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.

The Monkey Decade: Close- Very Close

There are some details to work through, but this is close to done.

Many of you regular readers are familiar with my 2003 Karate Monkey and the old thread I did on this bike starting back in 2013 which I dubbed "The Monkey Decade". That kind of drug on, and on, and on due to a stuck bottom bracket which I finally, with the help of the shop mates I have, got unstuck this past Spring.

Since then I have been, on occasion, fiddling with the fit by changing out some parts here and there. All the while trying to recreate the feel I had with this bike when I last had it dialed in back in 2007-2008. Have you ever had a bicycle you had so tweaked out that you could call it "nearly perfect"? This Karate Monkey was that bicycle for me. Then I went and started changing up stuff.

I was an idiot.

Well, of course, things changed with parts and what not until I got to a place where I just figured this bicycle would never be "that bicycle" again. Besides, I had other bicycles based off the old set up which were arguably better in some facets that mattered. Well......to me they mattered. Then I saw that Velo Orange Cigne stem and that gave me some hope that this part might get me close to "that bicycle" once again. And you know what?

I think it has done just that.

The Cigne Stem puts the drop bars right where they always should have been on this bike.

Now I have hope that with a few other key changes in componentry, I not only will have "that bicycle" back again, but that it will actually surpass that set up of old to reach a new level. The stem is the key. It puts those drops right in the pocket. I like the height of the drop section and the reach is dead on. That never quite was the case with the old Monkey set up with Midge Bars and a rise stem.

These drop bars are like the Velo Orange Dajia Far Bars but are actually Gary Ergo Sweep OS Bars from Origin 8. They are interchangeable as far as design, being the same thing. Anyway, I will reserve judgement until I get some longer rides in. So far they seem a lot like what their Origin 8 name implies, an ergo bend road bar in the drops, which I am not a huge fan of, but they are okay.

Like I say, there will be changes. A 180mm crank set with a bigger ring, a different cog on the back wheel, and the red will give way to green. But this is close to being done.

Very close!

The Monkey Decade: Close- Very Close

There are some details to work through, but this is close to done.

Many of you regular readers are familiar with my 2003 Karate Monkey and the old thread I did on this bike starting back in 2013 which I dubbed "The Monkey Decade". That kind of drug on, and on, and on due to a stuck bottom bracket which I finally, with the help of the shop mates I have, got unstuck this past Spring.

Since then I have been, on occasion, fiddling with the fit by changing out some parts here and there. All the while trying to recreate the feel I had with this bike when I last had it dialed in back in 2007-2008. Have you ever had a bicycle you had so tweaked out that you could call it "nearly perfect"? This Karate Monkey was that bicycle for me. Then I went and started changing up stuff.

I was an idiot.

Well, of course, things changed with parts and what not until I got to a place where I just figured this bicycle would never be "that bicycle" again. Besides, I had other bicycles based off the old set up which were arguably better in some facets that mattered. Well......to me they mattered. Then I saw that Velo Orange Cigne stem and that gave me some hope that this part might get me close to "that bicycle" once again. And you know what?

I think it has done just that.

The Cigne Stem puts the drop bars right where they always should have been on this bike.

Now I have hope that with a few other key changes in componentry, I not only will have "that bicycle" back again, but that it will actually surpass that set up of old to reach a new level. The stem is the key. It puts those drops right in the pocket. I like the height of the drop section and the reach is dead on. That never quite was the case with the old Monkey set up with Midge Bars and a rise stem.

These drop bars are like the Velo Orange Dajia Far Bars but are actually Gary Ergo Sweep OS Bars from Origin 8. They are interchangeable as far as design, being the same thing. Anyway, I will reserve judgement until I get some longer rides in. So far they seem a lot like what their Origin 8 name implies, an ergo bend road bar in the drops, which I am not a huge fan of, but they are okay.

Like I say, there will be changes. A 180mm crank set with a bigger ring, a different cog on the back wheel, and the red will give way to green. But this is close to being done.

Very close!

The Monkey Decade: Plus Three- It Is Finished!

It has been a long, long time coming. The Karate Monkey is finally rideable again. This has almost been a rebuild of epic proportions, and I apologize for how this has dragged on and on, but I am pleased with the result. It's better than I could have hoped for, actually.

So, today I'm going to just detail the build here and there are some interesting pieces on this bike. Some old and some new. So, let's go here.....

