Chameleon
What Mountain Bike
The Chameleon was one of the fi rst bikes that could handle the jumps without being a lead weight on day rides. It's been through a bunch of different versions since its inception (this is Mk IV), and the current Chameleon is built from a custom built heavy duty 6066 alloy tubeset. The fl ared downtube is reinforced with neat cheek gussets and a box throat gusset and is rated for up to 153mm travel forks. The neat wishbone seatstay junction and box section chainstays end in thick horizontal dropouts. These are a bugger to get the wheel in and out of, but mean you can run a singlespeed set up without extra hardware. The whole frame is plenty tough enough for full on Jump/4X action too if you fancy swapping your peak and vents for a piss pot.
Unsurprisingly, such a taut, low slung frame can put some grief through your gusset on rough terrain, but there's masses of reach (23.3in top tube on the Lge) for easy breathing and a full on climber's stretch. A weight of 4.3lb means it's certainly not too heavy either (the last complete bike we tested was weighed with Manitou Nixon forks) and the relaxed handling angles make it a joy to throw through corners or trickle down stupid knife edge sections. Finishing is neat and tidy, with sweet replaceable CNC dropouts and no fewer than 10 colour options from polished to vivid primary shades. Given the bike's legendary reputation and Cruz kudos the frame price is an absolute giveaway too.
WMB Verdict
Legendary tight, tough hardcore all rounder at a superb price
Performance: 9
Value: 10