Price: £419.95 (£399.99 disc only)

Weight: 3.76lb or 1710g (with remote lock out lever).

www. pace-racing.co.uk

We’ve already reviewed the Pace Pro Class 2 forks when they first came out so this is more of an update of the changes they’ve made than a whole new review.

Test Logbook: We’ve had these forks on several bikes since we got hold of them back in December, and we’d put a load of time into the previous Pro Class forks as well.

They’ve been run through pretty much every evil condition imaginable and lets just say the maintenance and cleaning schedule hasn’t been textbook regularity either. We whopped grease in every 40 miles or so and they’ve run perfectly smoothly without so much as a hint of a stripdown.

The RC36 Pro Class fork is a direct descendent of a long line of Pace coil sprung forks and before that carbon legged steel stanchioned elastomer forks that go back over a decade. This long evolutionary process has bought Pace to their current incarnation.

Twin magnesium braces, magnesium dropouts, carbon legs, steel stanchions, hollow CNC crown, grease ported seal housings and removable brake bosses, and finally the remote compression damping lockout lever that they developed for their RC38 Air Force race fork.

The sliders glide on PTFE faced aluminium bearings over the chrome plated ground steel stanchions, with twin wiper seals to keep the crap out. As crown / full travel tolerances are so tight, you can’t run shock boots, but we’ve not had any seal problems with these or previous Pace’s. As usual for Pace, grease ports let you pump lube directly into the bearing surfaces – but stick to about 2 pumps a leg or you risk blowing the seals.

The upper end of the sliders holds the CNC bearing / seal housings and the twin bolted magnesium bridges. The ProClass 2 also uses new CNC brake arms, cantilever off this housing rather than clamped round the steerer leg. Impressively stiff and switchable front to rear, and far easier to remove than the old clamps if you upgrade to disc’s. For those wondering why the V’s are behind the crown, running the brakes to the rear means that as the wheel goes through, any rotation of the brakes, clamp or fork leg drags the brakes further onto the rim – increasing power rather than pushing them away. Simple but smart thinking.

Keeping you gliding smoothly above the trail is a five (4 positive, 1 negative / top out) silicone chrome steel spring stack in the left (when sat on the bike) leg and an aluminium chambered open bath damper in the right leg (away from disc brake heat).

The two main springs are different rates to provide a progressive action and the spring stack is further preload adjustable via a screwdriver top cap in the left leg. If that doesn’t get you bouncing right – it’s set for that classic 10 – 11 stone XC whippet – alternative spring weights are available. The fork can also be simply switched from 100 to 80mm (ideal for solving all those Forum “travel” fights) by pulling a supplementary spring from the far side of the spring stack and slipping it in at the bottom of the “active stack”. This final spring of the stack ramps up the rate considerably, meaning that you’ll only get the extra 20mm when you really bury the fork into something. We’d still bottom out a couple of times on aggressive rides, but the fork is pleasing free from full travel wallow that hampers low speed steep section handling on more linear forks.

The only downside is that the fork is still held together by circlip springs, which Pace insist you don’t re-use. Now we’re pretty sure they’re just covering their own back from a liability point of view as circlips can get mangled and give up just when you need them most. Pace warn you not to re-use them over a dozen times throughout the manual, so spend a few pence for peace of mind and warranty. The pain with this is that you need a pair of new circlips (one for the bottom of each leg) every time you strip the fork. If you know you’re going to change the travel as soon as you buy them (they come as 100mm) then get the shop to do it for you.

The most obvious change (and the reason you’re paying an extra £20) is the remote lock out lever for the compression damping. This really cute little rocker lever has been improved with a cast handlebar clamp and you still get the little grippy covers on the lever ends. The remote does exactly what you’d want it to – effectively turning the fork on or off (although there is a big hit blow off valve in the system) and the lever placement couldn’t be better. There are no more frantic lunges for the top of the fork when you realise you’ve accidentally left it on, and instant lockout for even the shortest climb sections if you want it.We smacked the cable into the frame a few times when we crashed and that didn’t cause any problems either. For reference the fork will just carry on working freely as normal if the lockout cable does get unplugged.

The damper has been increased in volume to reduce heat build up and consequent damping fade (though with decent oil it’d have to get pretty hot). The rebound damping is a simple twist knob on the top of the right hand leg. Damping adjustment is wider than previous Pace’s but can be changed further by swapping oil weights from the ’10’ weight provided – don’t go higher than ’15’ weight though or you’ll damage the cartridge seals.

Holding all this in your bike is the same crown used on the Air Force II and RC31 forks too. The crown is a slim, hollow CNC unit with particularly pretty ‘fluting’ on the top of the crown and further smooth CNC detailing.

Weight with v brake studs and uncut steerer is just over 1700g (3.76lb) so expect to lose a few ounces once trimmed to fit, with more to go if you run discs. Mid range rather than superlight but then you’re getting remote lock out, coil spring smoothness and 100mm travel.

In a word – superbly. Once you’ve settled the fork in and some of the stiffness has gone from the seals, it really is buttery smooth through it’s progressive compression. Small bumps are stifled smoothly and sketchy traction round roots and off camber sections is followed flawlessly, with no judder or spitting out from the front wheel. At the other end of the scale, land it really hard and there’s a slight nudge at full travel to let you know you’re getting your money’s worth but whether you’re packing down big block drops or hammering through rolling undulations the rebound is unerringly smooth. If you’re used to waiting for slight kickback or forks still rising as you plunge towards the next impact then they’re a revelation, but otherwise you’ll just forget about them totally as they leave you to concentrate on the riding.

Despite their slim looks, tracking stiffness is excellent through the steel stanchions and twin brace. There’s a little more flutter and twist at the tips than forks with a bolt through hub but they’re accurate and totally predictable even under heavy braking.

Apart from the ‘non replaceable circlip’ issue, maintenance is easy and straightforward, with the grease ports keeping them smooth ride to ride between service intervals. The press fit crown also gets rid of all that bolt checking faff, which is very welcome.

As an evolution version of an already de-bugged and well loved fork (the Pro Class II) the excellent performance of the ProClass II Lockout isn’t a surprise. The fact they’ve now got a lock out option just makes them even more desirable, if that’s your thing. Throw in a very competitive price for homegrown, handbuilt quality and detailing, with rapid servicing turnaround, and we can’t fail to recommend these forks for trail riders looking for superb performance.