New 29er Monstercross from Surly

Quite a few years ago, Surly introduced the then-revolutionary Karate Monkey frameset (they claim it was one of the first commercially-produced 29er frames). Now, Surly has taken the concept behind their utility bike, the Troll, and bumped it up from 26in wheels to 29in:
The new Surly Ogre.  Credit: Surly Bikes
Surly says that their new frame has geometry similar to the Karate Monkey (which, by following their numbers, it does), but with all the function of the Troll. What does this mean? Well, it has:

- Front and rear Canti/Linear brake mounts
- Disk brake tabs
- Double dropout eyelets, both front and back (so you can mount fenders and racks all round!)
- Specifically design for fender clearance (yay!)
- Fits up to 29 x 2.5" tires, more that one should ever reasonably need
- Full-housing cable mounts 
- Surly-compatible trailer mount

The bike seems well-equipped to be an all-rounder, off-road (or road) tourer, or nice singletrack companion. 
The only quibble I have with this frame is that there is no down tube cable stop, or place to bolt one on (as in the Origin 8 CX700). Be prepared to have to DIY a cable stop if you want to use drop bars. I like the offset seat tube, which will definitely aid in fender-izing your bike. 

So far, the bike frames aren't yet in stock or in stores, so there isn't much to go buy in terms of user reviews. Twentynineinches.com reports that the Ogre frame+fork combo will likely be offered at a sub $500 price, similar to the Karate Monkey ($475 MSRP). However, don't forget the price on novelty! I suspect that the price will be slightly higher than the Karate Monkey, due to this model filling in a niche market (with the Salsa Fargo, Orgin8 CX700, Singular Peregrine and little else competing with it). 

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