Just so simple! Oil the chain, check tyre pressures and thats it. Surprising fast.

Standard mechical brakes, get rid of ASAP! Dont try to put a suspension fork on, it mucks up the handling.

Buy one! You will start enjoying riding your everyday tracks again, it brings a whole new adventure in to your riding! They handle very great and are very stable, can drift tries and be in control. You just fell connected to the trail. But dont add a suspension fork, it just totally stuffed up the handling, just go tubeless and big front tyre.
I race it and on a short course you will be flying, maybe even faster than your old bike.
Can get bumpy but just ride it out, hang on and you'll be fine.
My bike ive had few years now and it had a rough life, even done Karapoti few times on and its still going strong.

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Surly karate Monkey

Fast, simple, clean lines, Avid hydraulic brakes, good tyres, fits me well (large) I am 183cm (6ft)

2011 model has a very tacky looking stick on aluminium badge thing on the rear of top tube...spoils otherwise clean lines

Was worried about going from gears to single speed...but heaps of fun, just rolls over bumps that worry 26" mtb and climbs like billy goat...always come home smiling after riding this...which I couldnt say for my old 26". This is a bike I can see myself keeping for a long time.

Cheap bike for the kit. Stiff and strong, but light for a steel 29r. Climbs like a daemon! Ive been abusing the bike for 6 months, and its still going strong. Its my fav bike. Teaches you to ride alot smoother, and avoid things rather than just roll over them. Im actually faster on this bike on most trails than my $10k Ti Titus.

Headset was branded "Cane Creek" but after speaking to them in the US, they say its a cheap chinese knock off who bought the license to use their name. Replaced the headset for a genuine S8 and its been awesome. Paint is chipping suprisingly easily. BB5 brakes sucked.

This is my fav bike. I love it. Its simple (duh) and bulletproof. I abuse it, and it never skips a beat. Will teach you to attack climbs, and ride smooth. Will give you quads your mother would be proud of.

Strong, 4130 cr-mo. avid juicy hydrolic brakes. An accesible price for a great bike. I'm a big guy and the sizes go up high enough for big jerks.

the single gearing is what you obviously get, but it could do being geared to ride faster. The stock standard set up is for pure off road/off trail single speed action, which it does pretty good.

Awesome. Unfortunately it will still need customising, but for the price and what you get it's great. Looks mean too. I just want a bike that I can trash and it will perform great time and time again, I'm confident that this bike will the, if not I'll submit another review. Cheers

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My other bikes an urban fixie/ single speed, it was getting trashed so I got this.

Rigid cro-mo frame, wide bars, EBB,

Mechanical brakes
Rim weight

An excellent bike. I've ridden it non stop for almost 8 months (including commuting to work)and apart from the stock mechanical brakes, I can fault it. A real workhorse. The frame is solid and stiff which is great for climbing. I'm about 110kgs (242lbs) and find it handles the weight and abuse I throw at it very well. I replaced the stock brakes with Deores and will probably move to XT rims to improve the weight. Maybe move to White brother carbon rigids should the stock ones give up the ghost Thats it. Keep it simple stupid.

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First time 29er single rider

Excellent Finish, nice styling, red anodized hubs, perfect setup for trails, well balanced component setup, excellent ride position. EBB is a good feature also. Weight is around 12.5kgs, pedaling is very efficient, accelerates well. If you have the leg strength and fitness it's a Killer Climber, handles switchbacks very well.

prone to snake bite flats - so need to go tubeless, not really a weakness, but it's tough on rough terrain as any non-suspension bike would be! So it has its limits.

This is my fun training bike, low maintenance, a go anywhere robust bike with the added bonus of being a sweet 29er with Cro Mo Frame. It's probably not ideal for a beginner to MTB as it does require good fitness and technical skills to steer it through the rough terrain. On the other hand if you want a great all round bike for paths/trails, this is an excellent choice.

But here's the big surprise ... on my 4.5km training circuit (switch back climbs, rocky descent, tight technical sections) this bike is as fast as my big dollar Yeti 575, it was actually 1 second slower, how's that! It seems to roll easier and what you lose due to lack of suspension downhill you make up on the climbs and rolling sections. Admittedly it takes more out of you at that level, still, shows how well designed this bike is to keep up with my Yeti. So I'm impressed so far!