[Closed] Retro Pace RC40 carbon fork, what does this switch thing do?

From memory, the twiddle is damping - I was going to say compression, but the big "R" suggests rebound.

The push in/out thing - you should be able to push the knob down, bounce down hard on the fork and it'll lock down. Then if you hit something hard enough (or bounce hard on the fork again), it'll auto unlock and return to normal length/operation. The little hole should allow you to adjust the threshold of how big a bump you need to hit.

Was it Pace who did a "Launch Control" thing? the fork could be locked out for a race start and then on hitting the first bump it would unlock & become active. Maybe.

Ignore me - i've just looked at your knob and it actually has "Launch Control" etched onto it!

Yep, I had some of these.
The side to side is rebound - firms it up or softens it.
The launch control you push the knob down (I think) and then push on the fork. It locks out(ish) and then turns off on the first big hit.
It never worked very well. Like most Pace forks tbh. The bounced up and down and worked well enough, but the adjustments were always a bit, ah, random.

Nothing. I had these very forks and they were beyond awful !!

I had them back in 2007 and thought they were ace! Very plush for the time. Followed them up with some 2012 DT Swiss XMM's that were basically the newer version (of the air fork) and they were ace as well.

i’ve just looked at your knob and it actually has “Launch Control” etched onto it!

*Must resist*

Thanks for info, and manual link chestrockwell, just fiddled with the knob.... very slight rebound difference and launch control thing seems to work slightly so all a bit pointless and minimal in effect. At least they do seem plush on the bounce though. The back end of the bike has a Fox Float RL shock which does seem pretty good still, pumped up to the right pressure, it has a long and short travel switch plus a cable operated lock out - all doing what it should still. Not bad for 15 years old.

It's a Pace fork. Whatever it was advertised to do it probably didn't do properly when it left the factory, let alone after the firstride.
Source: jaded ex employee of a shop that sold Pace stuff, and ex owner Pace forks from new.

I also had these forks. When they worked they were great.

However, my damper assembly had an issue with unscrewing itself and losing all damping.

And the bushes went after a couple of years, the replacements lasted two rides.

After that I gave up with them.

I think pace made a reasonable engineering prototype and then sold it.

If the lockdown doesn't work then it probably needs a service and a top up. It's pretty old, if it hasn't been well serviced then you wouldn't expect it to work perfectly.

Can't remember the rebound making much difference but the Launch Control certainly did when working so would suggest yours isn't.

I also had these forks. When they worked they were great.

+1. I had the RC41s: they were great until the steerer went loose in the crown. That was an expensive repair.

theres a member on retrobike who specialises in servicing these forks - Tim English aka justbackdated if memory serves corect ( i maybe wrong about the name)

Fork English I think and yes it's Tim.
I've sent a couple of Pace forks to him in the past. Great service.
I liked the rc40s and still have a set in the shed.

Only decent component Pace made was those gold chainrings with the notch cut out for dirt clearing, oh wait Renthal made those for Pace.
But I remember drooling over their purple anodised square tubed frame back in the day.

check the magnesium dropouts are still glued on.

I think they had good ideas, gust not the budget to rnd them properly.

my damper assembly had an issue with unscrewing itself and losing all damping.

Yep mine did the same, and it was my fault, apparently, for not checking if every ride

Great looking forks for the time tho, but a bit of a triumph of form over function.

I've a set of RC41s still and they were serviced by Tim at Fork English. Mine are to fighters with 20mm axle - still work great FWIW. Launch control works just fine and as described above.

I ended up having their travel shortened to 130 from 150 to match a bike I'd moved them to and it does make them more stiff and they ride better as a result.

As above its rebound and launch control. The rebound adjustment range on the lever is smaller than the actual adjustment available. If you need more or less you can move it to the extreme, take the lever off (small grub screw), then reset the lever position on the shaft underneath.

Push down is launch control. This shortens the fork on the next compression till you either pull the switch out again or the fork takes a big enough impact to trigger the blow off. At this point the fork should go back to full travel. The very small +/- adjustment is the sensitivity of the blow off. There is a particular technique to bleed the damper to make it work (turn on, compress fork fully gradually, repeat until it stays compressed).

I loved the several sets I had and the DTswiss version that came afterwards.

I had some RC41 XCAMs (the air sprung versions of these) and they were fantastic forks until I got them serviced and after that they felt like crap 😀

Another vote for Tim at Fork English. He worked for Pace for years so really knows his stuff.

Like most of those that have owned Pace forks it tend to be one extreme or the other. My first RC35s were brilliant, much better than anything else on the market at the time and still working. I had both the air and could ones from the same era as those at the start. The neither worked 100%, the coil was better but leaked from the launch control and the air ones leaked oil from the magnesium carbon bond by the drop out. The DT XMM 120 have been quietly superb over a long period of time. I think the innovation was great at Pace, but the production control was flakey to say the least.

Mine are still doing well. Another vote for Tim, great guy, based in Pickering, but believe will courier.