Strengths: Well where to start, The choice of tubing shape and ti alloy makes this frame stiff in all the areas you'd like and flexi in the others. The frame does not feel squidy or flexi when trying to accelerate because of the significantly sixed and shaped 6/4 downtube.
The choice of 4 or 5 inches of travel make this handy for most conditions you could ever encounter in the UK and the 4-6 inch fork compatability combines to leave you spoilt for choice in setting the bike up.
The suspension action balances plushness with pedalling efficency. It doesn't feel bottomless plush as the 'constant leverage' thing means you don't blow through the mid-travel and you only get maximum travel when you actually need it. This suspension doesn't wallow and with the RP3 shock it really eggs you on to go faster and faster.
The titanium swingarm/linkage is a work of art, absolutely beautiful, and the craftmanship over the whole frame is exquist.
This frame climbs fast, accelerates very well and descends very nicely thank you very much.
Weaknesses: Well obviously the near £3000 price tag is something of a shock to the bank balance and I only bought this as a very big reward to myself. I've tried to justify it as the last full sus frame I'll ever need to buy as this should last me my life time.
As discussed the benefits of the suspension action, if you like your suspension super plush I'm not sure you'll be able to set this frame up that way. I had an azonic propulsion and it was super plush and felt bottomless with just 3 1/2 inches of travel, but boy did it bob around and without lots of shock platform applied it couldn't climb for toffee.
Then there is the geometry of the thing. I'm 5'10" and from looking at the sizing I needed a medium to get the right effective toptube. But either I have abnormally short legs or this thing has a rather large standover height. I think it is a bit of both. The BB is 13" above the ground and the toptube gives 30.6"ish standover. I'm kind of touching cloth with the old toptube/genitals if that paints the picture for you. But once on it the geometry is perfect and the sag of the shock drops the BB height a little.
Oh and its worth mentioning again £3000!!!
Overall: Well I love this bike, I love the craftsmanship of the build, I love the slender tubing and the feel of the suspension. It has great tyre clearance, great versatility for front and rear travel and with a lifetime warranty it should out last me. I sometimes keep it in my lounge when I'm not riding it so I can look at it as a piece of art work, that doesn't make me popular :-). If you can afford it you'll not be disappointed by it, it is just a bike so don't expect miricles from it just because its £3000 though.
Strengths: Plush travel and very easy to set-up. Very light weight and launch control feature gets the front end down for climbs so it sticks to the ground on the up hills and you can get the power through the rear wheel.
Weaknesses: Only available in black
Overall: I wanted a bit more travel over my 100mm forks and I had some RC41 fighter forks on the other bike so knew the Pace forks are good. This fork is lighter than the air fork it replaced and also feels stiffer than most forks I've tried. The launch control isn't some gimic feature you see on many other forks that looks impressive but you never actually use, it works fantastically well for climbing and is very easy to activate, just push the button. My forks have performed great from the box with just a short ride needed to bed them in. Can't see anything around that is better than this fork in its class.
Strengths: Very plush feeling shock that soaks up al the bumps well without ever feeling like you are getting near the end of your travel.
Weaknesses: The reactor valve technlogy just doesn't stop the bike bobbing under pedalling and climbing, it's like being on a spacehopper. If you turn up the compression the shock still bobs for the first part of the stroke before the dampening acts. The rebound adjustment didn't have any major effect.
Overall: This is a pretty heavy coil shock that is super plush on downhills but bobs around on the flat and climbs. If you want a coil shock you can climb on get a 5th element or DHX as the platform on these really does work. The comrpession and rebound adjustment don't really act as helpful features, the 5th element offers real adjustment throughout the stoke of the shock. Shame they've stoppped making them. If you put an air shox on, like an RP3, you won't lose too much of the plushness but the gains on pedaling efficency and weight loss will out weigh this. It doesn't matter how good something is at going downhill if its a nightmare getting up the hill in the first place. I use a 5th element coil and RP3 on my bikes and they far out perform the Romic.
Strengths: Strong solid construction, easy to use valve head adapter, comfortable handle, nice and quick and easy to reach the required pressure, very clear gauge
Weaknesses: So far its performed it's duties without fault
Overall: A good mid-price pump, a great improvement over the small handpumps you keep in your pack. A solidly constructed design that is easy to use and will hopefully last a good few years. At £25 its good value for money.
Strengths: Extremely plush travel that soaks up everything you take it over and keeps giving. Excellent construction standard. Novel and well thought out suspension design with pivot around BB. Fantasitic looking when built-up.
