The Surly Long Haul Trucker has always bemused me. Again weirdly expensive for such a basic bike. You could just buy an 80's Dawes Galaxy at a car boot sale and have pretty well the same bike.
The Surly Long Haul Trucker has always bemused me
To understand the brilliance of the LHT you need to make it carry as much weight as possible and give it some abuse and then be amazed with just how well it rides and how much hammer it takes.
Not sure a 40 year old dawes galaxy could take the same. I'm sure the km is built just as well as a LHT
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Yea, you're right there should really be much less in it cash wise, though I am surprised the weight difference is so small, unless 29+ really is that much heavier than 27+.
And the Jones bars. I got the On Ones and saved enough for some decent mudguards and a front light!
They're a daft price... if I was buying the Bombtrack I'd probably sell the Loops and buy the On One copies and a Brand-x dropper with the cash...
walleater
The Surly Long Haul Trucker has always bemused me. Again weirdly expensive for such a basic bike. You could just buy an 80’s Dawes Galaxy at a car boot sale and have pretty well the same bike.
But that's the beauty of a well built steel bike. If it has been looked after, you're just a coat of new paint away from having it as good as new.
The point of the Surly is that in 2, 5, 10 years time it will still be a good bike (assuming basic care). That gives plenty time to amortise its cost. Most Surly owners hang on to their bikes.
Say you keep the frame 3 years and then throw it away, then it's cost you £0.73 per day. That's cheaper than the daily sprinkles on a hipster coffee (and you won't be throwing it away 🙂 ).
Better still, buy one secondhand because the frame will be just as good.
One of my friends has one and it's now got quite a few years on it. It still looks good and it's had quite a battering offroad as well as some reasonable tours.
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As far as the KM is concerned, the same can be said. It's a decent bike and is the sort of thing you buy as a keeper.
There's quite a few other decent steel bikes out there as well though. For example, in KM territory is the Singular Swift or Gryphon.
It's weird that a company hasn't just copied the Surly frames and then sold them cheaper than the Surly equivalent, after all a basic cro-molly frame can't be expensive to build.
Do we have a list of Karate Monkey alternatives then?
Sonder Frontier
Genesis Tarn
Genesis Longitude
On One Scandal
On One Bootzipper
Stooge Mk 1, 2, 3, 4
Singular Swift
I dont think any of those are 29 x 3" capable. Some not even 27.5 x 2.8"
Better list Here but some USA only.
Big Brother
I dont think any of those are 29 x 3″ capable. Some not even 27.5 x 2.8″
The tyre clearance for a Karate Monkey is:
27.5 x 3.0”
29 x 2.5"
https://surlybikes.com/bikes/karate_monkey
It's the Krampus that does 29+
Oops my bad ☺
