Product Update
Is Chain Monkey Still in Business? (2026 Update)
Is Chain Monkey from Dragons’ Den still around in 2026? The deal it made, the dragons who invested, and where to buy Chain Monkey today.
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Chris Frappell built a tool to solve a problem every motorcyclist knows: getting a chain tensioned evenly, by feel, with a wrench and a lot of guesswork. Chain Monkey pitched that fix to the Dragons, and the tool is still on sale today, just under a bigger name.
The short answer
Chain Monkey is still in business. The motorcycle chain tensioning tool remains available to buy, both through Amazon and via specialist retailers, though it now sells under the wider Tru-Tension brand that its founder built out after the Den. If you search for it by its original show name, you will land on Tru-Tension's product pages and third-party listings rather than a standalone Chain Monkey storefront.
That brand evolution is worth understanding rather than treating as a red flag. The product did not disappear, the company simply grew into a broader motorcycle care and maintenance range and consolidated everything under one name.
Anyone searching specifically for a company called Chain Monkey today might reasonably conclude it vanished, since there is no standalone Chain Monkey website or storefront any more. That is precisely the kind of case where checking the product itself, rather than just the original brand name, is the more reliable way to confirm a Dragons' Den pitch survived.
The Dragons' Den pitch
Chris Frappell pitched Chain Monkey in series 15, episode 13, presenting a precision tool designed to take the guesswork out of motorcycle chain tensioning, a job most riders do by eye and feel, often getting it wrong in ways that wear out chains and sprockets faster than necessary.
He asked for £75,000 in exchange for 25 percent of the business, pitching a genuinely novel mechanical tool into a niche but loyal motorcycling accessories market.
Niche accessory products can be a hard sell in the Den precisely because the addressable market looks small next to a mainstream consumer product. Frappell's pitch worked because motorcyclists who do their own maintenance are a dedicated, repeat-purchasing community willing to pay for a tool that genuinely solves a recurring annoyance, even if the total customer pool is modest by consumer-goods standards.
The deal that got done
Touker Suleyman backed Frappell for the full £75,000 at the 25 percent stake requested. Suleyman's background is in retail and manufacturing rather than motorcycling specifically, but a well-engineered, patent-protected physical product with a clear customer base is exactly the kind of investment his track record on the show favours.
For a founder with one strong product idea and limited manufacturing scale, a Dragon experienced in getting goods made efficiently and into retail channels is a practical match, even outside his usual product categories.
Growing into Tru-Tension
Since its Den appearance, the company has expanded well beyond the original Chain Monkey tool, founded in 2015 by Frappell, into a wider range of motorcycle maintenance products including chain lubricants and cleaning products, all sold under the Tru-Tension name. The Chain Monkey itself, described as the world's first motorcycle chain tensioning tool, remains a core product in that range.
Tru-Tension has built a presence across UK, European and US markets, which suggests the original tool's success gave the founder the confidence and the capital to build out a proper product line rather than staying a single-SKU business indefinitely.
Moving from a single mechanical tool into consumables like chain lubricants and cleaning products is also a smart business evolution. Consumables generate repeat purchases in a way a durable tool, bought once and used for years, simply cannot, giving the wider Tru-Tension brand a more sustainable revenue base than Chain Monkey alone ever could have provided.
Independent product testing coverage in both motorcycle and cycling trade press in the years since has also given the brand ongoing third party credibility that goes beyond its own marketing claims, which matters in a category where riders are often sceptical of new products until they see comparative results.
The bottom line
Chain Monkey asked for £75,000 for 25 percent, got exactly that from Touker Suleyman, and the tool is still manufactured and sold today, now as part of the broader Tru-Tension motorcycle care brand rather than under its original standalone name.
If you are hunting for the tool from the show, search Tru-Tension or Chain Monkey directly, both lead to the same product, still available through Amazon and specialist motorcycle retailers.
Where to buy Chain Monkey
Still selling as of 5 February 2026. Check today's price and availability.
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See the full Chain Monkey deal breakdown and term sheet →
