I appreciate the continuing input. Choopa, I especially appreciate your positive energy and sustainment. It refreshed me. I was feeling pretty down. All you guys probably had the same experience I did when you first found this site and realized the amazing potential of ebikes--sleepless nights, creative thoughts, etc.
I like the idea of the dropout adapters, especially the idea of them being able to lengthen the wheelbase a little, I just didn't know what you were talking about. Still barely do, but I like the idea of being able to make them with a file... if I don't have to work on it for hours and hours and hurt my wrists. I don't own a file set, but have had buying a cheap (Mini) file set on my to-do list for a long time. I have a friend who says just about anything can be made with files. However, I still have no idea how I'd do that. I do have a drill, and a rotary tool. They don't see much action. I don't think I am serious enough to buy a bench grinder (I don't even have a workbench to mount it to), and I don't know anyone locally I could use. I would like to explore this possibility more. Thanks for the offer.
I also don't understand why custom dropouts would affect which gears you could use, or how they would make the chain hit the tire?
I'm very aware of Surly and the history of fat bikes. The Surly bikes start at around $1200 at least, I think (for a single speed!). The Pugsley is $1750, and the Moonlander is $2550! I'd sooner get a fat goose than a USED Pugsley, though it is a nice bike. When I began, I was shocked that a decent DIY ebike build would cost over $1k with a $250 bike!, as I was considering used (gasoline) dirtbikes for like $300. I realized an ebike would be more versatile and a better overall choice, but ouch. BikesDirect has a steel-framed fat bike for $1200 too. Nope. I'd sooner get a $250 Dick's steel frame generic-ness blah-fest.
I still think it's ridiculous that I've been stymied over 2cm of axle.
I honestly didn't realize I was blazing new territory. Is it really true that no one's put a MAC/BMC/Ezee on their Fat Bike? Finding it hard to believe. I keep thinking someone's going to pop up who's done it, and will tell me how. Hm.
After talking to a trusted friend, I don't think squeezing an aluminum frame would be a good idea, not much anyway. He said look at where it bends; if it bends on the tube, that might be okay a little bit; but if it's flexing at the weld, that's bad. Steel bends, aluminum breaks he said (like Wes said earlier).
Choopa:
I looked at the MAC diagram again, and they show an axle width of 205mm, but then there is something else to the right of that, where the wire comes out, like an 'extension' of the axle (on the wire side). To me, it seemed like the UN-SLICED portion of the axle was 205mm, and maybe the "notched" part extended out further (asymmetrically; in other words, making the wire side slightly longer than the other side). Photographs online were of no help (inconsistent/unable to tell). Could you do me a favor bud... would it be possible measure the full width of that axle (with the notch)? And possibly the portion which is the "un-notched" axle length? I really feel this is important at this point. If I'm interpreting the diagram correctly, it could be like raising the gate and letting me easily pass through. I could get nuts clamped down on 205mm of UNcut axle just fine, after thinking about it, with a 170mm dropout.
Guys I'm very interested in the idea of thick, Standard-sized tires. I researched them, and the bike forums said they weren't made anymore, b/c they worked poorly in reality (in retrospect, I think that was due to available rim widths of the time), and yep, they did mention the best place to get them today was the Unicycle stores, LOL. My only current bike/ebike anymore is a cheapie WalMart 250W hybrid electric dirtbike/bicycle; for teens; 20-inch tires. Around $425-450 new, I got it used to experiment and see if I wanted to spend the money on a real DIY eBike. It has 2.5-inch knobby Innova brand tires and, although it's a bad example, it's just too dangerous on local gravel. (It does remarkably well off-road otherwise.) Our 'gravel' rocks can approach the size of golf balls! And they're strewn loosely on crushed concrete, not layered thick like a railroad bed. Over half the roads around me are like that, and those are the ones I really want to get around on. No speeding there! I like to stop a lot anyway. I should lower the tire pressure, and the bike's unstable for so many reasons, but still, the supposedly 2.5" tires are way too narrow IME, though the extra stability of a 'real' bike I'm sure would help a lot. I'd still be a bit wigged out, which is no fun. I've biked thousands of miles on mountain and street bikes in a former life, but never much on gravel before. Long story short, I developed a knee problem which ruined biking for me, but pedaling was no longer fun anyway.
On a MTB with 3-inch tires, that might do. The bike in my first link is not full 80mm rims, they're 50mm rims with 4-inch inches (would be rounder due to narrower rim), and their 'lower' model actually has 3-inch rubber on same rims (they should just sell a model with no rubber). That frame can't do wider. BD does sell ones that have full 4-inch tires/80mm rims starting around 600. I wouldn't want a Moonlander's nearly 5-inch tires. IMO, that's more for snow.
SO, WHAT'S THE WIDEST RIM A STANDARD MOUNTAIN BIKE CAN TAKE? Choopa what size rims do you have? I read about a trick where you put a somewhat narrow tire on a wide rim. It flattens out the tire, and gives you a bigger contact patch. I might do that. Depends on how big a rim I can fit on there. Experience with my 20-inch tire ebike suggests that both tire width as well as wheel diameter, plus other factors, all influence stability, esp. on loose rocks. Basically: the bigger, the better, but you can only go so big until it's impractical.
Dogman: it's sad to hear there aren't more slow-wound motors. I was expecting to hear more from you on that. Is 9C even still in business? Site down at least for weeks. I don't know much about their products, except they sold a variety of windings, like MAC.
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