Outfitting a Surly Karate Monkey with a Nice Rack

Surly’s Karate Monkey is an extremely versatile bike, but it lacks standard braze-ons for mounting racks. In order to install a Surly Nice Rack on my Karate Monkey, I had to get a bit creative. The bottom of the rack mounts to the braze-ons just above the rear drop-out, as per the instructions that came with the rack. (Be sure to use a short enough screw on the drivetrain side, lest the screw protrude through the frame and destroy your chain when you shift into the smallest cog.)

The frame, however, lacks mounts for the upper supports of the rack. I found that I was able to use my V-brake mounts to attach the upper part of the rack to the bike frame. There may well be hardware out there to accomplish this task — I think that Old Man Mountain makes a relevant bracket — but I found that I was able to accomplish my end by using steel L-brackets (1.5″) available at my local hardware store. To make the connection to the rack, I had to ignore Surly’s instructions and mount their clever tubing brackets to the side of the rack (rather than to the top).

Below you can see how the rails run from the side of the rack to the brake mounts. It takes a bit of fussing to get everything aligned and level.

Below is a detail photo of the angle bracket mounted on the brake boss. I had to drill out the hole on the bracket to make it large enough to accomodate the screw. I used stainless steel machine screws to attach the bracket to the rails. I also wrapped the loose end of the bracket in electrical tape, to cover the somewhat sharp edge.

I’ve been using the rack to carry a single Arkel commuter pannier. Given that most of the force pulls straight down, I am fairly confident in the strength and stability of this mounting method for heavier panniers, but be sure to test this setup thoroughly before putting on a heavy load.

Home-Built Maple-Block Desk

After years of living with a flimsy pressboard desk, I resolved to build a sturdy and attractive desk for my home office. (I decided to build my own because most commercially available desks are either shoddy or not especially functional.) After a great deal of web searching and soul searching, I settled on building a desk with maple butcherblock tops and heavy-duty steel legs. I’m very pleased with the results. The maple tops of the three-desk set that I built are so beautiful that I am inspired to keep them free of clutter, which means that I always have a ready space to work. My wife liked them so much that she had me build a set for her office, too.

For other do-it-yourself types, I have briefly described my materials and methods below.

Materials

1. I used 1.75″-thick industrial benchtops from Michigan Maple. My tops are 24″ deep, and they vary in width from 4′ to 6′. The Michigan Maple website lists various suppliers. I ordered from L. L. Johnson Lumber, where a 6′-long work top can be had for $185. These tops will get a few dings and scratches during shipment, so I wouldn’t expect them to look perfect, but they are still beautiful.
2. I found high-quality steel legs online at Legs and Bases. I chose the 2T legs, because they are fairly minimalistic but very sturdy. Given that the butcherblock tops are heavy — a 6′ top weighs about 80 lbs. — you should be sure to choose a sturdy leg set. My desks are strong enough that I can sit on them with no worries.
3. I used stainless steel lag screws to attach the legs to the desktops. Avoid using cheap hardware, because the heads might snap off. I used screws that were .25″ in diameter and 1.5″ long, with a hex head. (I purchased these for about $20 at Fastenal.)

Tools

I was able to build the desks with just a few simple tools: a pencil and square, a hammer and awl, a drill with a 7/32″ bit, a utility knife, and a ratchet set for driving the lag screws.

Procedure

1. Assemble the desk legs according to manufacturer instructions. Center and square the leg mounting brackets on the bottom of the desk.

   

2. Use the hammer and awl to mark the center of each mounting hole on the bracket.

   

3. Drill pilot holes for each screw. Given that the maple is very hard, the pilot hole needs to be unusually large. After much trial and error, I found that I needed a 7/32″ pilot hole for the 1/4″ lag screw. (With smaller holes, there was simply too much resistance.) I taped my bit to mark the screw length. Be careful not to drill clean through the top!
   
4. Use a utility knife to clean up the edges of the holes to allow for a flush mounting of the leg brackets.
   
5. Use a socket driver and ratchet to drive the lag screws. Be careful that you don’t over-tighten the screws. Simply snug them tight. Otherwise, you will either damage the wood or snap off the screw head.
   
6. After installing the legs, turn the desk upright and enjoy!
   
7. You can also add a keyboard tray. I used a very nice tray from Biomorph Desks. I’ve also had good luck with tray systems sold by Avid.
   

If you do happen to build a desk along these lines, please leave me a comment!

Extrawheel Bike Trailer Review

My wife, brother-in-law, and I recently used Extrawheel bike trailers on a 400-mile bike tour in Vermont. (We were following the beautiful Green Mountains Loop, mapped out by Adventure Cycling.)

Although I have not used another style of trailer myself, I can say that the Extrawheel system works great for road touring. We pulled our trailers up very steep and long hills, including Middlebury gap, which is a 12% grade. On descents, we routinely exceeded 30 mph, with few problems. (However, when my trailer was loaded in excess of 30 pounds, my trailer and bike did shimmy substantially if I rode much over 30 mph. With a lighter load, this was not a problem.)

Interesting, we each shed quite a lot of gear after we finished the camping portion of our trip, and the weight reduction of 10-15 pounds made no noticeable difference. With the full-sized wheel, this trailer can haul a substantial load fairly easily. You know that the trailer is there, to be sure, especially on long hills, but the trailer didn’t slow me down much.

The mesh saddlebags hold dry bags that come with the trailer. The dry bags work very well. We rode several hours in hard rain with no problems. Furthermore, it’s very easy to tuck rain gear or extra water bottles in the mesh bags for quick access. (It’s harder to accomplish this with other styles of trailer.)

The Extrawheel trailer was designed and manufactured in Poland. As best as I can tell, one entrepreneur imported a shipment to sell in the United States. We purchased our trailers from BicycleTrailerShop.com, from which we received great service.

Having pulled this trailer for about 650 miles, I can highly recommend it for road touring. It’s especially easy to connect and disconnect to your bike (using the provided rear skewer), it has a lightweight and simple design, it tracks wonderfully, and it has a tight turning radius. For a couple more pictures, see my Flickr photo set.