We spent a day over at Dalby Forest being shown the full range of Pace bikes by head honcho Adrian Carter. And then we gave them a quick blast around the UCI World Cup course.
Here’s a video of Adrian walking us through their range (and there’s some fun riding footage at the end).
[stvideo src=”2010/03/Pace2010-480.m4v”]
And for those that like their pics and captions…
Pace RC104
RRP: £595
Something rather different from Pace – a steel bike. TIG+fillet brazed joints and some shiny shiny chrome. Includes the “Slideout” dropout system so you can run gear, singlespeed or a hub gear. Built for a 100-130mm fork. 69.5 degree head angle, 73 degree seat angle, 305mm BB height (with 100mm forked sagged 20mm). Available in this ace “Morris blue” colour or “Purple marine”.
Pace RC204
RRP: £1,395
The new full susser in Pace’s ever-increasing range of frames. Made from Scandium. 100mm travel at the back, designed to work best with 120-130mm fork up front. Light enough to do races on but geometry aimed more at being an excellent all-round trail bike. As with their other Free Floater “floating pivot point” suspension bikes, the axle path is a very slight forward arc with bit more forwardness at the end (like an upside down J shape). 68.4 degree head angle, 72.8 seat angle, 330mm BB height (numbers based on 100mm fork without any sag). Available in Ducati-inspired red and yellow paintjobs. Sub-27lb build as depicted.
Pace RC325.5
RRP: £575
The latest evolution of Pace’s well-admired biggish-forked hardtail. Tweaked to take the new breed of 140mm fork. Also is Hammerschmidt ready. The tubing has also been tweaked quite a lot to “de-harsh” the rear a bit. A bit slacker up front than before: 68.5 degree head angle, 72.5 degree seat angle, 307mm BB height (based on 140mm fork sagged 35mm).
Pace RC405
RRP: £1,250
The latest incarnation of Pace’s first full susser. Nothing dramatically has changed for 2010. 6061 aluminium. 130mm travel at the rear, works with a 130-150mm fork up front. Has bolt-on, replaceeable dropouts. 68.5 degree head angle, 73 degree seat, 343mm BB height (with 130mm fork without any sag). Now available in Fresh Orange, Electric Blue, Classic Khaki and Ltd Ed White. Sub-28lb build as depicted.
Pace RC506
RRP: £1,395
Again, like the RC405, the RC506 remains fairly unchanged for 2010. Which is great news; this was one of our Bikes Of The Year in 2008. 150mm rear travel, 6066 aluminium, 150-160mm fork friendly. 66.5 degree head angle, 72 degree seat angle, 355mm BB height (with 150mm fork without any sag). Available in Slick Grey and Satin Silver Ano. Sub-29lb build as depicted.
Pace join the Fixie wars with the 42:16.
Comments (34)
Comments Closed
Describing that orange colour as ‘Le Creuset’ orange shows just how ‘golf’ our adventure/outdoors sport has become 🙂
Are you sure the 405 has ‘slidey’ drop outs? they’re not featured in the 2010 brochure or on my 2010 frameset come to that!
Typo! Bolt-on, not slidey.
Nice. I like the look of that RC204.
stupid names (R-C-Three-two-five-point-five??) and ugly bikes – that 204 looks like its been wrapped around that tree
I used to really want a Pace, have done since I saw the first square tubed frames
On this evidence not anymore
needs more gnarley
I have a square tube frame for sales. RC200 F8.
Slightly OT – that last bit of trail, is it still a descent? I heard rumblings it was being turned into a climb…
I believe it’ll be the climb for the World Cup, not sure what’ll happen to it after the race though.
Cool. That was one of my favourite descents there!
will they ever do an externally butted square tubed bike again?
my rc200 second gen was awesome…and very stiff with rigid forks up front!!!
but serioul square tubes withturner esque square tubes on the back will look effin awesome!
The 204 is the most garage-forecourt-£129.99 looking bike in a long time. I think it is the colour combined with the excessively-manipulated tubing that makes it look cheap.
Nasher…emailed Adrian a year or so ago & the RC100/200 will be left to rest & remain a historical gem. I had hoped for an anniversary edition or something, but the RC104 may well have to do…
+1 for the pace square full sus
I held out for ages for the ‘Trail’ Pace full sus (not the silly ‘DH’ bikes they did) and after 6 RC200/300s I opted for a GT STS.
I miss the square tubes.
These could be anyones new bikes. Boring. And did the world need another new fixie? Pace seem to have done a total u turn on what make them famous. Dangerous marketing territory.
I think Pace, I think great forks and square tubes. Oh well, back to year 2000 for me!
Adrian needs to work on his enthusiasm for the brand
he only seems to like the baby blue one
true he didnt seem a happy chappy selling his new range an all.
Funny that I had a demo on RC405 a couple of years ago and really liked it. Adrian was at the demo so I tried to engage him in a bit of chat about the bike, how it handled in comparison to others that I’d tried, where was selling them locally, or what were the rolling kit options etc and he didn’t seem bothered.
So I bought a Rize and then a Spark and an EX8 and a Spark for the missus all from a LBS who give really good customer service and are enthusiastic for their products.
What was the track on the video? it was really mellow.
Quite like a bit of that.
“Thirteen” by Big Star.
Lovely song.
That bit of trail in the top photo was one of my favourite bits of the SSUK09 course.
i think he sounds like an engineer, not a salesman. I know who i’d rather buy a bike off.
They wussed out riding the dropoff on their big bikes at 7m27s!
I rode at Dalby for the first time yesterday – great fun
I think he’s just a serious guy who believes in his bike designs, Pace have always been quiete on the marketing front, relying more on a small dealer network and demo days.
I’d love to see an anniversary edition of the original RC100 – there must be quite a few folk who’d buy one so why can’t they do a small batch and get people to pay up front to show their commitment.
The same applies to the green fade Klein Attitude from the early 90’s – I reckon Trek could easily sell 1,000 of those worldwide so why not commission a limited run of remakes? If people are willing to pay up to £2K for Ti frames it must be possible to make some money along the way as well…
I do like the look of the Fixie, pity there are loads of hills on my commute otherwise that might be perfect.
But the others bikes look an absolute pig!
How much is the fixie and does it come as a complete build?
must add that the bikes look very nice though!
Interest in the RC 104. Has anyone had a go on one, or know where I can have a test ride ??
Beware any man who kicks out £500 mountain bike frames that have a ton of swarf in the bottom bracket when you clear the threads, and 142mm rear drop outs. I knew I had problems doing up the rear QR but I didn’t suss why until it was out of warranty.
If you buy one, check it over really carefully before you go building it up. If there is anything wrong…. send it back.
The bike did ride well but those drop outs on my 303 have put me off ever buying another one. There’s probably quite a few owners of early Pace air forks who’d have the same reservations.