Reflections On 20 Years of Blogging

 Public Service Announcement: I am entering the final day of this series of posts. May 11th, 2025 will mark the start of my 20th year of blogging here on "Guitar Ted Productions". There will be a special post for this tomorrow. 

I never thought I'd have my image emblazoned on a t-shirt.

Tomorrow marks the twentieth anniversary of this blog. As I close out this series of posts celebrating the stories of the past twenty years of blogging, I wanted to make a few points and thank a few people for helping me get here and for supporting me throughout all of this.

Thanks: Obviously, the success of this blog and the things which have come out of it are multitudinous and I am incapable of singling out every important person, company, or group which had a hand in this success and the benefits which I have enjoyed. So, I think it is safe to say if you are reading this, you are to be thanked. 

I know this may seem like a cop out, but twenty years is a long time and I would feel badly if I left anyone out of a "thank-you list". I'm sure many of those folks who are part of this blog's success probably wouldn't feel as though they needed any recognition anyway, such is the character of the folks I know. But you do deserve thanks, so please, accept my humble gesture here.

Many things happened to me as a result of the blog. Doing reviews, becoming a figure in both the early twenty nine inch wheeled mountain bike scene and in the gravel cycling scene. Getting to fly across this country from one end to the other to cover events. Meeting famous cycling personalities. Meeting top-tier athletes. Getting bicycles, gear, and more as gifts or from reviews. Meeting fans of the blog from all over. It has all been far more than I would have ever hoped or dreamed. In fact, I never imagined any of it. I didn't really think anyone would notice what I wrote, much less care about any of it. I guess Jeff Kerkove was right to think people would find what I wrote interesting. Had he not goaded me into this, you would not be reading this now.

Getting into a Hall of Fame wasn't on my "to-do" list in 2005.

I will also say I never wanted or expected anything from this blog. There was no plan, desire, or scheme to make money, get things, or to enjoy benefits. In fact, I don't make a dime off the blog - Never have. You'll also note that there has never been a sponsor, ad, or "click here" Google thingy ever on this blog. I'm not monetized here, and never will be. Yes....I am a bit proud of this.

I decided early on to do a daily blog. This was hard in the beginning, but now I find this is not a burden, although you might see it differently. I still enjoy writing things up, thinking about topic ideas, and the process of planning ahead for the blog. It is fun. I enjoy all of it yet. One day this may change. Obviously I won't be blogging forever. Things beyond my control may make the decision for me, but I hope to graciously bow out under my own terms at some point in the not too distant future. Is that a hint? No, it is a recognition of a reality which I can accept or have forced upon me.

But leaving this for another day, the past, my past, has been heavily influenced by this blog. Some of you dear readers can probably say you've also been influenced by what I have been doing here. I am eternally thankful for the mostly positive outcomes of this blog on people. This has been greatly satisfying to me.

I hope you enjoyed the looks back in this series. Tomorrow I will post the entire inaugural post of this blog with the original header in the post. The header tomorrow will be the modified header inspired by Jeff Kerkove's last effort for me which he placed on the blog around 2007 or so and was used until probably 2014 at the least, maybe a bit longer than that. I cannot recall!

Thanks, as always, for reading Guitar Ted Productions!

20 Years Of Monkeying Around: The KM Today

The Karate Monkey in the Fall of 2005 in the Green Belt.

Yesterday I wrote about my realization that I had been riding the Karate Monkey I have for 20 years now. I went over the backstory of the bike's development and importance in cycling history. I pointed out some mile stones I have set with this bike personally. 

But I haven't shown you the bike as it sits today. It's quite a different look for the ol' Karate Monkey than what I have generally had for most of those two decades. 

Most of that time the bike was set up as a drop bar 29"er. You can see from the first image here today that this was the case. That image is from 2005! It didn't last long as a flat bar set up, although that is how it was set up to start out with. I did a little digging and I found where I switched it over to a drop bar set up on my blog. That would have been early August of 2005. 

So, who cares? Well, as of last week the Karate Monkey has gone back to a flat bar set up, but not just any flat bar. No! This one is odd, new, and I am going to be reviewing it. I won't say much today about this component combo you are about to see, but that will all come out in due time. Anyway, here it is as it sits today.

Back to flat bars. These bars and rack are from Velo Orange.

The bike has always been a single speed. I once had it set up with 177.5mm Cooks brothers cranks, (which are in a bin somewhere around here) and now I have it set up with 180mm White Industries cranks. The chain ring and rear cog are both from a cottage industry concern that was called Homebrew Components. The guy that was running that company was working out of his home and selling these single speed specific bits on mtbr.com. I'm pretty sure that was a long time ago and is no longer a thing anymore. In fact, those bits and the crank set were originally on my first Singular Cycles Gryphon. 

