Bike Check: Charlie’s Surly Singlespeed Karate Monkey

At Singletrack we get to see all the latest technology and ride countless bikes, but what bikes do Singletrack staffers ride home on? After we have downloaded new firmware for an electronic mech, set shock pressures using the ebikes app and bluetooth pressure sensors, charged our seatposts and become bewildered by… well… almost everything. What bike do we grab to blast out of the “bewildermess” and into the wilds.

• Price: unknown
• From: Surly Bikes / Bikemonger / Ison Distribution / Back of the lock up.

Who The Heck Are Surly?

Surly have been making single speed bikes ‘n’ stuff out of Minneapolis USA since 1998. They started with a one speed chain tensioner, a bottle opener tool that you could also smoke very small amounts of “tobacco” in, and the 1×1 single speed frame. Little did anyone know that what they were doing was to define the modern niches of the cycling world. Many of these niches are now the norm. There was a time if you wanted a fat bike, or a 29er, or a 29+, or an off-road touring bike (now known as ‘bikepacking’) there was almost only Surly satisfying your desires. They were the weird kids who went on to start amazing things. 

For around 20 years, I really am not sure how long, I was Charlie The Bikemonger, purveyor of damned fine single speed bikes. I worked very closely with the Surly gang. We raced in deserts, drank wine in mountain villages, got stuck into a demolition derby on a frozen pond, and they even came to my scout group meeting to build bamboo bike racks. We also thought and dreamed the same things. Out of these half-cut ramblings we conceived 29+ (that’s 3 inch wide 29er tyres/bikes) and even complete fat bikes… ‘Just build ten of those weird frames up, pass them around, and see if it catches on’.

A handful of old parts ended up in cardboard boxes when I sold the business. All part of me successfully completing my marriage (aka divorce). So, when it came to building a bike for this year’s Single Speed World Champs in Spain, it was pretty easy.

The Bike

I took an XL Surly Karate Monkey frame, in the awesome transparent ‘spray tan’ finish where you can see the welds and tube discolouration through a tinted lacquer.

Then added some neat Halo 35mm Vapour wheels, with a Surly cog and some spacers instead of a cassette. I love the stealthy black rims with their simple domed profile. No screaming neon branding here – just classic looks.

The Rene Herse Fleecer Ridge tyres look ace and are actually noise cancelling. Yes, the tread is designed to eat the noise it makes. And it works… very weird. Inspired by this I have tried to noise cancel my dog by anticipating his barks and barking at him. This did not work. Noise cancelling is a tricky science. The tan walls look great on with the spray tan Surly Karate Monkey.

The cranks and brakes were left over from something and found in a box. So, it’s SLX all round in that department. Nowt fancy. 

Obviously a bike born in the bits box needs some bling, and that takes the form of a Salsa titanium seatpost. It had developed a little extra layback via bending more than it should when it was at full extension on another bike, under my 99kg naked mass. That’s my naked weight, I don’t cycle naked. But maybe I should as that is one way of staying within manufacturers 100kg weight limits.

An old Brooks sprung saddle does what it does. Me and this saddle are pretty similar: looks great, behaves weird, is a bit shagged out now, but will go on forever or until it dies… whichever comes first.

Front End

The business end is where it gets interesting. Ison provided me with the colossal and awesome Surly Sunrise bars. They are very steel, very wide, very swept and very similar to old motorcycle trials bars. They have the old school skinny 22.2mm clamp area but come with 31.8mm adapters. However, that is nowhere near as cool as running a 55mm reach Gusset BMX stem. You know what, whilst fitting these bars and looking down at the four clamp bolts my mind drifted back to the 80’s and the endless dirty summers tearing around on clunkers and then BMXs. Nostalgia bars?

Such magnificent bars require some equally rad grips. Gusset makes these extra long mushroom style grips that again take me back to the 80s. And they have flange too, cos I love a bit of flange. Who doesn’t?

Obviously, this bar and stem set up dicks hard with the geometry. Hell, it was handling like a Aldi shopping trolley on acid. This was fixed with a 2 degree angle reducing headset. It now rips and hustles like a M&S shopping trolley on EPO. Seriously, I thought this old geo frame would never get used again, but the angle reducing headset has really breathed new life into this old bike.

The Ride

maybe it’s trouble that I am looking for?

Charlie

Like the best people in my life, living with this bike is not always easy. It gets all spun out on the 2 mile descent into town… but feels lush. It is too wide for the narrow bits of the towpath but looks cool. And then the 2 mile climb home… It starts off fine, then we fall out a bit, then there is some wrestling, then we are out of the woods with the pub in sight, and then we are in love with each other again.

It’s super refreshing to ride such a simple bike in a world where people actually charge their seatpost. Think about that for a moment. I don’t have to charge this bike. Don’t feel the need for padded shorts… denim cut offs work just fine. Servicing is air and chain lube. It’s also easier to declutter your mind with a simple bike you can just jump on and go.

To get such a basic bike going is easy. You just have to get stuck in and deal with it. A ferociously laid back attitude and blind faith will see you through. No Bluetooth dropper post to get you out of trouble here. But then, maybe it’s trouble that I am looking for? Every now and then the muscle memory in my thumb will reach for a shifter that simply is not there. Both me and my thumb get a little embarrassed when this happens. I tell it to quit shifting around and get a grip. It gives me the silent treatment. No one else knows about this, so it is all cool.

The Theme Tune

Apparently not every bike comes with a theme tune! However, several Surly bikes come their very own song for you to sing along to while dashing through the countryside. Karate Monkey by Chubby Checker is a damned fine riding song. Also check out ‘I love you, Big Dummy’ by Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band.

• Frame // Surly Karate Monkey (generation 2, around 10 years old)
• Fork // Surly Karate Monkey 4130 rigid
• Hubs // Halo
• Rims // Halo Vapour 35
• Tyres // Rene Herse Fleecer Ridge 29×2.2
• Chainset // Shimano SLX 32t
• Rear mech // Move legs faster, or slower, or not at all.
• Shifters // Futile thumb wiggling into a void
• Cassette // one single Surly steel cog 18t
• Brakes // Shimano SLX
• Stem // Gusset MXR BMX stem 
• Bars // Surly Moonrise
• Grips // Gusset
• Seatpost // Salsa Titanium  27.2mm
• Saddle // Brooks Flyer
• Size tested // XL
• Weight // I need to weigh this bike. But weight can be so judgemental. This bike really should be judged on its other omissions and faults first.

---