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

Teaser Pic from Dan Chambers ( danson67) His repairs are now finished (hopefully he will add to this thread) and he has sent off and had the frame and components returned from Acorn Plating
 

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Re: Richard Thackray Team Pace - Restoration Thread

:shock: :cool:
 
Re: Richard Thackray Team Pace - Restoration Thread

Everyone needs a Dan...
 
Re:

Absolutely he’s such a master craftsman and superb engineer as well as being a great guy
 
Re:

I’ve tried but have been unsuccessful in relation to uploading a video of a fantastic gift I received. A parcel was sent to me all the way from Canada with an awesome selection of goodies. The standout item is the original Royce BB from the Pace when Richard Thackray raced it

My aim from the outset has been to retain as much originality as I possibly can and having the bottom bracket to return to the F1 is a big step in that direction

I am truly blown away with the generosity and support I’ve been given so far and hopefully there will be more exciting updates

If anyone is a member of the Pace owner’s group on FB the video is on the thread there. In terms of the BB it’s started its journey to Royce via Canada and the North East for the engineers there to give it a factory service. I will post a picture of it when it has been returned
 

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Re: Richard Thackray Team Pace - Restoration Thread

I can see from this thread where my X-Lite bar ends are going to end up...
 
Re: Richard Thackray Team Pace - Restoration Thread

Kell":bdl88ey7 said:
I can see from this thread where my X-Lite bar ends are going to end up...

They sure are and will be there on the finished pics
 
Re: Richard Thackray Team Pace - Restoration Thread

Right then...previously on The Purple Pace build thread we had got as far as cutting out the crack in the headtube/down tube joint... :)

Now making things better:
First tight pass to fill the crotch of the cut out joint. A bit of slag inclusion from the inside of the weld, but not major:

Then finish with a clean second pass (photo after caustic etch):

On to the three small pierced holes on the downtube.

Short weld to fill, then to horizontal milling machine to remove back to the original tube surface.
I wasn't happy with the smeared finish from the cutter on a test piece, (bottom right) so had it re-sharpened and tried again (Left and top right).

Happy with that, but for the small low patch left from the weld pool, but best not weld a 2nd time in the area, so will leave that.

Finish off the caustic anodising strip all over. This cleans off the anodising, first the colour disappears (which is just a dye), followed by the anodising itself.
At this stage all the non-aluminium alloying elements are deposited on the surface, and the result is black, grubby and patchy.
Not to worry...a quick bath in a dilute nitric acid solution lifts this and cleans up much of the surface.

This is the area that was welded and milled back. As you can see, the weld pool is showing in the material although the surface is flat:
 

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Re: Richard Thackray Team Pace - Restoration Thread

Ream and chamfer both ends of the headtube, but still looking a bit grubby, off on a journey along with some small parts (Bar ends, QR axle ends and seat clamp).

With some TLC and a professional nitric acid de-smut at the anodisers (Acorn Anodising of Sandhurst), things are looking much better:
Steve at Acorn was not happy with this prep result though, which he thought was still a little patchy:

However, the certain remedy was to have the frame physically polished or bead blasted, both of which would have removed metal and probably lost some of the sharpness of the machining etc, so we decided to go ahead anyway and see what the result was.
Once anodised and coloured, it appeared to be a little dull and patchy still, with some colour variance, especially some sort of fringing around some of the welds. Steve wasn't 100% satisfied, and was a bit disappointed too, but without more stripping then polishing or blasting, that was as good as we were going to get. :|


The small parts looked to be all OK, and a nice match for the original fork crown:

So...what to do? :|

...Knowing how thirsty and absorbent fresh anodising can be, I went over the frame with some Wurth Sabesto paint protector, followed by a couple of coats of wax/turpentine polish:

Much better. :D
Now on to re-fitting the grease nipple, bottle boss rivnuts and steel thread inserts...
 

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