3/11/2023 0 Comments Santa cruz chameleonBut also in terms of your own future if priorities change from busting moves on carpeted ramps in the local woods to riding through woods on the far side of the world with your whole life loaded into frame bags. Not just in terms of being able to accommodate different wheel sizes if one becomes extinct or run it single speed if the world completely runs out of derailleurs or someone finally makes a decent hub gear. Having all these potential configurations to play around with not only adds another dimension to the ride dynamics of the Chameleon, it also future-proofs it really well. The swappable drop-outs offer plenty of options to make the Chameleon very adaptable (Image credit: Guy Kesteven) Talking ride heights, while there were moments when a lower bottom bracket would have made it even easier to carve the bike more aggressively, the gain is not worrying about crank clearance when pedaling up rocky/rooty/stepped climbs. Plus although Santa Cruz has configured the ‘MX’ dropouts to give the same geometry as the 29er, you could run it the other way round, with the smaller rear wheel and the 29er dropouts to give a lower, slacker setup that might well suit sleazier riders better. The win with the MX comes in the way it loves to hook turns and hustle short sprint sections, putting extra pace and pop into what already feels an agile and responsive ride. Again, you’d get more rollover and traction with a 29er tire in this instance as well. While it’s a lot steeper than before the seat angle is still relatively relaxed too so be prepared to perch yourself on the saddle tip to keep the bike balanced on steep, slippery climbs. The increased ‘damper’ work your legs will be doing on the descents leaves them dented for the climbs though so while there’s obviously no suspension bob and power transfer is solidly direct, don’t necessarily expect to crush the climbs afterwards. That means while a hardtail will always be more of a rodeo experience in the rough and you’ll need to relearn your trade rapidly if you’re coming off a big bike, I still had an absolute blast chasing my regular riding crew down properly technical trails. Not least because the Aggressor isn’t a particularly big tire for a 2.5in (there’s room in the frame for a 2.6in) and the 27.5in format is always a lumpier ride than 29in (maximum tire size 2.8in). If you’re railing a lot of berms hard, adding some tokens to firm up the mid-stroke would be a good move.Įven though I remembered the previous Chameleon being remarkably forgiving for an alloy trail hardtail that’s strong enough for jump sessions, the ability of the Chameleon 8 to carry speed and suck up drops and stutter bumps with silent smoothness consistently impressed. I did have to increase the pressure a couple of times during testing though, ending up about 30 percent higher than Fox’s guide pressure for my weight. The Fox Rhythm fork isn’t overstretched structurally at 130mm, and yet again, the simple Grip damper is impressively controlled even when you’re in a train of longer travel full-suspension bikes. The relaxed head angle, sticky MaxxGrip front tire and Burgtec cockpit mean no shortage of authority and locked down trail connection. If you know your geometry numbers, you’ll realize the Chameleon isn’t radical in any way - in fact, the medium reach and bottom bracket height are pretty conservative.
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