• Frame & Fork: 2003 Karate Monkey in Campstove Green
• Wheels: Early 00's non-disc XTR hubs laced to Salsa Delgado cross rims. 
• Tires: Bruce Gordon Rock & Road w/tubes. 
• Crankset: TruVativ Stylo SS & bottom bracket w/ 32T ring
• Rear Cog: Boone Titanium 18T with a Boone Ti spacer mixed in with some other random spacers. 
• Chain: Some random 8 speed SRAM thing. 
• Seat Post: FSA SLK 27.2mm
• Saddle: Velo Orange leather
• Seat Post Clamp: Random black ano deal.
• Head Set: 1996 Race Face in turquoise ano
• Stem: Dimension 30° rise with Cane Creek plastic spacers.
• Handlebar: Soma Fab Gator Bar
• Levers & Brakes: Tektro
• Misc: Surly Tugnut, Salsa Cycles bar tape, Shimano clipless pedals, Velocity Bottle Trap, no-name front skewer, Salsa Cycles rear skewer, Niner Bikes YAWYD with a Coca-Cola cap.

These were often used on early Karate Monkeys for rims since "real" 29"er rims did not exist in '03!

Non-disc XTR hubs, a random SS spacer or two mixed in with a Boone Ti spacer and Boone Ti cog

Soma Gator Bar: Quite possibly the weirdest off road drop bar ever. The extensions fit mtb controls!

I removed the original head badge, (which I still have), and put this sticker on which says, "All sorts of weirdos ride Surlys"

So, that's the bike and build. The frame, fork, and the head set are all that remain of my original build on this bike. Of course, I switched from disc brakes to rim brakes here, and honestly, with the way Surly did those original drop outs, I should have just gone this route from the get-go. Much, much less of a hassle to get the rear wheel out. Plus, it is lighter.

The seat post was convenient, but may get replaced. I don't know what I will/might get, but the thought of a titanium post is there. Same thing with the saddle. It is an unknown entity for me, as this is the first Velo Orange saddle I will have tried.

The skin wall tire look isn't everyone's cup of tea, but with the black anodized components, I think it looks great. The crank set may get replaced by a black White Industries unit so I can get back to my preferred for gravel 38T ring. I'll try this for a while then play around with some ideas for alternatives.

This will be the bike I plan to ride for this years Guitar Ted Death Ride Invitational, since this year will be a recap of the first GTDRI and this bike is the one I used back then. So, there will probably be a lot of tweaking and test riding going on with this bike soon. It's good to finally have it back up and running once again!

The Monkey Decade: Plus Three- It Is Finished!

It has been a long, long time coming. The Karate Monkey is finally rideable again. This has almost been a rebuild of epic proportions, and I apologize for how this has dragged on and on, but I am pleased with the result. It's better than I could have hoped for, actually.

So, today I'm going to just detail the build here and there are some interesting pieces on this bike. Some old and some new. So, let's go here.....

• Frame & Fork: 2003 Karate Monkey in Campstove Green
• Wheels: Early 00's non-disc XTR hubs laced to Salsa Delgado cross rims. 
• Tires: Bruce Gordon Rock & Road w/tubes. 
• Crankset: TruVativ Stylo SS & bottom bracket w/ 32T ring
• Rear Cog: Boone Titanium 18T with a Boone Ti spacer mixed in with some other random spacers. 
• Chain: Some random 8 speed SRAM thing. 
• Seat Post: FSA SLK 27.2mm
• Saddle: Velo Orange leather
• Seat Post Clamp: Random black ano deal.
• Head Set: 1996 Race Face in turquoise ano
• Stem: Dimension 30° rise with Cane Creek plastic spacers.
• Handlebar: Soma Fab Gator Bar
• Levers & Brakes: Tektro
• Misc: Surly Tugnut, Salsa Cycles bar tape, Shimano clipless pedals, Velocity Bottle Trap, no-name front skewer, Salsa Cycles rear skewer, Niner Bikes YAWYD with a Coca-Cola cap.

These were often used on early Karate Monkeys for rims since "real" 29"er rims did not exist in '03!

Non-disc XTR hubs, a random SS spacer or two mixed in with a Boone Ti spacer and Boone Ti cog

Soma Gator Bar: Quite possibly the weirdest off road drop bar ever. The extensions fit mtb controls!

I removed the original head badge, (which I still have), and put this sticker on which says, "All sorts of weirdos ride Surlys"

So, that's the bike and build. The frame, fork, and the head set are all that remain of my original build on this bike. Of course, I switched from disc brakes to rim brakes here, and honestly, with the way Surly did those original drop outs, I should have just gone this route from the get-go. Much, much less of a hassle to get the rear wheel out. Plus, it is lighter.

The seat post was convenient, but may get replaced. I don't know what I will/might get, but the thought of a titanium post is there. Same thing with the saddle. It is an unknown entity for me, as this is the first Velo Orange saddle I will have tried.

The skin wall tire look isn't everyone's cup of tea, but with the black anodized components, I think it looks great. The crank set may get replaced by a black White Industries unit so I can get back to my preferred for gravel 38T ring. I'll try this for a while then play around with some ideas for alternatives.

