to its best possible condition without making it a pavement princess and keeping it all original. Its an old bike with a massive history and in places that shows and shines through. It has just the right amount of patina to say i have a history.
I have realised that in all the excitement of finishing it and malverns i have yet to get some proper close ups of the details. But these will do for now until i get a dry day to get some for you all.
Frame - Prototype pace T rc100 trials frame
headset - Silver threaded unknown
Fork - Prototype pace unicrown rigid fork
handlebar - Renthal motocross bars
Stem - Custom shortened and fillet brazed 1” quill
Grips - ODI attack
Brakes - Very early Magura Hydrostop
Cranks - Custom Bullseye singlespeed
Pedals - Shimano Deore XT
Post - Unknown polished layback
Saddle - Vetta elite
Wheels - Araya rm20 24” built on bullseye hubs
Tyres - Tioga comp 3 rainbow stripe
A rare piece of mtb history that was originally built around 1987/1988 at the very beginning of pace cycles journey the bike was stolen shortly after and was never seen by press or documented that we know of.
Heres what we know of this bikes amazing story. The bike was built around 1987/1988 when Duncan Macdonald was welding the first batch of pace rc100 frames. Some of the square tubes that pace became iconic for fell from a pallet and got damaged on the ends after being cut and mitred ready to weld. Unfortunately they could not be used so Duncan not wanting them to go to waste decided to cut them down and turn them into a moto inspired 24” trials bike this spawned some very interesting touches that likely inspired quite a bit in paces future designs in particular the forks which are the first set of pace forks ever made and feature straight fork legs using a moto inspired triple clamp design.
Sadly shortly after it was built, It got stolen every mountain bikers nightmare. It was sadly never seen again that is until a strange eBay advert on the german version of the site appeared listing what appeared to be a very early pace rc100 like bike. The photos were terrible the listing equally so, it was shared on a few forums but nobody had ever heard of it or seen it before the retro bike world palmed it off as a fake and not a genuine pace the general consensus was that of disregard. The listing sold though despite this and fell into the hands of an avid pace collector who managed to track down and speak to Duncan who told him this amazing story which has stayed with the bike ever since.
The frame has lots of uniques features like the custom nylon bash guard that sits under the bb. its purposeful and to the point from the various manufacturing marks it appears to have been cut out roughly on a bandsaw and had some massive holes drilled into it, very much a function over form addition.
The more you look at this bike the more you notice, theres a custom made single speed bullseye crankset, Custom welded rear freewheel sprocket to give a super low gear ratio, the custom brazed 40mm reach stem (remember this was the 80’s sub 100mm stems didn’t exist). The original magura hydrostops still work amazingly well and this was one of the first bikes to have dedicated magura mounts which later became prolific in the trials and mtb world. these are mounted on a set of vintage renthal moto bars with some serious rise again mtb bars of this era were pretty much all flat! You could say this bike was ridiculously ahead of its time and this wasn’t going to be the first of Duncan Macdonalds unique exploratory bikes having later developed the famous dunc’s purple descender which later became the rc500 dh bike we all pined over in the mags. Its a fact that this was the very first of Duncans side projects that pre dated his purple descender imagine if this hadn’t been stolen what could have been? would we have all been riding bikes with super short stems and big rise handlebars long before it got trendy? Who knows but the fact it re surfaced and has been saved after all these years is truly amazing.
I have carefully and meticulously stripped it cleaned it and carried out a very light touch restoration to bring it up to its best possible condition without making it a pavement princess and keeping it all original. Its an old bike with a massive history and in places that shows and shines through. It has just the right amount of patina to say i have a history.
I have realised that in all the excitement of finishing it and malverns i have yet to get some proper close ups of the details. But these will do for now until i get a dry day to get some for you all.
a pace trials frame… now that is very interesting…
