Hot on the heels of the release of Surly’s Midnight Special, All-City Cycles has launched the Gorilla Monsoon, a drop bar bike with fat tires that go well beyond the boundaries of ‘road plus.’
- Surly's Midnight Special pairs road geometry with fat tires
- Hit the trail with the All-City Electric Queen
- All-City Macho Man Disc review
All-City Gorilla Monsoon highlights
- Designed around 27.5x2.4in tires
- 4130 steel frameset
- Front and rear thru-axles
- Dropper seatpost compatible
- $1,999 complete / $850 frameset (UK and Australian pricing TBC)
- Available in April
Let’s cut to the chase; what the heck is a Gorilla Monsoon?
According to all-knowing Wikipedia, Gorilla Monsoon was the ring name of super-heavyweight WWF wrestler Robert James Marella. Outlandish names are All-City’s forte, and this moniker seems fitting for a drop bar bike designed to run 27x2.4in mountain bike tires.
If that’s bigger than you’ve bargained for, the frame can also fit more reasonable rubber with some changes to geometry.
According to All-City, a 38mm-wide 700c tire will keep the bottom bracket height about the same. Going to the maximum 700c tire width of 42mm will raise the bottom bracket by about 8mm.
Switching to 47mm-wide 650b tires will lower the bottom bracket, which the company notes would be good for riders using the Gorilla Monsoon for loaded touring.
Before I delve any further into the details, let’s pause and ask who and what is this bike for?
“We’ve taken the capabilities of our famed 'cross bikes and built a monster. Our most densely featured bike ever, fully hitting everything on our checklist for a steed that can take us far into the unknown in comfort, style and elegance. Want to do mixed pavement and single track rides? Put in long days off road? Do some fire road touring? Camping? Ride across the continent? No problem,” All-City writes on its website.
In keeping with the theme of versatility, the Gorilla Monsoon has plenty of rack and fender mounts, and three sets of water bottle bosses.
Features that point to the Gorilla Monsoon’s off-road bias include a port for an internally routed dropper along with the use of a 30.9mm diameter seatpost. This bike also sports a front 100x15mm thru-axle, rather than the 100x12mm thru-axle used on most road and gravel bikes.
Unlike many other bikes of this breed, the Gorilla Monsoon has a straight 1 1/8in head tube, which rules out the ability to run most modern carbon forks or gravel-centric suspension forks.
One tradeoff for large tires with short chainstays is chainring clearance. The maximum 1x chainring the frame will clear is a 38t; for riders wanting to run a double, clearance maxes out at 42/28t; and for anyone who still clings to triples, 48/36/26t is max gearing.
All-City offers the Gorilla Monsoon as a frame and fork for $850. The complete build sells for $1,999. (UK and Australian pricing have yet to be announced.)
The complete bike features a hodgepodge of components. The drivetrain consists of SRAM Apex 1 shift/brake levers, a 36t chainring mounted to a FSA Comet crankset, and an Apex 1 rear derailleur that shifts across a SunRace 11-42t cassette.
Stopping power comes from Hayes CX Expert mechanical disc brakes with 160mm rotors.
As for the rolling stock, the Gorilla Monsoon gets its monster-cross credentials from 27.5x2.4in WTB Ridler TCS tires mounted to WTB STP i25 rims on Novatec hubs.
The Gorilla Monsoon will be available in April. Visit allcitycycles.com for more information.