This will be the bike I plan to ride for this years Guitar Ted Death Ride Invitational, since this year will be a recap of the first GTDRI and this bike is the one I used back then. So, there will probably be a lot of tweaking and test riding going on with this bike soon. It's good to finally have it back up and running once again!

The Monkey Decade Plus Three Update: #2

Getting closer

Okay, so now this is starting to look like a bicycle again. Now things are getting down to brass tacks. Some tidbits and the brakes will be the finishing touches.

Brakes: I got the studs put in, but I am finding out that there are brake studs, and there are brake studs. The XT "V" brakes I wanted to use won't work because the studs I am finding have stand-offs that put the brake too far away from the spring retainer. So, I either have to search for different studs, or use different brakes. I have discovered that a set of "ceesy" linear pull brakes do work. So, there is hope that I will ave brakes, just not the ones I thought I'd have.

Tidbits: Then there are the odd ball pieces. Things like the right cog spacers for the single Boone Titanium cog that I am using. I need that to align the chain line just right. Then I am going to have to get a Surly Tuggnut for the quick release axle to keep it in place. I still may end up getting a set of long pull brake levers, which I see I have only one of at the moment. Gotta have a pair of those!

But beyond that, I am really close to putting the old Karate Monkey back on the gravel roads.

The Monkey Decade Plus Three Update: #2

Getting closer

Okay, so now this is starting to look like a bicycle again. Now things are getting down to brass tacks. Some tidbits and the brakes will be the finishing touches.

Brakes: I got the studs put in, but I am finding out that there are brake studs, and there are brake studs. The XT "V" brakes I wanted to use won't work because the studs I am finding have stand-offs that put the brake too far away from the spring retainer. So, I either have to search for different studs, or use different brakes. I have discovered that a set of "ceesy" linear pull brakes do work. So, there is hope that I will ave brakes, just not the ones I thought I'd have.

Tidbits: Then there are the odd ball pieces. Things like the right cog spacers for the single Boone Titanium cog that I am using. I need that to align the chain line just right. Then I am going to have to get a Surly Tuggnut for the quick release axle to keep it in place. I still may end up getting a set of long pull brake levers, which I see I have only one of at the moment. Gotta have a pair of those!

But beyond that, I am really close to putting the old Karate Monkey back on the gravel roads.

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.

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.

The Monkey Decade: Part 6

Intro: This year marks the tenth year I have been riding 29"ers. It also is my ten year anniversary of owning my Campstove Green Karate Monkey. There will be several posts throughout the coming months about my story with my KM and what is going to be happening to it now. Here is the last update.

The Battle has been enjoined...

Enough talk..... I've been all over the history, the "why" of how I came to get this Campstove Green 2003 Karate Monkey. I've detailed out some great memories that were created while riding upon this rig. Now it's time for action.

As I stated in my last post, the biggest hurdle to overcome here will be the removal of the dying UN-52 cartridge bottom bracket. The first thing I knew was that this was going to require some extreme force to accomplish. To be able to apply that force, I was going to need to be able to stabilize my bottom bracket removal tool, so it would not "walk out" when I wrenched on it.

I'm kind of good at improvising things mechanically. Sometimes it works out great, sometimes it is just "okay", but it is a talent I possess at any rate. I grabbed my tool for the bottom bracket, located a crank bolt, and found a SRAM cassette lock ring, but I needed one more piece to the puzzle. Something that would cover the hole in the cassette lock ring, but be big enough in the center to be able to pass the crank bolt through. Aha! I found a derailleur jockey wheel that was without its bushing. Perfect!

The bolt would go through the jockey wheel, and then through the cassette lock ring, which was positioned so the threaded part sat against the tool, and essentially acted as a standoff to give the wrench room to purchase the tool. Tightened down, the tool has no chance of walking out, or stripping the bottom bracket cup. Hammer time........nuthin. 

So, I removed the seat post and introduced a copious amount of penetrant and let it marinate. I'll let that sit a day or so, then I will revisit this little battle and ......win!

Stay tuned for further updates.

The Monkey Decade: Part 6

Intro: This year marks the tenth year I have been riding 29"ers. It also is my ten year anniversary of owning my Campstove Green Karate Monkey. There will be several posts throughout the coming months about my story with my KM and what is going to be happening to it now. Here is the last update.

The Battle has been enjoined...

Enough talk..... I've been all over the history, the "why" of how I came to get this Campstove Green 2003 Karate Monkey. I've detailed out some great memories that were created while riding upon this rig. Now it's time for action.

As I stated in my last post, the biggest hurdle to overcome here will be the removal of the dying UN-52 cartridge bottom bracket. The first thing I knew was that this was going to require some extreme force to accomplish. To be able to apply that force, I was going to need to be able to stabilize my bottom bracket removal tool, so it would not "walk out" when I wrenched on it.

