Submitted by
Font9a
a Cross Country Rider
from Bay Area
Date Reviewed: September 5, 2002
Strengths: Exceptional geometry, extremely stiff, horizontal dropouts, great value
Weaknesses: Aluminum, not steel
Bottom Line:
This bike has the best SS geometry I've ever ridden. It is extremely agile without being twitchy; I just get in the centerline and the bike steers itself. The braking power is good, with the burly seat stays.
Being aluminum, however, it is too brittle feeling. Rear end compliance is virtually nil, which feels great carving (oh, and it carves so lovely) fast turns in all conditions, but the tradeoff is jarring on rocky trails. The SID up front works really well, any more than 80mm would slack the head tube angle too much, after all it is a hardtail.
This is a great SS frame at a very respectable price. I am having a custom steel bike made with the same geometry, so hopefully that will be the best of both worlds. Santa Cruz does beautiful work.
Bike Setup: RS SID, XTR v-brakes, Chris King SS hubs, RaceFace cranks 34:17, DX pedals
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Submitted by
Carlos Riestra
a Weekend Warrior
from Puerto Rico
Date Reviewed: June 8, 2002
Strengths: Geometry! Strength! Great bike for us X-Bmxers. Loves to climb & I cant wait to point it down hill!! Will adapt to whatever type of ride you have in store for it.
Weaknesses: In my case, the polished frame (high maintenance). Other than that, NOTHING.
Bottom Line:
Get the frame at a great price and use your hard earned money to put quality parts on it. Do this and youll have a bike that can do it all and do it better than bikes that cost three times as much.
Similar Products Used: too many hardtails to mention & Santa-Cruz Superlight
Bike Setup: White-Bros. AT-4, King head set, Thompson stem & post, xt & xtr guts & brakes, Kooka cranks, Valiant rims, Rithchey riser, a few other goodies.
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Submitted by
Puppet
a
from Kingston/Calgary/Canmore
Date Reviewed: October 18, 2001
Strengths: everything unique about the bike: SingleSpeed, Super strong both laterally and in every other dimension possible. Geometry gives me everything I could possibly ask for and more. It makes me feel like the only limit to what I can or can't ride is my own skill level.
Weaknesses: It makes me feel like my only limit is my own skill level.
Bottom Line:
I love my bike. No Regrets. Frame is more than worth it. the components all depend on you wheeling and dealing w/ your LBS. I ride it for everything set up as is - singlespeed. Cross Country in the Rocky Mountains and South Central Ontario, Trials and Urban Assault, Dual Slalom, and yes indeed, Downhill at Fernie when I'm feeling like a lazy s.o.b and wanna take the chairlift up.
Bike Setup: Quickly upon purchasing it I made it my own: Single Speed (SPOT brand SS hub), Hayes disks front and rear, Marzocchi Z3QR20 w/ 5", and some downhill disk specific rims twist laced running a Kujo 2.7" front and a Maxxis 2.4" rear. Yeah, so I'm a crank...
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Submitted by
jay salaya
a Weekend Warrior
from san jose, ca
Date Reviewed: September 5, 2001
Strengths: no flexing, feels very solid
Weaknesses: heavy
Bottom Line:
I have a 99 heckler, no complaints, really, really good for all around and cross country, but when it comes to climbing and serious riding, this chameleon rules, period. Low maintenance, easier to control, except for one thing, a must for rear swing arm, a lizard skin, to protect from chain scratches and noise.
Favorite Trail: joseph grant park(very close to home)
Duration Product Used: 6 months
Price Paid:
$380.00
Purchased At: swap meet
Similar Products Used: santa cruz heckler
Bike Setup: lx/xt/xtr(mostly xt/ shifter lx/ vbrakes xtr)
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Submitted by
Chris
a Weekend Warrior
from Bouler, CO
Date Reviewed: May 24, 2001
Strengths: My hands would fall of before I could finish typing the list.
Weaknesses: Hmm, hmm, well yeah...
Bottom Line:
So I'm about to leave for college and, having sold my s-works a year before, my brother say's, "i got a bike for ya". He then mails me a chamelion frame. I didn't really know much about the bike, but built it up and rode it around a bit. I have to say, this bike is above all, fun to ride. Its (how i have it built) like a great big bmx that is actually nice to ride. It does everything else well too though, I love doing downhill on it and just riding it from place to place, turns cross campus commutes into something to look forward to.
