[Closed] Karate Monkey?

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.

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 2x9 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 🙂

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)

It's a GREAT bike for knobbing about on

Wanna see mine?

[img] [/img]

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

One on classifieds atm.

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/fs-surly-karate-monkey-29er-bike

I Knob about on mine too 😀

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

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

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.

Excellent. Cheers!

🙂

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

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

Bought it. £640 complete!

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 🙂

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.

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

Pics OP, needs a pic man...

ormondroyd - Member

Wanna see mine?

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

Gears are the new niche on Monkeys 🙂

[url= http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8460/7939970246_6d05d614cd.jp g" target="_blank">http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8460/7939970246_6d05d614cd.jp g"/> [/img][/url]
[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/coastkid71/7939970246/ ]Harvest cycle, North Berwick 023[/url] by [url= http://www.flickr.com/people/coastkid71/ ]coastkid71[/url], on Flickr

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.

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. 😳

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

With the mounts.......
Like this in grey
http://www.charliethebikemonger.com/save-100-surly-karate-monkey-29er-frame--forks-670-p.asp

£220

do the mounts unscrew from the frame?

Yes.

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

[img][url= http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8318/8035486162_522e8aa47a.jp g" target="_blank">http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8318/8035486162_522e8aa47a.jp g"/> [/img][/url] [/img]

Looking good 😀

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

[img][url= http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8034/8035488373_c3b7bfa48b.jp g" target="_blank">http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8034/8035488373_c3b7bfa48b.jp g"/> [/img][/url] [/img]

I did parts of the Tour of Flanders last year on my road bike. My mate took his Karate Monkey which he had 1x9'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!

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 🙂

What's the sizing like on the KM - for a hypothetical buyer who was 5'9", say.....

Mine's had its change of clothing.

[img] [/img]

ormondroyd that looks nice 🙂

[url= http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2769/5862841047_4d66ec45d2.jp g" target="_blank">http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2769/5862841047_4d66ec45d2.jp g"/> [/img][/url]
[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/10286353@N03/5862841047/ ]SDC11057[/url] by [url= http://www.flickr.com/people/10286353@N03/ ]jcabuckley1974[/url], on Flickr

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

The cross monkey looks ace.

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)

Liking the cross monkey too, just looks right....

Great bikes.

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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 1x1 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!

After some initial concerns that the 20" was a bit on the big side, I've been out for a spin on mine this morning and I can confirm - it's perfect!

Surly frames are pretty traditional geometry so IME always look a bit on the big side until you sling a leg over them.

I Alfine'd my KM, here it is at Cannock Chase. Love the bike its ace, it just feels right.

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I alfine'd my KM, here it is at Cannock Chase Monkey Trail!

Love the bike, it just feel right.

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Mine's the 22". It's one of the few off-the-peg bikes that fits me.