I'm kind of good at improvising things mechanically. Sometimes it works out great, sometimes it is just "okay", but it is a talent I possess at any rate. I grabbed my tool for the bottom bracket, located a crank bolt, and found a SRAM cassette lock ring, but I needed one more piece to the puzzle. Something that would cover the hole in the cassette lock ring, but be big enough in the center to be able to pass the crank bolt through. Aha! I found a derailleur jockey wheel that was without its bushing. Perfect!

The bolt would go through the jockey wheel, and then through the cassette lock ring, which was positioned so the threaded part sat against the tool, and essentially acted as a standoff to give the wrench room to purchase the tool. Tightened down, the tool has no chance of walking out, or stripping the bottom bracket cup. Hammer time........nuthin. 

So, I removed the seat post and introduced a copious amount of penetrant and let it marinate. I'll let that sit a day or so, then I will revisit this little battle and ......win!

Stay tuned for further updates.

The Monkey Decade: Part 5

The Karate Monkey Today

 Intro: This year marks the tenth year I have been riding 29"ers. It also is my ten year anniversary of owning my Campstove Green Karate Monkey. There will be several posts throughout the coming months about my story with my KM and what is going to be happening to it now. Here is the last update.

Okay, the last four posts have dealt with the history of this bike with me. Now it is time to look into the future a bit. The bike needs some work too, and so I will paint a vision for where I want to go with parts and upgrades as well. But before any of that, I am going to point out a few things about this bike that have always driven me a little nuts. Things I just do not like about the Karate Monkey. You know.....nothing is perfect! 

One of the things I didn't care for from the get-go was that the Karate Monkey was a bike that tried to play nice with a lot of possibilities. This probably still made sense in 2001, or whenever Surly put pen to paper on the Karate Monkey design. Many folks were not on board with disc brakes yet then, and honestly, there were  not too many good designs yet. Fortunately SRAM/Avid had the venerable BB-7 brakes and I didn't have to use cantilevers, but I had to live with those "tumors" on the fork and seat stays. 

Track ends....bah!

The other thing that always bugged me from the time I got this bike till now is the track ends in combination with the disc brake mount. To remove a wheel to swap tires, (which I often do), or to repair a flat, is a half an hour ordeal and three wrenches involved. Sometimes it is frustrating to have to deal with this when I have other single speeds I can walk over to, flip a quick release lever on, and drop the rear wheel in a flash.

I also always had to use a chain tug with this bike or I would inevitably crank the wheel sideways in the frame. It is just a cheap, bent steel and threaded rod chain tug, but regardless of what it is, it is, and that is enough to ruffle my feathers when I have to deal with the rear wheel.

The final thing that always bugged me was that dratted cable stop on the drive side chain stay for a rear derailleur cable. I'll never gear this bike up, and that cable stop, brazed on so it peeks out a bit from underneath the chain stay, is a snagger. Once I tore a heel cup off a brand new pair of Lake cycling shoes on that bit. Gah!

Small concerns to be sure, but there they are. All that to say the Karate Monkey circa 2003 has its warts. (Pun intended) Sure- I could have all those unwanted bits ground off, but then we're talking repaint, and .......no. There is a certain patina and character on this frame from over ten years of use, and I feel that- for me- it would not be right to mess with that. Warts and all, it stays. There will be a thorough cleansing, yes. There will be some measures taken against any rusting I may find, but that is about it. Clean, touch up where necessary, and wax it up before rebuilding. But the stickers are staying put!

Somewhere in there lurks a UN-52.....

Yes, there will be a rebuild, if a certain component comes out. I have tried twice before over the years, with no success, to remove the cartridge bottom bracket from this frame. When the frame was new, I had a salvaged UN-52 X 118mm bottom bracket cartridge, circa mid-90's vintage, that I installed. It has lived there ever since, and it has developed a knocking, indicative of a bearing crying for mercy. Well......it has lived a hard life, after all.

But try as I might to relieve it from duty, it won't budge an inch, or a millimeter, as it were. I must try to find a good way to get this bottom bracket out, or this whole project will be taking on a very different complexion. I am confident that it will eventually break free, but this will be difficult.

If I am correct, and the bottom bracket gives over, I will then go about the business of re imagining the bike, not doing a restoration to my original build, but a combination of things I have done over the years. Drop bars will stay on, but likely they will be Midge Bars. Single speed- of course! New wheels will be a part of the build, with a twist. I will likely break up the "Chocolate Chip" wheels, use the Surly Jim Brown hubs, and lace them anew to some rim or another, which I have yet to determine. The rear will be bolt on. May as well be another wrench in the tool kit! (A Surly wrench at that!) I may even retain the bolt on front hub.

