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  • Karate Monkey?
  • Bregante
    Full Member

    Im temoted by a cheap SS rigid 29 for my now mainly off road commute and I am very tempted to get a karate monkey. Any thoughts or suggestions for alternatives. (I like the genesis fortitude but it’s too much)

    ormondroyd
    Free Member

    I’m a big fan of mine. How do you want your bike to ride? Karate Monkeys are great fun, a little industrial I guess, but fast in the twisty stuff and dependable everywhere.

    coastkid
    Free Member

    Karate Monkey is a brill frameset and is/has been under rated by new more hype stuff over the years but seem to still have a loyal following of happy owners. It still does what it did way back when invented about 6 or 7 years ago, er that is ride trails ok 🙂
    It is strong, comfy and should last years being 4130 cro mo.
    I run mine 2×9 and ridged after a brief try of a 100mm fork, 47mm rims and now 2.35 Gato tyres at 20 PSI, a kind of semi fat bike but the set up suits the trails where i live. I love it and don`t ride it enough, you should be able to pick up a second hand frameset cheapish but i would go for the new baby blue colour 🙂

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    Bregante
    Full Member

    tbh it won’t be my main mountain bike, just something for knobbing about on, riding with my daughter and to and from work (7 miles off road). I currently use a croix de Fer but I’ve hardly ridden it since I got my road bike so thought an SS 29er would be a good replacement (not many hills round me)

    ormondroyd
    Free Member

    It’s a GREAT bike for knobbing about on

    ormondroyd
    Free Member

    Wanna see mine?

    It’s always that dirty. It likes being dirty.

    flatfish
    Free Member
    coastkid
    Free Member

    I Knob about on mine too 😀

    [video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCFIFUih1MA&list=UUSv198UD3Wy-dBsg3K40IvQ&index=4&feature=plcp[/video]

    [video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52GQ-7vxhkw&list=UUSv198UD3Wy-dBsg3K40IvQ&index=3&feature=plcp[/video]

    [video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SLEiFw6bfA&list=UUSv198UD3Wy-dBsg3K40IvQ&index=6&feature=plcp[/video]

    Fit the monkey nuts supplied in the chainstays and you get one of the best balance point hardtails for wheelies too, er sorry officer 😳

    singlecrack
    Free Member

    Well I’ve had lots of different frame sets …especially 29ers and if I had to have just one bike it would be a Karate Monkey ….they are very good ……..at everything

    ormondroyd
    Free Member

    Yeah, if someone pointed a gun at me and told me I could only keep one of my bikes, I’d keep the Karate Monkey.

    Bregante
    Full Member

    Excellent. Cheers!

    coastkid
    Free Member

    🙂

    jimsmith
    Free Member

    love mine,
    been my daily ride to work for as long as i can remember
    as well as many other duties
    but what about the Ogre
    its basically the same but with a whole bunch more functionality
    rack/mudguard bosses
    rohloff oem2 specific mount
    brake mounts on the chainstay
    im well tempted by one
    the new version will be in the uk in 6-8 weeks according to ison
    i got one on order
    cant wait

    Bregante
    Full Member

    The ogre looks great. But…. £600 MORE than the K.M 🙂

    Bregante
    Full Member

    Bought it. £640 complete!

    coastkid
    Free Member

    Salsa Fargo frameset is £450 at Triton, i just built one with drop bars this week to commute/day trip/gravel road tour etc…
    would be nice with risers/flats too, it is a lovely made frame 🙂

    Edit; enjoy your Surly 🙂

    ormondroyd
    Free Member

    You won’t regret it I reckon. Mine’s getting a build up as a cross bike… ish… for the Rapha Cross race in October at Ally Pally. Then onto its winter duties as mudproof singlespeed for the Chilterns clag. It’s been a London urban commuter attack bike, and even briefly had gears on. Mostly, it’s just a bloody great mountain bike.

    Graham_Clark
    Full Member

    Just got one… ridden it a handful of times… Love it 😆 Far too much fun for a bike with one gear and no suspension!

    takisawa2
    Full Member

    Pics OP, needs a pic man…

    singlespeedstu
    Full Member

    ormondroyd – Member

    Wanna see mine?

    **** me that’s enough to put anyone off.

    coastkid
    Free Member

    Gears are the new niche on Monkeys 🙂


    Harvest cycle, North Berwick 023 by coastkid71, on Flickr

    Bregante
    Full Member

    Coast kid that’s so weird, I’ve literally just been looking at that exact photo over on MTBR just 30 seconds ago.

    Quite excited now. New bikes are ace. I’ll be sad to see the croix de Fer go but it just isn’t getting the use any more.

    myheadsashed
    Full Member

    Bugger I’ve a brand new ( boxed ) KM frame and forks to sell 18″, bit of an impulse buy but I can only afford to build one bike and I want the shit brown Fargo instead. 😳

    Nipper99
    Free Member

    myheadsashed – how much for the 18″ frame. Is it the new model without the canti brake mounts.

    myheadsashed
    Full Member
    Nipper99
    Free Member

    do the mounts unscrew from the frame?

    myheadsashed
    Full Member

    Yes.

    Bregante
    Full Member

    Still a work in progress (awaiting QR seat clamp and an inline seatpost – these are looong frames) but so far so good 🙂

    [/url] [/img]

    Clink
    Full Member

    Looking good 😀

    Bregante
    Full Member

    This shows why I need the inline. I’m 6’2 but I don’t have Monkey arms!

    [/url] [/img]

    RichieBoy
    Free Member

    I did parts of the Tour of Flanders last year on my road bike. My mate took his Karate Monkey which he had 1×9’d. He coped so much better on the cobbles and kept up on everything.

    He now runs it SS round town and loves it. Its a smashing little bike!

    Bregante
    Full Member

    I think this will mainly be for towing the youngest around and spins round delamere, TPT etc but I m going to HTN on it too 🙂

    MoreCashThanDash
    Full Member

    What’s the sizing like on the KM – for a hypothetical buyer who was 5’9″, say…..

    ormondroyd
    Free Member

    Mine’s had its change of clothing.

    coastkid
    Free Member

    ormondroyd that looks nice 🙂

    epo-aholic
    Free Member


    SDC11057 by jcabuckley1974, on Flickr

    i miss mine……wish i kept it, lovely bikes! 😥

    charliedontsurf
    Full Member

    The cross monkey looks ace.

    ormondroyd
    Free Member

    I’ll tell you in a couple of hours how it rides 😀

    (and then I’ll weed that strawberry patch behind it. Scout’s honour)

    ruffrider
    Full Member

    Liking the cross monkey too, just looks right….

    SprocketJockey
    Free Member

    Great bikes.

    Fun, versatile, hugely capable, tough as old boots. What’s not to like?

    Mine is also geared, but that’s because I’m such a massive Surly fan-boy, I’ve got a Surly 1×1 for singlespeed duties which is also fab.

    Best thing is the grin it will put on your face when you thoroughly beat someone on an FS bike which cost 4 times as much!

Viewing 40 posts - 1 through 40 (of 51 total)

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