• Pace RC36 Stealth fork
• £399 (£379 without lockout)
• www.pace-racing.co.uk
• 01752 432929

Pace have been making forks for a long time now, and every new incarnation has a bit more innovation, a little more refinement. For 2003 the changes are quite substantial. Pace have developed a completely new fork chassis using what they call “Hollowform” technology. It’s a label applied to several bits of the fork, but the most interesting is the lower leg assembly. The main point of interest is that it’s not so much of an assembly any more. Previous forks used carbon tubes bonded into machined aluminium housings and bolted to magnesium bridges, but now it’s all one piece of carbon fibre running up from one dropout, over and round the back to form the fork brace and then down the other leg. Die-cast magnesium dropouts are bonded on to the bottom of each leg, with the left one carrying a standard disc mount. Pace recommend a maximum rotor diameter of 165mm, which may be a drawback for some riders – big-terrain trail riders are increasingly going to 185mm rotors. You’ll also void the warranty if you put your RC36-equipped bike on a roof rack that holds the fork by the dropouts, which is worth bearing in mind.

The other Hollowform bits are the crown, a cold forged, heat treated and CNCed 7075T6 item that’s now dark anodised to match the darkness elsewhere on the fork. And the steerer is described as Hollowform too, although we’ve never seen a non-hollow steerer. It’s 7075T6 aluminium and has been subjected to DIN 79100 tests for fatigue and impact load. Yes, it passed them. And someone’s bound to ask, so yes – you can get an RC36 with a 1in steerer tube to special order – the 1in steerer is 2014T6.

As Pace tradition dictates, the stanchion tubes are good old plated chromoly steel. The 28.6mm (1-1/8in) ferrous legs might look old school compared to the 30 or 32mm aluminium ones that are all the rage these days, but there’s a number of advantages to them. The plating won’t wear off in a hurry and steel’s strong so they can make the tube walls thin so they’re light. And if the Stealths aren’t stealthy enough for you, bung Pace an extra £33.95 and you can get the Dark Option stanchions with a deep blue-black titanium aluminium nitride coating which is also harder and more slippy than the standard plating.

While we’re on the subject of weight (well, we were a minute ago), we’re looking at 1.7kg for the RC36. That’s pretty impressive for a 100mm travel coil-sprung fork – it’s about the same weight as an air-sprung Fox Float or RS Psylo Race. If you want lighter, Pace’s new RC38 Air Force now uses the same chassis as the 36 but with an air spring instead of the coil making it 200g lighter.

Inside, the RC36 follows the now-commonplace spring in one leg/damping in the other pattern, although unlike most manufacturers the spring’s in the right leg and the damping in the left. The spring is actually four springs (five if you count the top-out spring). There’s an initial spring for small-bump sensitivity, then a two-part main spring with differing rates for smooth progression through to bottom out. Plus a supplementary spring that you can move from one side of the spring push rod to the other to knock the travel down from 100mm to 80mm while keeping the spring rate sensible.

There’s a preload adjuster hidden under the plastic top cap on the leg. No handy external dial, but preload is one of those things that, once adjusted right, is left alone. And the slotted adjuster under the cap is very “factory” and a bit motorcycley which is fine by us. The stock springs are fine for the legendary “average-size” rider, which in Suspension Land means around the 10.5-11 stone mark.. Heavier springs are available, but if you need lighter ones you’re out of luck – the stock ones are the lightest.

Damping is handled by an open chamber system in the left leg. The oil’s kept inside the leg, though – this isn’t a “wet” fork like a Fox. You get a funky anodised rebound adjuster on top of the leg, and on this model a cable leading to a neat bar-mounted lockout lever. The cable has a cunning “Swivelhead” design so it can bend and twist around without the cable kinking or the outer being damaged. We found that the cable was only just long enough – to be fair that’s on a large frame and fairly high bars, but they’re not crazy high.

If you’re not a lockout fan, there’s a version of the Stealth that does without for twenty quid less. Sacrifice the remote lockout and you get compression damping adjustment instead.