I'll get a White Industries free hub, and I may resurrect the Cook Brothers crank I used in the beginning. Then the bike will also get a Brooks saddle, a new seat post, (Maybe that Paul Components one), and the brakes will be the good ol' Avid BB-7's, unless something better pops up. It'll end up being the gravel rig I used it for most of the time, and I'll refine that set up to where I had it back in '07-'08. Then the plan is to do a really long ride on it.

Next: It may be a while before another update, but the next step is tearing the old girl down and getting that nasty BB out!

The Monkey Decade: Part 5

The Karate Monkey Today

 Intro: This year marks the tenth year I have been riding 29"ers. It also is my ten year anniversary of owning my Campstove Green Karate Monkey. There will be several posts throughout the coming months about my story with my KM and what is going to be happening to it now. Here is the last update.

Okay, the last four posts have dealt with the history of this bike with me. Now it is time to look into the future a bit. The bike needs some work too, and so I will paint a vision for where I want to go with parts and upgrades as well. But before any of that, I am going to point out a few things about this bike that have always driven me a little nuts. Things I just do not like about the Karate Monkey. You know.....nothing is perfect! 

One of the things I didn't care for from the get-go was that the Karate Monkey was a bike that tried to play nice with a lot of possibilities. This probably still made sense in 2001, or whenever Surly put pen to paper on the Karate Monkey design. Many folks were not on board with disc brakes yet then, and honestly, there were  not too many good designs yet. Fortunately SRAM/Avid had the venerable BB-7 brakes and I didn't have to use cantilevers, but I had to live with those "tumors" on the fork and seat stays. 

Track ends....bah!

The other thing that always bugged me from the time I got this bike till now is the track ends in combination with the disc brake mount. To remove a wheel to swap tires, (which I often do), or to repair a flat, is a half an hour ordeal and three wrenches involved. Sometimes it is frustrating to have to deal with this when I have other single speeds I can walk over to, flip a quick release lever on, and drop the rear wheel in a flash.

I also always had to use a chain tug with this bike or I would inevitably crank the wheel sideways in the frame. It is just a cheap, bent steel and threaded rod chain tug, but regardless of what it is, it is, and that is enough to ruffle my feathers when I have to deal with the rear wheel.

The final thing that always bugged me was that dratted cable stop on the drive side chain stay for a rear derailleur cable. I'll never gear this bike up, and that cable stop, brazed on so it peeks out a bit from underneath the chain stay, is a snagger. Once I tore a heel cup off a brand new pair of Lake cycling shoes on that bit. Gah!

Small concerns to be sure, but there they are. All that to say the Karate Monkey circa 2003 has its warts. (Pun intended) Sure- I could have all those unwanted bits ground off, but then we're talking repaint, and .......no. There is a certain patina and character on this frame from over ten years of use, and I feel that- for me- it would not be right to mess with that. Warts and all, it stays. There will be a thorough cleansing, yes. There will be some measures taken against any rusting I may find, but that is about it. Clean, touch up where necessary, and wax it up before rebuilding. But the stickers are staying put!

Somewhere in there lurks a UN-52.....

Yes, there will be a rebuild, if a certain component comes out. I have tried twice before over the years, with no success, to remove the cartridge bottom bracket from this frame. When the frame was new, I had a salvaged UN-52 X 118mm bottom bracket cartridge, circa mid-90's vintage, that I installed. It has lived there ever since, and it has developed a knocking, indicative of a bearing crying for mercy. Well......it has lived a hard life, after all.

But try as I might to relieve it from duty, it won't budge an inch, or a millimeter, as it were. I must try to find a good way to get this bottom bracket out, or this whole project will be taking on a very different complexion. I am confident that it will eventually break free, but this will be difficult.

If I am correct, and the bottom bracket gives over, I will then go about the business of re imagining the bike, not doing a restoration to my original build, but a combination of things I have done over the years. Drop bars will stay on, but likely they will be Midge Bars. Single speed- of course! New wheels will be a part of the build, with a twist. I will likely break up the "Chocolate Chip" wheels, use the Surly Jim Brown hubs, and lace them anew to some rim or another, which I have yet to determine. The rear will be bolt on. May as well be another wrench in the tool kit! (A Surly wrench at that!) I may even retain the bolt on front hub.

I'll get a White Industries free hub, and I may resurrect the Cook Brothers crank I used in the beginning. Then the bike will also get a Brooks saddle, a new seat post, (Maybe that Paul Components one), and the brakes will be the good ol' Avid BB-7's, unless something better pops up. It'll end up being the gravel rig I used it for most of the time, and I'll refine that set up to where I had it back in '07-'08. Then the plan is to do a really long ride on it.

