Santa Cruz’s Chameleon has been given an update for 2022. Staying true to its name it’s a hardtail the can shift into many different bikes thanks to a handy collection of features. It can start life as an all-out trail hardtail then become a single-speed bike-packing rig if you’re looking for simplicity during those overnight epics. Read on, here are all of the details.
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As has come to be expected from the Chameleon, the choices are mighty wide and that’s all thanks to the adjustable dropouts. Bung on a 12-speed cassette or drop the gears for a rugged single-speed setup. New for 2022, the Chameleon can even be kitted with a 650b wheel at the rear, making mullet bike conversions easily possible.
Nodding towards some bikepacking intentions, the new bike comes with a triple-bolt cargo cage mount under the downtube along with its usual bottle cage in the front triangle.
It’s available only with an aluminium frame and runs a 130mm travel fork.
Santa Cruz has shaped the Chameleon to remain comfortable and capable regardless of what your plans are with it. As such, it has been given a 465mm reach on a large frame, a 65° head tube angle, a 425-43mm chainstay, and a 74.4° seat tube angle. That’s with either an all-around 29″ set up or a mullet wheel sizes.
As for frame sizes, there are four available from S up to XL.
The Chameleon is available in three builds each with a choice of either 29″ wheels or mixed. The AL D sits at the base end of the scale. It’s built with a RockShox Recon RL fork, SRAM SX Eagle drivetrain and SRAM Level brakes. It then rolls on a pair of WTB ST i30 rims laced to SRAM hubs which are wrapped with a 2.5″ Maxxis Minion DHF with a 3C, Maxx Grip compound and EXO casing with a 2.4″ Maxxis Aggressor at the rear with an EXO casing.
At the top end is the AL S rocking a Fox 34 Float Performance fork with a SRAM GX Eagle drivetrain and RaceFace AR rims laced to DT Swiss 370 hubs. That bike gets the same tyres. The brakes also come from SRAM but here we see a pair of G2 Rs.
Prices for the new Chameleon start at £2,400 for the D model and go up to £3,500 for the S.
