I now have an extra wheelset and the desire to build a rigid 29er around it.
Have: 142x12 stans 330/100x12 Shimano dyno laced to Stan’s arch in 29er diameterway.
Want: rigid frame/fork that fits a knobby 29 x 2.4“, 3 sets of bottle cage zits, some type of front cargo capacity, >30mm seat tube for a big dropper, <68° HTA, ~450mm reach, >71° STA
Part of me just wants to order whatever surly most closely fits my needs, the part of me that doesn’t hate myself wants to find something less turdly out of a catalog, and finally the part of me that hates my wallet wants to acquire a custom frame.
If you dont currently have a surly then get a surly. If you have never had a karate monkey then get one. Otherwise get something else.
My experience was that my karate monkey was a very good fun bike.
Did not feel dead or slow. Just try it. Its okay to have one surly in the shed.
I’ve had a surly, not a karate monkey though. Have had other turdly tubed bikes in the past and feel kinda meh about the idea of putting any sort of effort into another.
FYI: I messaged them about mounting a dyno headlight to the fork crown and if the back of the crown is open for a bolt to pass through. They said "That bolt/mounting point does not go all the way through the fork. It does have the same threads as all the other bolts that mount the frame. I’m sure you can mount this light with correct bolt. "
I was really hoping I could dither on this for at least another couple months, but the unit is exactly what I need. A dropper, a couple bigger rear cogs, and it’s perfect.
yeah that looks like a winner. ditches the salva-vaya-esqe tallboy rear dropouts on his other three disc frames, and the tapered headtoob with external cups looks nice. I wonder if he’ll make a steel fork for it or just say “designed around a XXXmm a-c fork with XXmm rake, like [example carbon forks]”