Next: It may be a while before another update, but the next step is tearing the old girl down and getting that nasty BB out!

The Monkey Decade: Part 4

 Intro: This year marks the tenth year I have been riding 29"ers. It also is my ten year anniversary of owning my Campstove Green Karate Monkey. There will be several posts throughout the coming months about my story with my KM and what is going to be happening to it now. Here's the last update.

The Monkey in its current form

 The years that came after 2007 were more and more focused on doing rides on other bikes for my gig over at Twenty Nine Inches. The moment the trails opened up till the moment the snow flew was consumed with riding everyone elses bikes and almost never any of my own. That didn't mean that I didn't find a way to use the KM, or to ride it at times.

Things started infiltrating the once highly tuned design because of this. Planet Bike fenders, Velocity rims, Salsa Cycles Woodchipper bars, a Wipperman chain, and a Cane Creek Thudbuster all ended up making their home on the Karate Monkey with some of those things staying and some of those things going away after a bit.

Probably the oddest incarnation of the Karate Monkey over the years was a version I dubbed the KMFDM which was short for "Karate Monkey Fixie Death Machine". I had gotten a Tomi Cog and bolted it to the disc mount of a Surly "Jim Brown" hub laced to a chocolate brown Velocity Deep V rim and with a swapped out crank set, Surly ring, and monstrous Wipperman stainless steel chain, I had a fixed gear fatty for a time. I remember a special ice ridden ride I know I wouldn't have pulled off without a fixed gear set up on the Monkey.

Monkey circa 2010 w/Chocolate Chip wheelset.

That wheel set I used was all brown with exception of the spokes. I dubbed them the "Chocolate Chip" wheels. They were really far too narrow for the Specialized Fast Track tires I used on them, and the tires were monstrously slow rollers. This really was one of the biggest contributing factors to my not riding the bike. I didn't have the time to devote to tweaking on this bike like I used to, and due to those things, I just wasn't motivated to pull it from behind the ever increasing pile of bikes it was buried behind.

Then about two years ago I got ahold of the original wheels I used on the bike which had gone to a friend for a time. These were refurrbed and reinstalled on the KM which brought a bit of interest back to the bike. I actually rode it for a review on some tires. But then it fell back to the bottom of the heap again as I got sucked away by other bikes.

Now it is the ten year anniversary of owning the bike, so I want to revive this rig and get back to riding it again. Interestingly, there are only a few components left from the original build. The head set, the bottom bracket, and the brakes. Well, that and the wheels. So now it will come down to deciding what to do about the build and before that, how to get a niggling issue overcome that has been a problem haunting me about this bike for years.

Next: The Critical Crusty Critter

The Monkey Decade: Part 4

 Intro: This year marks the tenth year I have been riding 29"ers. It also is my ten year anniversary of owning my Campstove Green Karate Monkey. There will be several posts throughout the coming months about my story with my KM and what is going to be happening to it now. Here's the last update.

The Monkey in its current form

 The years that came after 2007 were more and more focused on doing rides on other bikes for my gig over at Twenty Nine Inches. The moment the trails opened up till the moment the snow flew was consumed with riding everyone elses bikes and almost never any of my own. That didn't mean that I didn't find a way to use the KM, or to ride it at times.

Things started infiltrating the once highly tuned design because of this. Planet Bike fenders, Velocity rims, Salsa Cycles Woodchipper bars, a Wipperman chain, and a Cane Creek Thudbuster all ended up making their home on the Karate Monkey with some of those things staying and some of those things going away after a bit.

Probably the oddest incarnation of the Karate Monkey over the years was a version I dubbed the KMFDM which was short for "Karate Monkey Fixie Death Machine". I had gotten a Tomi Cog and bolted it to the disc mount of a Surly "Jim Brown" hub laced to a chocolate brown Velocity Deep V rim and with a swapped out crank set, Surly ring, and monstrous Wipperman stainless steel chain, I had a fixed gear fatty for a time. I remember a special ice ridden ride I know I wouldn't have pulled off without a fixed gear set up on the Monkey.

Monkey circa 2010 w/Chocolate Chip wheelset.

That wheel set I used was all brown with exception of the spokes. I dubbed them the "Chocolate Chip" wheels. They were really far too narrow for the Specialized Fast Track tires I used on them, and the tires were monstrously slow rollers. This really was one of the biggest contributing factors to my not riding the bike. I didn't have the time to devote to tweaking on this bike like I used to, and due to those things, I just wasn't motivated to pull it from behind the ever increasing pile of bikes it was buried behind.

Then about two years ago I got ahold of the original wheels I used on the bike which had gone to a friend for a time. These were refurrbed and reinstalled on the KM which brought a bit of interest back to the bike. I actually rode it for a review on some tires. But then it fell back to the bottom of the heap again as I got sucked away by other bikes.