The Brooks saddle is courtesy of a blog reader here, (thanks again!) and the linear pull brakes are just some generic ones being pulled by some really old Avid brake levers. Fyxation pedals, the Mesa MP's, are on here and those tires are some GEAX Saguaro wire bead tires that were given to me and yes- those are white sidewalls. Well, they used to be white! They are turning a creamy color now after about ten years. I probably will replace those soon. 

The Revelate rear bag is something I got recently from a friend. I've never used one before but it is a very nice bag and well thought out. Like most Revelate stuff is, so no big surprise there. I added a Jerry Can, also a Revelate bag, just the other day which is not shown here. A Ritchey seat post there, a Dimension stem, (which may get swapped out for a bit longer, lower one), and notice that turquoise blue anodized head set? That's a 1990's era Race Face head set that has been in this bike since day one. In fact, I bought that head set originally and had it in an old mountain bike I rode back in the day. 

One purple Velocity Bottle Trap and a rare Velocity cage from when they made stuff in Australia in purple as well. (Thanks Adam for that!) The wheels are XTR hubbed, Salsa Delgado Cross wheels laced by a local wrench and purchased years ago from Mike, a Trans Iowa finisher and former volunteer. 

More about the handle bar and rack set up tomorrow.

20 Years Of Monkeying Around: The KM Today

The Karate Monkey in the Fall of 2005 in the Green Belt.

Yesterday I wrote about my realization that I had been riding the Karate Monkey I have for 20 years now. I went over the backstory of the bike's development and importance in cycling history. I pointed out some mile stones I have set with this bike personally. 

But I haven't shown you the bike as it sits today. It's quite a different look for the ol' Karate Monkey than what I have generally had for most of those two decades. 

Most of that time the bike was set up as a drop bar 29"er. You can see from the first image here today that this was the case. That image is from 2005! It didn't last long as a flat bar set up, although that is how it was set up to start out with. I did a little digging and I found where I switched it over to a drop bar set up on my blog. That would have been early August of 2005. 

So, who cares? Well, as of last week the Karate Monkey has gone back to a flat bar set up, but not just any flat bar. No! This one is odd, new, and I am going to be reviewing it. I won't say much today about this component combo you are about to see, but that will all come out in due time. Anyway, here it is as it sits today.

Back to flat bars. These bars and rack are from Velo Orange.

The bike has always been a single speed. I once had it set up with 177.5mm Cooks brothers cranks, (which are in a bin somewhere around here) and now I have it set up with 180mm White Industries cranks. The chain ring and rear cog are both from a cottage industry concern that was called Homebrew Components. The guy that was running that company was working out of his home and selling these single speed specific bits on mtbr.com. I'm pretty sure that was a long time ago and is no longer a thing anymore. In fact, those bits and the crank set were originally on my first Singular Cycles Gryphon. 

The Brooks saddle is courtesy of a blog reader here, (thanks again!) and the linear pull brakes are just some generic ones being pulled by some really old Avid brake levers. Fyxation pedals, the Mesa MP's, are on here and those tires are some GEAX Saguaro wire bead tires that were given to me and yes- those are white sidewalls. Well, they used to be white! They are turning a creamy color now after about ten years. I probably will replace those soon. 

The Revelate rear bag is something I got recently from a friend. I've never used one before but it is a very nice bag and well thought out. Like most Revelate stuff is, so no big surprise there. I added a Jerry Can, also a Revelate bag, just the other day which is not shown here. A Ritchey seat post there, a Dimension stem, (which may get swapped out for a bit longer, lower one), and notice that turquoise blue anodized head set? That's a 1990's era Race Face head set that has been in this bike since day one. In fact, I bought that head set originally and had it in an old mountain bike I rode back in the day. 

One purple Velocity Bottle Trap and a rare Velocity cage from when they made stuff in Australia in purple as well. (Thanks Adam for that!) The wheels are XTR hubbed, Salsa Delgado Cross wheels laced by a local wrench and purchased years ago from Mike, a Trans Iowa finisher and former volunteer. 

More about the handle bar and rack set up tomorrow.

20 Years Of Monkeying Around

Surly's ad for the Karate Monkey circa 2003.

 An unusual set of circumstances found me tooling around on my 2003 Karate Monkey on Friday afternoon and while riding I was thinking about this bike. 

"How long has it been now?..." 

And then it hit me like a ton of bricks 

TWENTY YEARS!!

Yes! Twenty years ago this month I finally had my Karate Monkey together for the first time. Originally it was set up as a mountain bike. A single speed mountain bike, and it had 29"er wheels, natch, and I was off on a two-decade long adventure with this bicycle. This is amazing on many levels. 

