MODERN COUNTERPART £5,399 Tom takes his Chameleon to its extremes – a singlespeed mullet bike!
As the name suggests, the Chameleon is a super-versatile bike. Santa Cruz say it’s suitable for pretty much anything from hardcore trail rides to bikepacking adventures in the middle of nowhere. It’s ideal, then, for someone like me, who enjoys doing a little bit of everything.
Swiss Army bike
Back when I was at university I was obsessed with singlespeed bikes, slowly grinding my knee cartilage to a fine paste labouring up Scottish mountains for no reason other than that I enjoyed the challenge. The Chameleon has a pair of swinging dropouts that allow the chainstay length to vary, meaning singlespeed builds are entirely possible. So it didn’t take long before the original SRAM GX Eagle gears on my 2019 long-term ride were slung unceremoniously into the (parts) bin and a Gusset XD 1-ER kit was sourced to convert the XD freehub on the Hope Pro 4 hub for some single-sprocket fun.
However, that wasn’t the end of the process. The bike originally came with a pair of 27.5x2.8in Maxxis Rekon+ tyres, mounted on Santa Cruz’s own Reserve 37 rims. This made a lot of sense at the back of the bike, with the large tyre volume taking the sting out of the rigid back end over rooty and rocky trails. However, up front I found the bulbous rubber too vague and not grippy enough for the kind of dank, muddy woodland trails that the bike seemed to suit. So, I dug around and found a spare 29in wheel to plug into the 29ercompatible Fox 34 fork (later replaced with a Marzocchi Z2).
Along the way there have been a few other spec changes here and there, from brakes to bar to tyres. But the basic premise has remained the same – it’s a singlespeed mullet bike built for slipping and slapping around the woods on days when I don’t want to go too far and I’m not chasing Strava times down any hills.
Hardtail hero
So, how does it ride? There’s very little give in the back end, so over chunky terrain you have to take a far more considered approach – picking lines, smoothing them over with a bit more body language and generally hustling the bike around the worst of it while soaking the rest up with your legs. The 2.8in rear tyre does a reasonable job of taming things, but a sofa-like bike this is not! That just adds to the experience, though. While I love riding full-suspension trail bikes, I also really appreciate the extra care and attention you have to put into riding a hardtail as fast as you can. With the rear wheel getting caught up on smaller bumps, it’s harder to maintain speed, but that just forces you to think more and analyse what you’re doing and why.
Without getting too ‘purist’ about it, I’m back in love with singlespeeds. They’re harder work and far more compromised than I remember, but the quiet connection to the terrain and the extra e ort needed to ride them fast makes for an electrifying experience on the trail. Before I built the bike up I was worried I had rose-tinted glasses (or was it beer goggles?) on, looking back to my university days. But it’s safe to say that my mulleted singlespeed is one of my raddest rides to date!