1992 FUNK Combat Titanium - The elitist Elevated Unicorn Owners Club

[fguki]

A pretty rare unicorn finally arrived at my shop yesterday night!

After some back and forth with the seller for several weeks, I finally received this super rare FUNK Combat Titanium frame. Ive been on the hunt for a beautiful FUNK for about 1 1/2 years now - and although from optical reasons only I would possibly prefer an aluminium version, of course I could not say no and decided to buy this beauty in a heartbeat!

Besides the fantastic price of the frame, the seller even left the SYNCROS Titanium bottom bracket in for me! Fantastic! Love that ...

I will fill this thread with loads of pictures - although I already know that this will be a super slow build! Maybe it will stay a wall hanger like forever and will not be ridden. That would be totally fine with me as well!

Any information is appreciated! Any owner of FUNK Titanium version is very welcome! I absolutely love to see yours. In another thread during my research I read that there are aprox. 19 frames made. I assume there are quite more of them out there.

What I did on day #1:

1.) Removed the old decals. Dont worry, no blasphemy! Theyre only ordinary vinyl-cuts which I will reproduce 100% original. Also, Im not sure yet if I will put white back on. I loved the dark grey on lighter grey look as well!
2.) Re-drew the FUNK font of that period for decal-work in the Illustrator.
3.) Removed the SYNCROS Titanium bottom bracket for cleaning and bearing replacement.
4.) Gave the frame a good cleaning and "polished" the surface with medium abrasive fleece. They always work superb on the normal or blasted Titanium surfaces.
5.) Put in 4x new titanium bottle cage screws and 2x titanium cantilever bosses. Super important! Ha ha ...

The last and first night with the frame left me with several question:

- How many FUNK Titaniums have been made in total? ...I think I will try to contact Daryl Funk directly. Maybe he has some info and memories for me.
- Are the aluminium shims in the steerer tube and seat tube original? Steerer tube has been converted to 1" inch (very odd!) and seat post shim reduces seat post insert to 27.0.
- is the 2792 the serial number? Pretty odd, writing it only with a white Sharpie Pen (or "Edding" as we say here in Germany).

Here is the frame right after unpacking, before I gave it a detailled cleaning:

 

[Once A Hero]

Yeah, that's cool

 

[Swede]

Not jealous...

You now need the ultra rare Funk "Racing" carbon fork to go with it...

 

[Swede]

There aren't many photos but this Combat and the one in the advert uses what looks like a Time New Roman(ish) font for the decals.

 

[markoc]

That's a whole new level of awesome. I've always loved a FUNK and had no idea there was a Ti version. I bet that rides absolutely beautifully.

 

[Swede]

Serial number or date? The 92 could mean 1992 in which case maybe this is number 27?

 

[tangent]

wow , every day is a school day as they say - had no idea a titanium funkeven existed.

a few alumnium frame versions have appeared on here in last fee seasons - including one with funk suspension forks , although not carbon IIRC.

will enjoy seeing build up process

 

[fguki]

Here is the follow up of day #1 with all the latest pictures. After removing the decals and working the surface. Also, cleaning the bottom bracket shell and the SYNCROS titanium bottom bracket:

If I think about it: I think I would maybe fancy a GIRVIN titanium flex-stem for it

 

[fguki]

So I just talked to the previous owner again.

The backstory of the bike is, that he (the previous owner) got it from a swiss shop owner that was going out of business. He was already over 70 and was selling stuff from his shop / warehouse or collection.

He (the shop owner) got it exclusively from FUNK. They made the titanium frames only after special order and only for specific persons. And, having one made was extremely expensive. As you could imagine!

The previous owner also still has the bike`s receipt of 1992! He will give it to me. He also said, the serial number is correct and thats how they shipped out the frames. With the serial numbers simply written on the bottom bracket shell with a white sharpie *lol*

I guess thats why somebody put some clear laquer over it - to preserve it for the future.

 

[Swede]

Interesting. I spoke at length to Daryl about the early days and he said that the European sales were significant. I got the impression that these frames were made for significant people who were connected somehow - maybe they were made in recognition for the position that they had put him in (before the doom that is!)?