Surly Karate Monkey Update; another update!

With no pay rise in 5 years i am struggling to keep so many bikes so thinking of selling a few and going to 4 bikes this winter; 

1 Pugsley with 2 wheelsets 4" and 29+, 

Surly Cross-check for commuting, 

Genesis Cdf for on/off road,

Surly Karate Monkey one wheel set but two fork/bars set up option.

Karate Monkey 29er;
This bike refuses to stop being versatile in it`s set up.
Not contempt with using it as a drop bar 29er ala a Salsa Fargo i do not own a regular MTB with a front fork and thought the other evening "when can one bike become two set ups?"
When you add a regular MTB fork and  bars/stem set up which could be swapped over...

Now i have a swap over kit thanks to still being able to buy a reasonable sensible price basic 29er fork which has a 1" 1/8th steerer tube coil sprung with oil, regular qr axle, and has pop loc lock out.
A Rock Shok XC TK 30 TC, bought from CRC for £100. Not that light weight a fork i know but not worried about that.

Selling the Green Dawes commuter will cover the cost of the new fork. THings are that tight these days on bike spending!, the Cross-Check is the daily commuter now...

My KM is a cheap bike built from previously used items and was built for under £300 outlay on new items last year including the used ex demo frame set. The build is still under £400 on existing bike parts with the new fork and cables and new Ergo grips...

Swap over will be a half hour job to do once the fork steerer is cut to lenght.
Cable ties cut and ends of brake cable inners snipped, then loosen gear ends and the whole lot lifts off complete...

Seat the split fork crown race on the new fork and slide in and mark with pen, steerer tube will be cut approx 5mm below the mark...

Now you should see a pic of me using my steerer cutting tool in my vice, however,
I loaned out the tool to a friend over a year ago and have NOT had it returned!, no names mentioned, but no tools will be ever loaned to anyone again now,  lesson learned...

So i used an old steerer spacer and carefully followed it with the hack saw. Not to bad a job, smoothed off with some wet and dry...

I use this old steerer cap to seat headet star nuts inside the steerer tube...

Works a treat....

Front end now on...

Wheel on and add the calliper and Aline, i screw in the pads both sides locking the brake on the disc, before tightening the alignment bolts, then turn out each side until clearance and no noise. Having other callipers complte and ready on the MTB cables would save 2 brake cable inners each swap over in the future...

Brake cables are the £10 Shimano standard set. The outers are the perfect lenght once you measure the front and cut to lenght, the rear on my bikes nearly always seem to be the right lenght with 720mm bars...

Good tip to reduce squirmy feel in the cables is to grind the end of the outer cable once you cut it using an angle grinder or Dremmel type tool, or if you like your fingers a bench grinder is safer,

And a 1mm Allen key opens out the plastic inner sleeve afterwards...

Grease the cable ends and add the end caps...

I oil inner cables on MTB`s, 3 in 1 is ideal...

Cables done it was just a case of setting up grips, levers and gear shifters...

This basic fork will be ideal as a reliable easy to service at home fork -though to be fair it will probably never need serviced for a few years riding around here. Those heavier steel stanchions will last a long time...

Now just a case of riding it and having fun,
The 29+ KramPug i have really rolls once going over stuff, but the regular width  29" x 2.25" width tyres of the KM pick up speed when you stamp on the gas- not as much as a 26" MTB wheel hard tail does, but it feels zippy compared the 3" and 4" fatbikes.
I read a lot of hype about fatbikes replacing regular MTB`s  (of all wheel sizes) by their owners, not in my cycling away from the coast.  Why drag all that rotating mass about?, enjoy a more responsive wheel set up!.
Still a place in my bike collection for a regular MTB for out the saddle fun on trails or maybe odd trail centre day again with friends...

Robbed of a sunset this evening as cloud blew in from the coast...

Past that bridge again...

That fork is neat for £100, gives the Karate Monkey 29er another lease of life in my fleet..

More soon...

Summer time, and the livings easy...

My Dad used to sing this when we were kids on warm summer evenings when we sat outside in the garden...



Light evenings are here, mid June, solstice this weekend...

Home via work to Tesco and it was a stunning afternoon ...

Once home it was skinny tyres swapped for Fatbike and out with the Pugsley and the  Fat BOB trailer to collect more direction markers from the weekends Horse Endurance ride.
I lifted the markers at Whitekirk at Becky`s Strip and south from the Byway during my lunch break today in an electric Golf buggy- the expression of an old chap out cycling on the Byway as i approached him was priceless!,

Pugsley in summer mode with the old Larry/Endomorph tyre combo back on for maximum rolling in summer conditions, but these tyres are not my old original pair, both are as new with just a few miles, bought from friends a few months ago...

Big blue sky overhead...

Into the estate and start to follow the route and de-mark...

Be near un ridable to be fun on a regular MTB but the Pugsley fatbike eats up this chopped up terrain...

These overgrown end rigs make it more immediate to get an 8 sped Alfine IGH (Internal Gear Hub) again on a regular Pugsley for mid summer trails that are narrow and overgrown with vegetation...

Nice that someone strimmed this last week to expose the narrow ditch... `cough` :)

Keep on truckin...

Handlebar height grasses...

Riding this is a good example for using an Alfine IGH, this is a field end rig and not a path so you do not expect it mowed or strimmed...

But here this is the a section of the official SUW trail, still never strimmed by East Lothian District Council!  despite it now mid June!,
Becky`s Strip has not neen mowed by ELDC either and it is signed as a cycle route too!, a joke!,
And an embarrassment to our county if people visiting come to walk or cycle here...

I left the JMW  and gathering the last marker for today rode for home dropping off the trailer load of markers on the way...

This old bike is great!, i could post praises to Pugsley for years, still love riding it...

Prefer fatbikes with smoother tyres like the Larry,  why i have the larger BFL`s on the bigger Moonlander.

I do not think the drag of the chunky Nates is worth the grip which is rarely needed riding around my local area. If i did need mud grip i think now i would prefer 2.5 mud tyres on my 29+ wheels. This Endow will get used for summer then swapped out for new Larry like on the front...

More soon...