616 Fabrication Muenzie Fat Bike

So this was a surprise. The Cannondale cranks arrived today and actually look really good. Good enough to use on the bike before getting a proper refurb.

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Finally finished sanding down the rims. I took an awful lot longer than I had hoped it would. The area surrounding the spoke holes was particularly difficult to clean up, because the spoke holes are raised. Clear coat will be applied somewhere next week, so hoping I can send them off to a wheel builder soon afterwards.

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Just took delivery of some nice parts for the bike.

The saddle is a Berk Lupina. I read some great reviews on this saddle, which made me want to give it a shot. I also bought a Fabric Scoop Radius something, in case it doens't work out.

The cranks are NOS SRAM XX1's with a GXP axle. I have a Hope bottom bracket on the way, which I hope will work with this. These will be replacing the Hollowgrams I had planned. I thought all I needed was a new axle and a bottom bracket, but turns out they require a special offset fat bike chainring to make it work on a fat bike. With all the add ons adding up significantly to the price, it just didn't make sense anymore.

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The Hope bottom bracket arrived yesterday. This gave me a chance to check if the cranks with the 30T chainring clear the frame. Good news is the cranks do, bad news is the chainring does not (as you can tell by the damaged paint). I suppose I could go down to 28T. But that would limit my top end speed even more. So I am considering putting a dimple in the chain stay where it hits the chainring. With a bit of luck this may even give me space to fit a 32T. This seems like a setup that might work.

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Rims are ready for clear coat. Not sure how long it will take before they are finished. Hoping next week.

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Some progress. The wheels for the bike were built by the wheel builder last week.

Prior to building the wheels he inquired about any fork offset (to the side). My initial response was no. Seeing as the rear spacing is 170, I didn't see how that would make any sense. A closer inspection revealed that the fork is build offset nonetheless. I sent the wheel builder a picture of it and his first response was that it was probably a rebranded Surly fork. So he built the front wheel on the Surly specs. It wasn't only after he had built the wheel, that he realised that the offset was the other side around. For the second attempt I sent him the fork, to get the best possible result.

Yesterday I fitted some tires to the wheels and put them in the frame. It was immediately clear that the position of the rims is not okay. For some reason both are off to the right. Quite a bit. I've sent pictures of this to the wheel builder. I have no idea what went wrong, but I sure hope he will fix this.

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Also, some shots of the bike from the side.

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that's really beautiful

So good. What have you got planned for it in terms of UK rides? Interested to know where you ride something like this (so I can build an excuse to buy one...)

The mystery continues.

According to the wheelbuilder he built the rear wheel for a centered frame. Which means the rear wheel position is also offset. Just like the front fork. I know some manufacturers (Cannondale) do an offset frame, but I think it is to the other side as my frame.

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Finally some progress. Just ordered the remaining parts for the built, so hopefully I will be able to finish it somewhere next week or so.

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Just realized I forgot to update this thread :s

I merged my bike threads, so you can find updates here. This is how it is looking right now.

The Muenzi has received a ton of updates since my last post. As such I have decided it really deserves it own thread.

I had a frame bag and panniers made by @Tijmen. The panniers will be fitted to an Old Man Mountain rack that I still need to fit.

The Jones bars are no more. They were great, but I just couldn't turn down a chance to buy a Groovy Cycles Love Handlebar locally.

I bought an extra pair of wheels for the bike, so I can easily change tires. They are 26" White Industries hubs laced to Surly Marge Lite rims. I also found a Paul fat bike rear hub which I plan to combine with a Son dynamo hub. Rims will probably be 29+ something.

Pedals are now Mavic Crossmax Ti.

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Such a great bike

Amazing bike, the seatpost is my favourite bit (or maybe the bag). Must be huge too, the frame bag is the biggest I've made so far but the rest of the bike makes it look small.

More pics

Forgot to mention I also bought a Mac Ride child seat.

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This is awesome. I have hub envy.

hub envy

This. Great bike!

More cool stuff incoming. This has been on my wish list for as long as I can remember.

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Sorry if you mentioned it somewhere but who makes that seat post with the black/gold weave ?

FRM

Thanks

Took the bike with me on a trip to Switzerland. Did some enduro descents with a guide. Glad I didn’t know what was coming up front. It was scary as f but made it down safe and with a big smile.

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Test fit with the new rear wheel. I was surprised to find out the frame easily takes 4.6" tires.

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That's some incredible riding scenery. Sometimes ignorance really is bliss for the trail ahead!