Now it is the ten year anniversary of owning the bike, so I want to revive this rig and get back to riding it again. Interestingly, there are only a few components left from the original build. The head set, the bottom bracket, and the brakes. Well, that and the wheels. So now it will come down to deciding what to do about the build and before that, how to get a niggling issue overcome that has been a problem haunting me about this bike for years.

Next: The Critical Crusty Critter

The Monkey Decade: Part 3

Intro: This year marks the tenth year I have been riding 29"ers. It also is my ten year anniversary of owning my Campstove Green Karate Monkey. There will be several posts throughout the coming months about my story with my KM and what is going to be happening to it now. Here's the third post....(see the first installment here The second installment is here.)

The Best It Ever Got: Circa 2006

 The Rides:

From 2003 till probably 2008 I rode the Karate Monkey on a pretty regular basis. In that time the bike was tweaked and tweaked until I was ordering custom bikes to imitate it "with improvements". Still- this bike, especially the 2006-2008 version, was probably the coolest, most fun single speed I've had going with the possible exception of my first Inbred or my Blackbuck. Definitely the best rides I ever had were on the Karate Monkey though.

Take for instance the time I decided to ride the aborted last 40 miles of Trans Iowa V2 from Cresco to Decorah. I only made it about a mile before my chain jumped ship and sawed off all the head in spokes on the drive side of my rear wheel before I came to an out of control stop on a downhill. Well......at the time it sucked. But it was a memorable day!

Or all the times I did recon for GTDRI rides on this bike and the hills I had to walk up. Many of those rides were in the 60-80 mile range. The Winter of '05/'06 was another especially good memory on the KM. I did a ride to my Mom's place all on gravel which was another memorable ride in that I rode into the evening and arrived after dark. The training rides for my first Dirty Kanza 200 attempt were all done on the Karate Monkey. I once did an 80 miler to Nashua, Iowa and back on this bike alone on a day off. That one was memorable for the dog that about bit me and the farm girl I saw mowing the lawn....... oh! s'cuse me!

Anyway, the biggest memory by far, and the biggest single day ride I ever did, was the very first Guitar Ted Death Ride Invitational back in 2006. The route was 152 miles in itself, but I also rode the approximately 16 miles to and from the start point for a total of 178 miles in a single day, all on a single speed.

You learn to love a bike when you spend that much time and mileage on it. That or you hate it forever, I suppose. But either way that goes for you, all these big rides and small ones forged a love for the Karate Monkey and despite my not getting to ride it much anymore, I won't ever get rid of it.

Next Time: The Decline

The Monkey Decade: Part 3

Intro: This year marks the tenth year I have been riding 29"ers. It also is my ten year anniversary of owning my Campstove Green Karate Monkey. There will be several posts throughout the coming months about my story with my KM and what is going to be happening to it now. Here's the third post....(see the first installment here The second installment is here.)

The Best It Ever Got: Circa 2006

 The Rides:

From 2003 till probably 2008 I rode the Karate Monkey on a pretty regular basis. In that time the bike was tweaked and tweaked until I was ordering custom bikes to imitate it "with improvements". Still- this bike, especially the 2006-2008 version, was probably the coolest, most fun single speed I've had going with the possible exception of my first Inbred or my Blackbuck. Definitely the best rides I ever had were on the Karate Monkey though.

Take for instance the time I decided to ride the aborted last 40 miles of Trans Iowa V2 from Cresco to Decorah. I only made it about a mile before my chain jumped ship and sawed off all the head in spokes on the drive side of my rear wheel before I came to an out of control stop on a downhill. Well......at the time it sucked. But it was a memorable day!

Or all the times I did recon for GTDRI rides on this bike and the hills I had to walk up. Many of those rides were in the 60-80 mile range. The Winter of '05/'06 was another especially good memory on the KM. I did a ride to my Mom's place all on gravel which was another memorable ride in that I rode into the evening and arrived after dark. The training rides for my first Dirty Kanza 200 attempt were all done on the Karate Monkey. I once did an 80 miler to Nashua, Iowa and back on this bike alone on a day off. That one was memorable for the dog that about bit me and the farm girl I saw mowing the lawn....... oh! s'cuse me!

Anyway, the biggest memory by far, and the biggest single day ride I ever did, was the very first Guitar Ted Death Ride Invitational back in 2006. The route was 152 miles in itself, but I also rode the approximately 16 miles to and from the start point for a total of 178 miles in a single day, all on a single speed.

You learn to love a bike when you spend that much time and mileage on it. That or you hate it forever, I suppose. But either way that goes for you, all these big rides and small ones forged a love for the Karate Monkey and despite my not getting to ride it much anymore, I won't ever get rid of it.