Similar Products Used: Not really similar but... Specialized S-Works M2
Bike Setup: Random parts, mostly Lx & Xt, white bros 70mm fork.
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Submitted by
Ty Winty
a Cross Country Rider
from Sydney NSW Australia
Date Reviewed: January 11, 2001
Strengths: Where do you start. This is the best Hardtail period. The build quality is excellent, the angles just work. I like the horizontal drop outs as for the rare occasions I have to change a rear wheel its is no trouble. The cables route well and to date I have had no challenges. Ok its not the lightest and its quality may not be as good as the high end Klein were pre Trek but this is not a weakness because once you ride this bike you will forget all that.
Weaknesses: Decals scratch off (remind me to ask Santa Cruz for a new set). I would have liked a few more water bottle mounts. I sometimes knock my heals on the stays as they are so fat!
Bottom Line:
This bike handles like no other. I have 12 bikes, some worth 10 times as much, but this is by far my favorite to ride for all occasions. Ride it to the shop, cycle toured for two months and 3000kms towing a BOB trailer, rode the slickrock trail several times. This is the fun bike to do it all on. I will never sell or pass on this frame.
Similar Products Used: Own/ed Klein Fevor, Scott Pro Racing, Specialized FRS M4, Intense Tracer (this rocks too), Trek 8000, Trek Y-22 and tested many others... Nothing is as good for the bucks as the Chameleon and the only one I even get close to riding as much is my Intense and Serrotta road bike.
Bike Setup: Mostly XT 9 spd, Atom Bomb Z2 forks (rock on this frame), Dean TI seat post (get one), Race face LP cranks and rings, Bontrager Crow Bars and Profile Stem and some ald XT/mavic 517 wheels, Cheap Trick brakes.
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Submitted by
Richard
a Weekend Warrior
from Madison WI USA
Date Reviewed: July 7, 2000
Strengths: Single speedable, light enough, tough
Weaknesses: no rear disk mount, horizontal dropouts make the rear wheel a bit of a pain to mount and remove
Bottom Line:
Bought the bike used and i feel like i was born with the bike attached to me. I origonally sold my car to buy it as a backup-commuter but after a week I sold my k2 4000 because i knew i would't be riding it anymore. I simply love the way this bike handles, the only problem with it is that I cannot blame the bike for my lack of skills anymore (my k2 had really funny geometry). The only person I couldn't reccomend it to would be a technophile, gram counting racer. The weight is by no means bad, but their are fancier and lighter bikes available around the same price. If you love riding, race from time to time, can only have one bike, tear up bikes fast,want a single speed, ect... then I highly reccomend this bike.
Similar Products Used: lots and lots of other hardtails
Bike Setup: racface c-set, crossride, lx brakes (ditched the xt's), riser bar, short stem, full xt shifting, marzocchi z2 bam
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Submitted by
pook dog
a Weekend Warrior
from tustin,cal.U.S.A.
Date Reviewed: April 20, 2000
Strengths: light ,SUPER STRONG,no flex,low standover height is awesome!! This bike handles extremely well!!I ride the CHAMELEON all the time now instead of my f/s 4+inch travel CANNONDALE fr1000. I run a Judy 100 with it,just point it down anything and away you go no problem.
Bike Setup: its the Chameleon 16.5 inch frame(sid blue) with mostly XTR parts. Rock Shox SID, sid blue goes nicely with a sid.
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Submitted by
BoB
a Weekend Warrior
from Calgary, AB
Date Reviewed: September 1, 1999
Strengths: Rigid frame, light weight, rigid frame, geometry... did I mention the frame?
Weaknesses: none yet
Bottom Line:
I love this bike. Even though I couldn't spend a bunch on components, I wanted to upgrade the frame. And boy did I. This frame is sized 1 bigger than the Spec'd was, and you'd never know know it from the ride. Much more rigid and controlable. What a super feel. What a super ride. All the the peppers you got, and then some!!
Submitted by
CrankSpinr
a Cross-Country Rider
from SoBay, NoCal
Date Reviewed: April 15, 1999
Strengths: Frame Weight Versatility
Weaknesses: -0-
Bottom Line:
Awesome bike! Top tube is low enough that I actually went one size up from my normal size (which is good because I have a long torso). Very rigid frame. Shifting is precise. The bike feels very light yet strong. My recomendation: Don't test ride one unless you're willing to part with your money because one ride.....and you're hooked.
