My Surly Karate Monkey conversion.

Chandlee EBS

Chandlee EBS

Active Member
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So I've taken my Karate Monkey Ops and done a d-series conversion on it.

I may have slightly over done the accessories:
-Cygolite lights
-Thudbuster
-Walkydog
-Burly tailwagon
-axiom journey rack
- o-stand kickstand
- rack cushion
- sherfas sheriff rear tire.
-panaracer Cedric Garcia front tire.
-mountain mirrycle mirror.
- sr respiro saddle

I commute into the city with Archie the dog everyday. He either runs next to me or rides behind me. If the dog is running with me, I'll keep it in regen mode and get a huge workout.

@86 and still kicking , the final piece of the puzzle was the rack seat cushion that I had order from China. Now, I ride with my wife and dog around the city.

I ride fast, with traffic during the commute in, and then hit the trails when I'm off work. The tires handle both well.

600 miles since November and that should increase dramatically now that the weather is warmer!

Future upgrades:
-Faster crankset.
-Ceramic paint job on battery.
-Axle pegs for the rear passenger? Don't know if this works with Bionx/ Some kind of footrest. Ideas?

-Chandlee
 
I've yet to find a fender that I really like. SKS was okay, but everything falls apart on single track. I did hear Archie make contact with the tire once, over a year ago, when I was training him. Definitely never happened again.

If it does rain, then I just close the dog convertible. That REALLY pisses him off though.

I terms of the paint, I'm not too familiar with the process, but there's some specialists in town and they've pointed me towards that method. We'll see how it goes.
 
Weirdly, my new hydration pack broke my fall on that log. Nothing too bad (maybe a cracked rib). It's raining today, so no worries staying in.
 
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Chandlee, I am really inspired by your Karate Monkey conversion. How does it work with BionX do you take apart the existing Karate Monkey wheel and hand build the motor into it or do you buy the BionX with the wheel already ?
 
@Brambor BionX ships all of their product ready to install, no building required by the owner. They will do some custom builds based on rim size, but with the pre-built wheel, the owner doesn't have to worry with lacing a motor onto a rim and all of the necessary presets for the console based on rim size are done in Canada at the factory. Your BionX dealer can do the install and then do the required registration of the kit using the Canbus system and a laptop so the warranty and all features of the system are in place.
 
Brambor said:
Chandlee, I am really inspired by your Karate Monkey conversion. How does it work with BionX do you take apart the existing Karate Monkey wheel and hand build the motor into it or do you buy the BionX with the wheel already ?
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As Ann said above. I'm a really big fan of my Bionx build. If you're going with a D-Series, you'll need to order up a blocker based on what angle your dropouts are. This will allow the torque sensor sync to your power.

The D-Series also has unique spokes if you where to hand build a motor, not that you would need to.
 
Brambor said:
Yeah. I saw a karate monkey on Craigslist and the only thing holding me back was that it was a medium frame :)
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I went with they new "Ops" version. I like the spray tan color which allows you to see the welding. I think I'm going to try an Instigator with my next build, as i haven't been adept at riding a 29er on the trail. See above for proof. That said, I have been getting better an it's a total blast with my commute.

I'm 6'0 and the large feels great. Yesterday a put on some Primo Tenderizers and a 28-42 x5 crankset. It's ridiculously fast.
 
so the BionX limits you to 20mph but I'm guessing for a mountain bike that is plenty huh? The orange paint job on the KM is sweet. Ideally if I could find a quality metal/titanium frame with a yellow like this:
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then I would be tempted hard... :) (don't want to pay the price the bike in the picture goes for though)
 
@Brambor ...that color is excellent.

It's $60 to sand blast and powder coat a frame in Chattanooga, so no worries there.

20 mph is fast on trails... maybe too fast. I've been going out on a Felt Lebowske on the trails and I love the speed that the fat tires roll downhill.

It's kinda like how driving fast with a small motor is more fun than driving slow with a big motor. :)

I want to put ridiculously knobby tires on the monkey, but that's going to ruin my commute.
 
sorry if you already mentioned it but what exactly do you get for range with the KM and BionX D500 ?
 
I've done 60 miles in level two. I would imagine 80 in level one would be easy, but then i'm probably not going to do that unless I'm touring.
 
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@susan raye, O-stand stay mount. It seems flimsy, but it's actually better at keeping the bike up than any kickstand I've had. The dog hasn't managed to knock down the bike once with the trailer.
 
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