 After a wee spell in hospital(doctor told me he was keeping me in for observation the same day the last part for the bike arrived!!!), the bike finally got built. This bike has been a ‘I want’ for about 8 years, but was way out of my price range, however I was very lucky to meet a few folk who were able to pull some strings and sort me out with the bike, total price was well under ‘normal’ prices and only £150 more than I originally wanted to pay. So anyway, the spell in hospital over, the all clear from the doctor and the bike was built. The first thing you notice when you feel the bike is it has a presence, it actually feels as though it is alive. Pick it up and it feels very well balanced without any tendency to either wheel. The first ride of the bike was interesting – the discs didn’t work (I first thought that someone was playing a joke on me!), the shifter’s felt stiff (due to the Clark’s cables being new and needing run-in), the wheels were ultra stiff and the frame just wanted to go· I spent the next few days tinkering with the discs – the setting up of the discs is very easy however I foolishly forgot to tighten the QR’s up when originally setting them up so they needing some more time. Once the new shoes and helmet had arrived (my excuse of a ‘Get Well Soon’ present to myself), I got the whole thing set up and finally went for a spin off-road· Holy Dooley – this thing seemed to gobble up singletrack, laugh at what was classed as a climb and simply begged for more downhill. On singletrack the bike seems to squat down and simply ‘flow’ through the track, the steering is very light and the slightest flick allows the bike to manoeuvre through anything thrown at it; climbs are stupidly easy to ride, I’m turning a 24-28 and the bike simply turns any circular motion into power, compared to my old steel Orange P7, this thing was on drugs and needed more; the descents were very interesting, I was expecting to be bucked around a lot but found the ride to be smooth, the back-end is stupidly stiff but riding over rough terrain didn’t transmit this roughness to my rear-end, the bike seemed to spring over the rocks and roots without ever realising that it wasn’t smooth ground. The forks are starting to bed in nicely, still not as smooth as my old RC-36’s but certainly well on the way – the extra 14mm of travel is very weird, the fork now tracks much better than the previous model, the action is silent (where have the Atmospherically Balanced holes gone?) and the sideways movement to a minimum – a very good fork only let down by a slightly high price in the market, don’t get me wrong, you get a lot of fork and a lot of tweaking but £400 seems a bit high when the other 3 main players have similar forks for about £350. I’m happy to pay the extra as I’m convinced there isn’t a fork out there that can match the RC-36, in my opinion. The discs – these have been my bugbear! The rear brake is absolutely amazing, the slightest touch of the lever and I can feel the brake biting however the front is whole different kettle of fish! The front disc was pathetic, worse than a set of cantis, no matter how hard I pulled the lever, no matter how much tweaking this brake wasn’t for stopping me. I contacted Hope and they sent me a new set of pads, I can now however confirm that these brakes are excellent, they are light and the stopping is very good – the front still isn’t on par with the back but I’m hoping it will be there after the next few days riding. The discs do get hot but there seems to be very little heat build-up – they do pump but very slightly, not enough to worry about (I do still tend to ride my brakes, stupid I know!). If I was given a blank cheque and told to buy whatever bike I wanted, I’d be very hard pushed to beat this bike, it is a high-end machine with high-end components on it and I don’t think I could ask for anymore from it – it does more than the 8-year dream ever expected. If you would like to find out more about any Pace product, the number to ring is 01751 432929 or visit their website (getting a serious overall as we speak, should be completed in about 2 weeks!) at www.pace-racing.co.uk. I’m going to give the bike 4.5 out 5 as the price is very high – yes your getting a top quality frame that rides like a dream but it is still almost £1000. Well worth the money if you can convince the bank manager you don’t actually need that kidney, arm and leg… |
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