Weaknesses: I've been riding mine for over 6 months since building it up and have yet to discover one.
Overall: This frame can be built up for freeride, DH or all day trail riding, with how bikes have developed recently lots of trail bikes have 5-6 inches of travel. I teamed up a 5th element coil with pace RC41 fighter forks to give 6 inches either end and built it up strong and light. It goes up hill a treat and fires down them, but can be ridden all day. I'm very happy with it.
Strengths: Very plush fork, better than the Vanilla's they replaced. Very easy to set-up for use. Launch control really lets your bike climb and is easy to switch on and off. Incredibly light 150mm travel fork.
Weaknesses: A little oil leaks from the seal on the first ride but after that nothing.
Overall: I bought these to replace my Fox Vanilla forks, the ride height of these is only about 1 cm higher than the 125mm Fox and I'd guess less than that of other 150mm forks. They are very plush, full stop, not just for an air fork. The rebound and compression is adjustable and the blow off of the lauch control to get it set nicely for your needs, but it performs straight out of the box. When in lauch control it climbs really well as little effort is needed to keep the front wheel on the ground and they just soak up the hits on descents and you just want to go faster and faster. I heard rumours about the reliability of Pace but I've had no problems and I'm glad I got them.
Strengths: The ability to adjust just about every feature of the travel. You can taylor your shocks performance to fit your bike, riding style and terrain. The platform does an excellent job and allows heavy bikes to climb really quite well.
Weaknesses: The ability to adjust just about every feature of the travel. It takes some fiddling and a reasonable amount of reading to fully understand how you have affected your travel by turning that little red knob one full turn. Being a coil you need to get the correct spring to get the right sagg and there aren't many places you can get them from, plus they ain't cheap!
Overall: Once you understand the features and spend a few rides fiddling you can get this set up to perfectly compliment your riding. The platform works really well, allowing good climbing as well as excellent descending. The only real downside is that progressive are pulling out of the bike shock market.
Strengths: Lightweight, low maintainance, easy to set-up, versatile for all rider weights, plush for an air shock, reactive over the big and small bumps, on and off propedal adjustablilty, air-tight. But the best of all is all that bobbing around is history.
Weaknesses: Depending on the frame mounting it can be difficult to access the air valve.
Overall: I replaced a coil shock on my four bar linkage bike with this as it bobbed on the flat and when climbing. This shock made the bike feel ridged as a hardtail on the flat and climb but opened up without any harsh bump edges when the terrain dictated. You lose a like plushness over the coil shock but its hardly noticable. It has imporved the handling of my bike in everyway, it feels like a new bike.
Strengths: Near maintainance free use throughtout the year, no issues with muddy conditions, guarantted gear shifting and a good range of gears.
There is no real weight gain overall but it just push the centre of gravity further back on the bike, this actually seems to improve handling when going downhill.
Quite easy ot set-up on the bike once you go through the instructions and kit, also with the right parts you can fit it to all bikes.
It seems to be very energy efficent and allows a lot of power to be put through it without complaining, not gear crunching grinding noises like somethings going to snap that you can get with derailleurs.
A year of use and it now is a lot quieter than originally and it should just get better and better.
Allows gear changing when stationary so you need never be in the wrong gear to pull away.
Weaknesses: I'm not a huge fan of grip shift but it is surprisingly easy to get used to.
Takes a little while to get used to changing gear at a point in the pedal stroke when you are not exerting maximum force.
Some would say cost but for the quality and reliability of shifting and the expected lifespan of the hub I think it will turn out to be a very sound investment.
Overall: Excellent shifting all year round, no matter what the weather and how little maintainance work you do on it. No real weight gain just a relocation of the weight. Once you get used to it it's difficult going back.
Strengths: Light weight, 500g less than the romic it replaced Very easy to set up, getting the sag and rebound set was a doddle Really nice feel of travel, better than my old float rl Adjustment of propedal setting
Weaknesses: Because of location of the air valve and the frame mountings its difficult to get the shock pump on to adjust the air in the shock
Overall: Since replacing the romic shock on my bike the ride quality and feel of the bike have been transformed, for the good. The propedal eliminated all the pedal bob on the flat and climbing, when sat on the saddle. The shock reacts to the bumps when needed and stays stiff when required. The settings allow the level of propedal to be adjusted, I use the middle setting for decending rather than the off setting, this lets me put in the odd accelerating pedal stroke in without bobbing a bit. Now its fitted I spend my days wanting to get home and get on the bike. Worth every penny for the improved acceleration and climbing it gives, I love it.
