Surly Karate Monkey 2014 - Upgrades

[Cardio Goth]

I'm debating buying a 2014 Karate Monkey and was wondering whether anyone had any experience of upgrading one - mainly I was thinking about adding a suspension fork (there are conflicting views on whether the 2014 geometry is optimised for a 100mm or 140mm fork - anyone know?), and what that would entail (new headset?) and upgrading the drivetrain (I guess it could go up to 1x11 on the existing Shimano freehub; but ideally I would want to put GX AXS on it at some point, which would, I guess, entail new a hub at least?). Anyone have any experience with Gnot Boost?

Anything else that I should consider? Any horror stories? Advice?

Thanks!

 

Edited February 9, 2023 by Cardio Goth

[peepeekaitjie]

Is it a purple monkey?

[Blackheart]

Hi

At first glance I'd say it's not worth it. Geometry has come such a long way in the last few years.

The steep head angle, slackish seat tube angle, and the 27.2mm seat post diameter would put me off straightaway. Without doing more research I'm assuming that it's non boost, straight headtube and the reach is based around a 70/80mm stem.

I think there are better options for a project to build up in 2023.

[droo]

Here's the geo chart - it specifies a fork with a 468 axle to crown measurement, which works out to about 80mm of travel on a 29er fork. 100mm will be fine, but definitely not 140mm.

It's got a 44mm head tube so you can fit a tapered steerer fork with a ZS44 / EC44 headset.

2014 predates Boost, and you'll only have the option to run 12 x 142 on frames with modular dropouts.

And a 27.2 seat tube means your dropper options are limited if you want to run one.

Full catalogue and specs for MY14 here.

[droo]

7 minutes ago, Blackheart said:

Hi

At first glance I'd say it's not worth it. Geometry has come such a long way in the last few years.

The steep head angle, slackish seat tube angle, and the 27.2mm seat post diameter would put me off straightaway. Without doing more research I'm assuming that it's non boost, straight headtube and the reach is based around a 70/80mm stem.

I think there are better options for a project to build up in 2023.

Depends what it's going to be used for. It would make a decent gravel tourer, but a pretty subpar MTB.

[Cardio Goth]

Thanks for the feedback everyone, I really appreciate the thoughtful replies. The Karate Monkey wasn't a great deal, especially given that I would have intended to upgrade it from the get-go, so I'm now debating whether I would get divorced if I bought a Sonder Broken Road instead