Monday, February 22, 2016

The Monkey Decade Plus Three: Update

It's not an Ogre! Just a really old Karate Monkey.
Here's an update on the 2003 Karate Monkey. Obviously, after the bottom bracket had been removed, I could get on with "going the other way" with it. Oh, by the way, that term- going the other way- that's a term I picked up from back when I worked on cars. My boss would ask me where I was on the job I might be working on at the time. If I was putting things back together, it was termed "going the other way". So......now you know.

Anyway.....back to the story!

I decided to go with cantilever brakes. one problem though. I removed the original brake studs back in 2003 for a cleaner look, since I went disc brake at the time. That meant that the first order of business was finding some brake bosses. I grabbed two from an old mart bike frame I have sitting around. That left two more to get. Hmm......I think I have some at work. So, I got as far as getting the front end squared away with brakes, but the back is yet to be done.

Then I moved on to finding a crank set and bottom bracket for the KM. I didn't have to go far, as I had a TruVativ single speed specific crank set and an old GXP bottom bracket to go with that. The old bottom bracket was from a Raleigh XXIX+G rig I had back in about '07, I believe it was. Anyway, I had that bike going for a while but I ended up breaking it down and I think I gave the frame away in the end.  The point is, the bottom bracket survives, and that went into the Karate Monkey with no issues.

I need to come up with a good seat collar, which I am pretty sure I have at work. Then I grabbed a seat post that was originally in my Ti Mukluk and the Velo Orange saddle that I can't seem to find a home for. I guess I'll try that on this bike, since it is red, and the bar tape is red, and I have a few red themed stickers on the old bike. I figured it would match and all.

Different bottom bracket and crank set. Ready to roll there. Yes- it really is this dim in my shop!
So, that's it so far. I should get everything up and running real soon. When I do and get to riding it again, I'm sure that I'll end up tweaking things, so this all may not end up being the final build. However; it should be close, and I'll have that old Monkey back in the stable in running order for the first time in several years.

2 comments:

RC said...

From the looks of that first picture it should really stop.

Guitar Ted said...

@RC: Good eyes! I haven't taken the BB-7's off yet. Waiting to do that until I am ready to re-cable the bike.