SANTA CRUZ CHAMELEON AL R 29
£2,999 Is the Chameleon as versatile as Santa Cruz claim?
Santa Cruz’s Chameleon is a bike that’s changed its colours over the years, from a hardcore hooligan to a trail-shredder. The latest alloy-only generation aims to cover all bases, with updated geometry that sits within the bellcurve of modern bike shapes, as well as adjustable dropouts that give you a multitude of build options.
THE FRAME
The alloy frame comes with all the features you’d expect – semi-internal cable routing, ISCG-05 mounts and a threaded bottom bracket shell. There’s only a single bottle cage mount, but there are three bosses under the down tube for bikepacking kit. The rear dropouts offer 12mm of adjustment. While this gives a little ride-feel tuning, it also enables a singlespeed conversion or mixedwheel-size ‘mullet’ set-up (29in front, 650b rear – available as an ‘MX’ build).
Geometry-wise, the 65-degree head angle is moderately slack, the 465mm reach on the large size fairly average, and the 315mm BB low, without your cranks scraping the ground on techy climbs. The 76-degree seat tube angle works well on a wide range of slopes, while the short 430mm seat tube allows for a long-stroke dropper post.
THE KIT
This mid-range ‘R’ model comes with a SRAM NX Eagle drivetrain and Fox 34 Rhythm fork. The MatchMaker bar clamps are basic ones, which makes getting the shifter and brake levers in the right position tricky. At £2,999, it’s not great value, but the £799 frameonly price is on-par with its rivals.
THE RIDE
With no power loss to rear suspension and ample grip given by the wide 2.5in rubber out back, the Chameleon climbs well. There’s enough room fore-to-aft to balance traction and steering precision, and keep your chest open on long drags. A tighter seat tube angle would help on the steepest climbs, but the seated position feels natural on flatter trails and never held us back.
Santa Cruz haven’t gone radical with the bike’s shape, giving it wellbalanced all-rounder handling on descents. It’s quick to change direction and easy to loft the front wheel, making it fun to hit natural gaps and jumps, and pump through rollers. The bike handled our steeper test tracks well, although we’d have been more comfortable with a couple of degrees chopped off the head angle on the steepest terrain. While we rarely felt the front wheel tucking, that extra slackness makes a difference when tackling steep chutes and rock steps.
The soft-compound Minion DHF tyre at the front adds control and, with the fork propped up with slightly higher-than-recommended pressures, lets you push through the Burgtec cockpit to generate extra grip. However, the SRAM Guide T brakes let the side down on longer descents – they’re not particularly powerful and they suffer from heat build-up, too, leading to increased arm pump. The EXO-casing tyres are also relatively flimsy for a bike that’ll handle plenty of abuse. Thicker-casing rubber might roll slower, but would improve downhill performance and confidence.
Overall, though, the balanced, versatile handling of the Chameleon proved addictive, and we often found ourselves picking it for social as well as work rides. We’d happily buy the frame and build it up with our own parts choices. Tom Marvin www.santacruzbicycles.com