Let's take a moment to reflect on what exactly the Karate Monkey means to cycling in general. This was a model introduced by Surly at the 2002 Interbike Trade show. Think about that for a moment. The first 29" tire - THE TIRE - The 29"er WTB Nanoraptor, had only become available three years prior to 2002. So, as product cycles go, it stands to reason that Surly jumped on this design work fairly early, possibly before Gary Fisher (the brand and the man) introduced commercially available 29"ers in 2001. But whatever the timeline for Surly was, they got this into my hands in early 2003 and I was riding it by May. Here's a bullet point list of significant "firsts" that the Karate Monkey can lay claim to.

• It was the first single speed 29"er commercially available as a frame and fork. (There were no complete builds back then)
• It was the gateway for many curious riders like me to try a 29"er for the first time. 
• It was one of the only 29'ers available at launch with the option to run disc brakes.
• It was a HUGE risk for Surly.
• It became the prototype for 29"er geometry for the next decade. 
• It was probably the most copied bike by custom bike builders in history.

The Karate Monkey as shown at Interbike in 2002.

For me personally this bike represents several "firsts" as well. Obviously, it was my first 29"er. It was also my first disc brake bike. It was my first "adult" single speed. Of course, I started out on single speeds as a youth, so that concept wasn't new to me. 

It was the bike I started gravel grinding with. It was my first drop-bar 29"er. I did the longest single ride I ever have done on this bike of mine as a single speed. It's the bike I've owned the longest of any that I have now.

So, this Karate Monkey, (by the way, it still is the coolest name for a bicycle ever), means a lot to me and I vowed many years ago to never part with it until maybe when I cannot ride anymore, or it breaks or something else tragic happens. 

My Campstove Green 2003 Karate Monkey as it appeared last year

 I wrote up an entire series on this bike after I had owned it a decade here on the blog. (The last of the five post series is HERE and you can search for the rest if you want as they ran consecutively in April of 2013) So, I won't belabor the point and the stories are all told here in the archives. 

But I will say that I never dreamed I'd own this bike for twenty years! That's a long time. But I plan on keeping it going and doing even more riding on it. In fact, something that got screwed up somehow with a review item has kind of spurred me on to doing some more with this bike. That's coming up, so stay tuned.

20 Years Of Monkeying Around

Surly's ad for the Karate Monkey circa 2003.

 An unusual set of circumstances found me tooling around on my 2003 Karate Monkey on Friday afternoon and while riding I was thinking about this bike. 

"How long has it been now?..." 

And then it hit me like a ton of bricks 

TWENTY YEARS!!

Yes! Twenty years ago this month I finally had my Karate Monkey together for the first time. Originally it was set up as a mountain bike. A single speed mountain bike, and it had 29"er wheels, natch, and I was off on a two-decade long adventure with this bicycle. This is amazing on many levels. 

Let's take a moment to reflect on what exactly the Karate Monkey means to cycling in general. This was a model introduced by Surly at the 2002 Interbike Trade show. Think about that for a moment. The first 29" tire - THE TIRE - The 29"er WTB Nanoraptor, had only become available three years prior to 2002. So, as product cycles go, it stands to reason that Surly jumped on this design work fairly early, possibly before Gary Fisher (the brand and the man) introduced commercially available 29"ers in 2001. But whatever the timeline for Surly was, they got this into my hands in early 2003 and I was riding it by May. Here's a bullet point list of significant "firsts" that the Karate Monkey can lay claim to.

• It was the first single speed 29"er commercially available as a frame and fork. (There were no complete builds back then)
• It was the gateway for many curious riders like me to try a 29"er for the first time. 
• It was one of the only 29'ers available at launch with the option to run disc brakes.
• It was a HUGE risk for Surly.
• It became the prototype for 29"er geometry for the next decade. 
• It was probably the most copied bike by custom bike builders in history.

The Karate Monkey as shown at Interbike in 2002.

For me personally this bike represents several "firsts" as well. Obviously, it was my first 29"er. It was also my first disc brake bike. It was my first "adult" single speed. Of course, I started out on single speeds as a youth, so that concept wasn't new to me. 

It was the bike I started gravel grinding with. It was my first drop-bar 29"er. I did the longest single ride I ever have done on this bike of mine as a single speed. It's the bike I've owned the longest of any that I have now.

So, this Karate Monkey, (by the way, it still is the coolest name for a bicycle ever), means a lot to me and I vowed many years ago to never part with it until maybe when I cannot ride anymore, or it breaks or something else tragic happens. 

My Campstove Green 2003 Karate Monkey as it appeared last year

 I wrote up an entire series on this bike after I had owned it a decade here on the blog. (The last of the five post series is HERE and you can search for the rest if you want as they ran consecutively in April of 2013) So, I won't belabor the point and the stories are all told here in the archives. 

But I will say that I never dreamed I'd own this bike for twenty years! That's a long time. But I plan on keeping it going and doing even more riding on it. In fact, something that got screwed up somehow with a review item has kind of spurred me on to doing some more with this bike. That's coming up, so stay tuned.