Santa Cruz Chameleon (1998+)

[Madmax1993]

I feel your pain with the short steerer. I've been there a few times before, never due to my own cutting, but by guesstimating the suitability of a fork I *really* want as if sheer willpower alone will stretch the steerer to a useable length.
Low stack stems come up in discussions here often enough, and I saved some measurements last time I needed one:
Sunline V-one 41mm height
Ragley stubbing 32mm
DMR defy 30.5mm
Spank Spike 26mm
Onoff (can't remember the model) 32mm
Funn Funduro is low, but haven't measured.
There's a funn knock-off by a company called Wake, if you want to gamble your front teeth on a roll of the dice with dodgy Chinese stuff.

 

[Tsia]

I feel your pain with the short steerer. I've been there a few times before, never due to my own cutting, but by guesstimating the suitability of a fork I *really* want as if sheer willpower alone will stretch the steerer to a useable length.

That's precisely what happened here - I was just looking for a semi-decent 120mm fork when a set of Rebas came up locally with the exact fitment I wanted - cheap too as they were leaking air! Thankfully I needed to change the air spring to bump the travel to 120mm anyway - and I'd always service a set of forks upon buying them so everything was good there... until I forgot to account for the incredibly high stack height of my headset! Ah well, the DMR stem plus a 5mm spacer should do the trick!

 

[Lacuna]

I've just bought an early one of these for my son - I have a 2021 version so felt like a nice link.

Won't be as nicely finished as yours, mind (basic build/cost) but lovely bikes and yours looks great in that colour.

Where did you get the stickers from?

Got mine from https://www.slikgraphics.com

 

[Tsia]

I decided to go with the Defy 35mm stem in the end (27mm stack height on these! I actually had to add a 5mm spacer to my surprise, though I could get away with a 3mm) - while very short, I do prefer as short a reach as possible - and in combination with the slightly slacker head angle from the longer travel forks it actually feels quite nice. I'm yet to take it to a proper trail center though!

I also happened to see another Chameleon come up for sale locally to me - confirmed as a 1998 by the owner contacting Santa Cruz with his serial number. Conveniently for me - the frame is identical to mine! I've contacted them as well with my own serial number, but I can now be confident that it's a MK1 made between 1998 and 1999 (which explains the 27.2mm seatpost and the cable routing below the top tube, as opposed to the early MK1 frame which had 26.8mm seatpost and cable routing above the top tube.)

 

[The Kilt]

Another low stack stem, and more periodically correct is the X-lite DH stem. Only has a stack height of 30mm, and perfect for short steerers! comes pretty short too at 50mm, but there are longer ones around.

 

[Tsia]

Another low stack stem, and more periodically correct is the X-lite DH stem. Only has a stack height of 30mm, and perfect for short steerers! comes pretty short too at 50mm, but there are longer ones around.

Alas, period correct is the opposite of what I'm going for with this. Modern setup on a retro frame is what this one is all about
Very useful info to have either way!

 

[The Kilt]

Alas, period correct is the opposite of what I'm going for with this. Modern setup on a retro frame is what this one is all about
Very useful info to have either way!

Ah gottcha. They do look very cool though, i have one on my chameleon and i havent seen a cooler stem (In my opinion!)

 

[Tsia]

Small update on where the bike has gone in the last year or so. Been getting in a fair bit of riding which has worn through some of the older/weaker components - namely the hubs. After pulling them apart and inspecting the bearing surfaces, there was no way to save them really - so I've opted for some new hubs. After a bit of research and deciding how much I'm happy to spend on them, I settled for a set of China specials - Koozer hubs. They've reviewed pretty well by those that have bought them and thus far, I'm more than happy with them. The quality seems excellent, spare parts availability is there and they were only ~£65 for a pair. I took these to a local wheel builder to have them laced to my existing rims, so spent a bit of this afternoon popping the bike back together.


One of the other bits that was starting to frustrate me a bit was the brakes - they were fine, a set of old Shimano Deore brakes, but they were mismatched and I found a set of new SRAM Level brakes for a very reasonable price, so thought I'd grab those and bump the rotor size up from 160mm F/R to 180mm F/R. Turns out the fitting is quite tight on this old frame that was never made for disc brakes!


And last but not least, just a picture of how the bike is looking now. The new hubs sound great, feel like they spin forever and are only let down by the slightly bent hanger which I need to sort out following a little crash a few weeks back! I appreciate the oil slick look isn't for everyone, but I thought a small splash of odd colour wouldn't be too bad on an otherwise pretty brightly coloured frame. Besides, I like it!

 

[rigidftw]

Good to see the front tyre is on the right way now

Got any close-ups of the rear brake adapter? I don't think I ever saw one that positions the caliper below the chainstay.

 

[Lacuna]

Good to see the front tyre is on the right way now

Got any close-ups of the rear brake adapter? I don't think I ever saw one that positions the caliper below the chainstay.

That disc adapter was the only one available from Santa Cruz