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In West Newton Since 1952 - On The Web Since 1995
The Surly Karate Monkey ®
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The Karate Monkeyª is all about big wheels and versatility. Build it up as a 700c mountain bike, cyclocross bike, commuter, or backcountry tourer. Create your ideal Frankenstein.
Surly decided to produce a 29er, because they thought they could make improvements on the current designs from other manufacturers, while offering a unique, quality frameset at a Surly price. Mission accomplished.
Frameset geometry is the key to the handling characteristics of any bike. It doesn't matter how pretty it is, or how many braze-ons it has, if it rides like crap. We want you to use the Karate Monkey on singletrack, as well as fire roads and pavement, so we spent a large amount of time figuring out the best ways to make our rig handle like a mountain bikeÉnot like a tractor. The most obvious frame component, of the Karate Monkey, is the curved seat tube. This feature allows us to use shorter chainstays without worrying about the rear tire rubbing on the seat tube, when the wheel is jammed all the way foreword in the fork ends. Shorter chainstays mean quicker handling and better traction at the rear. Toe overlap is another concern with big-wheeled bikes. We tweaked our measurements to eliminate overlap, while maintaining the riding characteristics of a mountain bike.
Options galore. Single-speed? Sure. Fixed-gear? No problem. Like gears? Use some. The Karate Monkey will accommodate a standard or compact mountain triple, up front, and a cassette full o'cogs in the 135 mm-spaced rear. The Surly horizontal rear fork ends are cast with a derailer hanger, so you have several drivetrain options.This frame is also ideal for use with internal gear hubs, such as the Shimano Nexus or SRAM Spectro 7-speed or the Rohloff Speedhub 14 speed!
Disc brakes or cantilevers? Once again, it's up to you. The Karate Monkey comes with International Standard disc mounts and removable canti pivots.
Rigid or suspended front end? We provide a unicrown, tapered straight blade, suspension-corrected rigid fork. Do as you wish.
If you go with the disc brake option, you can have multiple wheelsets, even different sizes. How 'bout 26" slicks for touring, or silk tubulars for time trials, when you're not burning up the trails on your 29 inch knobbies!
Like all Surly frames and forks, the Karate Monkey is built with Surly 4130 Chromo. The butted tubes are thick enough to withstand a derby circle beating, but thin enough to deliver the fine ride characteristics that steel is known for.
Want a trail-worthy, high roller that won't put you in the poor house? Check out the Karate Monkeyª
How crazy can you get with a Karate Monkey?
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