RC100 #241- Redux

[pete_mcc]

Many, many moons ago I bought and restored a Pace RC100, there's a thread on here about it somewhere. It was one of those bikes that I loved for the looks and for the memories of being a 16 year old fanboy in 1989. It's a bike that I wanted to build not to ride but to stare at, a lot. It used to look like this:

Then, after a bit of effort and a spit and polish, it looked like this:

But there were a number of things that really bugged me. The magura mounts were too modern, the brake levers didn't have the Pace machined slots, the bars were cut too short and the shim wasn't tapered like the original, the cranks were missing their decals and the skewers weren't Suntour, the grips were modern, low density Grab-ons, the rear derailleur wasn't a long arm.
It took a while to get the parts, the toughest being the magura mounts themselves...
Rampage helped me with the shim, Elite504 slotted my levers, Steve Jackson from Bullseye sorted the decals, the rest came from the classifieds and eBay after a lot of patience.

I know it's all a bit obsessive but if you're going to do it, no half measures! So hopefully I now have the most completely factory specced (and painfully underused) Pace RC100 out there. It's now far more pleasing to my OCD, still doesn't get ridden but does get a huge amount of stares from me and is still the one bike I would rescue if the house was on fire. I know it will annoy some that it's not ridden every day but I tried it once and realised that I'd left it 25 years too long to get the most out of it and it just hurt too much!


Frame: Pace RC100 #241

Fork: Pace RC30

Headset: Suntour XC-Pro
Stem: Pace 1 piece stem/steerer
Handlebar: NOS
Grips: Grab on MTN2 NOS
Barends: N/A

Brakes: Magura HS11 Hydrostops NOS
Brake Pads: Magura short pads NOS
Brake Cables: N/A
Cantilever cable hangers: N/A
Brake Levers: Magura HS NOS

Shifters: XC Pro X-press 7spd NOS
Front Derailleur: XC Pro Braze-on NOS
Rear Derailleur: XC Pro NOS
Derailleur Cables: Suntour Accushift NOS outer, Venhill featherlight inner
Cassette: Sachs 7spd NOS
Chain: Suntour NOS
Cranks: Bullseye
Crank Bolts: N/A
Chainrings: Suntour Accushift power rings NOS
Chainring bolts: Suntour & Venhill
Bottom Bracket: Sealed bearing
Pedals: Suntour XC pro 1st Gen
Clips: Cateye NOS
Straps: Cateye Snake NOS
Bottle Cage: Cateye NOS

Hub Skewers: Suntour XC Pro NOS
Rims: Mavic M231 28/32 NOS
Hubs: Pace RC50 1st Gen (without grease ports), 28h front 32 Rear
Nipples: DT
Spokes: DT
Tyres: Ritchey Mega Bite NOS
Tubes: Schrader valve

Saddle: 1991 Turbo NOS
Seatpost: XC Pro
Seatpost Binder: Suntour XC Pro

Extras: Full Venhill/Magura yellow bolt kit

Just got to find some original cable guides and I'm done, honest, that will be it...

And just for completeness I also added a set of the earliest RC35s to the collection:

Stepped legs, coarse carbon, bonded brace mounts, tiny travel & pearlescent decals, don't think they get much earlier than these.

 

[Rod_Saetan]

Jeez Pete, water the lawn!

Oh, nice bike I s'pose.

 

[chicken]

Re:

Wow

 

[ededwards]

To my uneducated eyes the initial restoration looked very tidy but the updated version looks fantastic.

Completely understand that not a daily rider but surely it deserves, nay demands, a light coating of happy dust from one of the all too rare perfect summer days?

 

[doctorstewie]

No I am sorry you popped into a TARDIS and went and bought it from Stif didn't you? Come on, own up.

A thing of beauty, sir. Did you have the flouro bits powder coated or were they NOS?

 

[pete_mcc]

No I am sorry you popped into a TARDIS and went and bought it from Stif didn't you? Come on, own up.

A thing of beauty, sir. Did you have the flouro bits powder coated or were they NOS?

Ta! Being a southern lad it was always Motosport in Cranleigh where I spent my weekends staring at this and it was that memory that drove me to build this up! Everything is restored, retouched or resprayed, that fluoro is new and done by Mark at Argos

To my uneducated eyes the initial restoration looked very tidy but the updated version looks fantastic

This really was a cathartic build. It was a case of building what I really, really wanted as a kid but could never afford and I wanted it to be exactly like the 1989 Freewheel catalogue. Every variance bugged the hell out of me as it just wasn't right and no matter what I was going to get the parts right.

I have ridden it but riding this one was a horrid experience, not because the bike is not nice to ride but I just couldn't relax for fear of damaging it (well, that and it is a real arse up, head down experience). Strangely I am more than happy to ride any of my others but this is just too special as I think it represents more than just a bike (daft I know). We are currently having the plans for our next house drawn up I'm having an internal double height wall built that's high enough to hang this permanently!

 

[MatBH5]

Re:

All sounds eminently sensible - I've not managed to persuade my better half to have a bike on wall display (but then we are yet to decorate the kitchen diner so there's still time).
That RC100 is absolutely phenomenal, by the way.

 

[uno-speedo]

Re:

Perfect Pete!

 

[Ollie]

Absolutely stunning .

 

[sinnerman]

“You cannot say 'no' to the people you love, not often. That's the secret. And then when you do, it has to sound like a 'yes'. Or you have to make them say 'no.' You have to take time and trouble.”
― Mario Puzo, The Godfather


Respect.