Betwixt inner and outer legs sit the usual PTFE faced aluminium bushings. As we mentioned earlier, the RC36 is a “dry” fork – the damping oil just damps, it doesn’t lubricate. Lubrication is handled by grease, injected via the “G-Spot” grease port on each leg. This is positioned between the upper and lower bushings, putting grease right where it’s needed.

Seals are Pace’s twin wiper design which by now are tried and tested. Other details are largely concerned with what’s not there – you don’t get any brake bosses (there are mounts moulded into the fork brace and the V-brake kit is another £26.45) and if you’d like a disc brake hose guide that’s extra too. We just used zip ties…

Fitting didn’t present any unusual problems, except for a bit of juggling to get the lockout lever to reach. It fitted snugly under the gear indicator on our shifters and ended up in a reasonably handy position. And then it’s time to ride…

Those steel stanchions may look a bit anorexic next to some forks, but there’s no shortage of stiffness in Pace’s new chassis. The Hollowform fork brace has got plenty of beef and the whole thing is admirably twist-resistant. We were surprised by the lack of fore-and-aft movement under braking too. Surprised because we’re using a front brake rotor 23% bigger than Pace recommend. Reassuringly, using an oversized rotor doesn’t seem to have had any ill-effects yet, although we doubt the warranty would cover anything that gave up the ghost as a result of the big disc and wouldn’t recommend following our example…

Once bedded in (Pace say 10-20 hours, ours stopped getting noticeably better after 10) the Stealth is a supple and viceless suspension performer. The grease lubrication means they’re smooth straight away, unlike some “wet” forks that can be a bit stiff and squeaky for the first few minutes until the oil’s circulated around the bushings. They’re confident and poised over all scales of hit, and are as sensitive and plush as anything else out there. During the bedding-in phase you need to watch out for them quickly getting bouncier but the rebound adjuster has a suitable range of adjustment to keep things under control.

Mud clearance around the tyre isn’t the biggest we’ve seen, but ample. The remote lockout works, although we tend not to use suspension lockouts. There are dire warnings in the instruction manual about not using the lockout over rough surfaces or when descending as it could damage the fork, from which we infer that there’s no blow-off mechanism on the lockout which would seem to be something of an oversight.

To keep the Stealths running sweetly, you need to keep the grease topped up – you’ll notice it gradually emerges from the seals as you ride. Some of it found its way onto the quick release lever on the test fork – we haven’t quite figured out where that came from… It won’t all come out, though, so every so often you need to pull the lowers off, clean and regrease them. This sounds like a faff, but keeping the damping and lubrication separate does have certain advantages. You need less oil, and oil’s pretty heavy. And whatever’s doing the lubricating tends to get contaminated over time – with separate systems the damping oil is kept clean. Pace say a full service (including an oil change) should be done annually.

So, is this the fork for you? Well, as is so often the way, it depends. Performance wise, it’s a match for anything else out there and it’s light for a coil fork. The maintenance-phobic will probably prefer a fork that you just keep clean and get a shop to change the oil every so often, while keen fettlers won’t have any qualms about regular regreasing and stripping down. It’s also unashamedly a lightweight, mid-travel XC/trail riding fork. If your riding tastes lean a bit more towards riding off things and big hits, this isn’t the fork for you (although Pace’s forthcoming RC40 – 32mm stanchions, 125mm of travel or 150mm and a 1.5in steerer option on the Extreme version – might well be).

The price is undeniably in the high end of the fork market. But that’s where Pace have always been. Looking at the spread of prices they don’t look unreasonably priced (although having to pay extra for brake bosses is perhaps a bit keen) and at the end of the day, you’re either going to spend four hundred quid on a fork or you’re not. If you are, and your priorities are light weight, performance and techno looks, then the RC36 will be right up your street…

Verdict: The looks and maintenance regime may not be to everyone’s taste, but there’s no arguing with the performance and low weight of Pace’s latest. Gravity warriors should look elsewhere, but these should be on anyone’s shortlist of mid-travel lightweight trail riding forks.

Performance: 5/5
Value: 4/5
Overall 4/5