Next Time: The Decline

The Monkey Decade: Part 2

Intro: This year marks the tenth year I have been riding 29"ers. It also is my ten year anniversary of owning my Campstove Green Karate Monkey. There will be several posts throughout the coming months about my story with my KM and what is going to be happening to it now. Here's the  second post....(see the first installment here)

By Late 2005 the KM was a drop bar bike

 The Original Build: 

The KM's original build was a hodge-podge of new and used parts which I had to  employ in order to keep the cost down. I built my own wheels for the bike and used an Alex TD-17 rim laced to Paul single speed disc hubs. The brakes were the, (then), new Avid BB-7's. Tires were not all that easy to choose circa 2003, since there weren't but a handful to choose from. You had IRC and Kenda which each produced one model a piece. (Both discontinued now) You had WTB, of course, with the Nanoraptor, and a new tire called the Motoraptor. You know.......I think that was it! There may have been one other tire at the time, but I can not remember. I went with the Motos. Tubes were rare as hen's teeth, so I used 700 X 44mm Presta valve tubes, which back in '03 were actually twice the size that they are now. They worked perfectly. I used a Cook Brothers crank, a 177.5mm length one, and a "Big Cheese" chain wheel from QBP which was a 37T. I used a 20T ACS Claws rear freewheel. Probably some old Sachs chain that I had laying around as well. The original stem was a puke orange Control Tech aluminum one that held a Bontarger Crow Bar handle bar. The ones with the welded in cross brace. Those went by the wayside pretty quickly for a Bontarger 118 titanium bar. Grips were proabaly some Kraton take offs, as I recall. The brake levers were vintage Avid SD-1's in red ano. The brake housings were silver Nokon.

That set up lasted for two years until I had read a bunch of stuff about early mountain bike drop bars and decided to give that a try. In the Summer of 2005 I switched to drop bars on the Karate Monkey, and it's been that way since with the exception of a very brief stint in 2008.

By early 2006 I had acquired my second 29"er, an On One Inbred. This slotted the KM into gravel grinder duty. I rode thousands of miles on the KM on gravel roads. This allowed me to refine the set up on that bike to the "nth" degree. A few stem changes and bar changes, but that bike was, and still is, about as dialed in as a single speed gravel rig as it gets. Subsequently, my greatest memories of this bike are from gravel rides.

Next Time: The Memorable Rides

The Monkey Decade: Part 2

Intro: This year marks the tenth year I have been riding 29"ers. It also is my ten year anniversary of owning my Campstove Green Karate Monkey. There will be several posts throughout the coming months about my story with my KM and what is going to be happening to it now. Here's the  second post....(see the first installment here)

By Late 2005 the KM was a drop bar bike

 The Original Build: 

The KM's original build was a hodge-podge of new and used parts which I had to  employ in order to keep the cost down. I built my own wheels for the bike and used an Alex TD-17 rim laced to Paul single speed disc hubs. The brakes were the, (then), new Avid BB-7's. Tires were not all that easy to choose circa 2003, since there weren't but a handful to choose from. You had IRC and Kenda which each produced one model a piece. (Both discontinued now) You had WTB, of course, with the Nanoraptor, and a new tire called the Motoraptor. You know.......I think that was it! There may have been one other tire at the time, but I can not remember. I went with the Motos. Tubes were rare as hen's teeth, so I used 700 X 44mm Presta valve tubes, which back in '03 were actually twice the size that they are now. They worked perfectly. I used a Cook Brothers crank, a 177.5mm length one, and a "Big Cheese" chain wheel from QBP which was a 37T. I used a 20T ACS Claws rear freewheel. Probably some old Sachs chain that I had laying around as well. The original stem was a puke orange Control Tech aluminum one that held a Bontarger Crow Bar handle bar. The ones with the welded in cross brace. Those went by the wayside pretty quickly for a Bontarger 118 titanium bar. Grips were proabaly some Kraton take offs, as I recall. The brake levers were vintage Avid SD-1's in red ano. The brake housings were silver Nokon.

That set up lasted for two years until I had read a bunch of stuff about early mountain bike drop bars and decided to give that a try. In the Summer of 2005 I switched to drop bars on the Karate Monkey, and it's been that way since with the exception of a very brief stint in 2008.

By early 2006 I had acquired my second 29"er, an On One Inbred. This slotted the KM into gravel grinder duty. I rode thousands of miles on the KM on gravel roads. This allowed me to refine the set up on that bike to the "nth" degree. A few stem changes and bar changes, but that bike was, and still is, about as dialed in as a single speed gravel rig as it gets. Subsequently, my greatest memories of this bike are from gravel rides.

Next Time: The Memorable Rides