[SURLY Grappler] Staying True to Wanting It All

2026/7/11 中川大作

I'm guilty of it too, but people are surprisingly greedy.

"I want to ride faster."
"I'd like to hit a forest road now and then."
"I want to go touring, too."
"And around town, I just want to cruise without trying too hard."

One "I want to do this, I want to try that" leads to the next, and each time we end up swapping parts or eyeing a new bike.

But honestly, I think it's fine to be that hungry when it comes to riding bikes.

The bike that can take on that kind of greedy way of playing is the SURLY Grappler.

The "Drop-Bar Mountain Bike" Style

In the mid-'80s, a style emerged of putting drop handlebars on mountain bikes.

1983 Steve Potts Dirt Drop. Source: https://theradavist.com/1983-steve-potts-dirt-drop

You could grip the bars at an angle that soaks up shocks more easily, and holding the drops off-road made the bike more stable. It was an era when racing was especially popular, and this style was born out of trial and error in the pursuit of going fast.

(Getting into this would take a while, so if you're curious, have a look at this article.)

When mountain bikes were first born, their development was driven by competition: who could ride the fastest. Today, though, people go bikepacking, take easy rides down forest roads, or pedal into town for a coffee. Our sense of what a bike is for has widened from "a tool for competing" to "a tool for playing."

That's exactly why the idea of a drop-bar mountain bike, one bike to freely enjoy both pavement and dirt, looks so interesting again now. Decades later, it has stepped back into the spotlight to take on our selfish wishes.

A style born in the past has been refined to fit the way we play today and now exists as a finished product. Personally, I find that genuinely moving.

It Looks Like a Compromise, but It's a Thoroughly Thought-Out Bike

A few years ago, SURLY redesigned the "drop-bar mountain bike" for the way we ride today and released it into the world.

That bike is the Grappler.

You'll understand once you ride one: it gets up to speed with a lightness you wouldn't expect from a mountain bike, and it cruises so easily on pavement that it can't help but get you excited.

That strangely pleasant ride, the kind that makes you want to go anywhere, comes from a lot of fine-tuning: a longer head tube so you can use drop bars while keeping a flat-bar position, a slightly higher BB drop, a head angle as slack as a mountain bike's, and more.

In fact, its geometry is very close to the "Karate Monkey." There's a lot of overlap, but the two are still clearly differentiated, and the Grappler offers a different ride and a different way to play from the Karate Monkey.

Getting back to the Grappler...

Tire clearance is mountain-bike spec at 27.5 × 3.0″ / 29 × 2.1″.

That gives you reliable footing whether you're riding trails or heading out on a long tour.

And when it comes to SURLY, there's this dropout.

Thanks to Gnot-Boost, you can build it either singlespeed or geared, and it's compatible with a wide range of rear spacings.

You can build it with Boost hubs like a modern mountain bike, or reuse the rear wheel from that old mountain bike you used to ride. (The front is Boost thru-axle only.)

Leaving room to use not just current parts but older standards too is exactly what you'd expect from them.

At the same time, the headset is a basic 1-1/8" threadless, a size that's easy to choose in terms of both price and parts selection. Very SURLY.

And of course, there are rack mounts all over.

For City Riding, We Recommend a Singlespeed Build

This is a sudden turn toward my personal philosophy, but I've built up a few singlespeed (SS) city Grapplers recently and they've been running so well that I have to recommend one.

As I described above, it has a light feel off the line, comfort on pavement, off-road stability, and plenty of tire clearance. Add the simple, light setup of a singlespeed, and it's a perfect fit for everyday use.

Add a basket or a rack and it becomes the perfect daily bike.

Choosing a bike isn't about picking the one right answer. It's about discovering your own way to play. SURLY in particular puts a lot of weight on that.

If you want to be a little greedier than everyone else, come talk to us!
Let's build a great Grappler together.