Santa Cruz Chameleon R MX review: venerable yet versatile

The last Chameleon I slung a leg over was the Santa Cruz Chameleon C SE Reserve, the carbon fibre version of the bike in a top-end complete build. Despite a glorious launch video, the carbon Chameleon was a bit too bling for no-nonsense hardtail riders, and in 2021 Santa Cruz announced that, a bit like LL Cool J, they were going back to ali.

Meanwhile the frame’s design has had something of an overhaul. Geometry updates, new low-slung styling, and a range of complete builds including, because it’s 2022, a bunch of big front, medium rear wheel options. 

Three months back, Santa Cruz kindly sent us one of these mullet builds, the Chameleon R MX, to pootle around our little valley and form some opinions on.

Component chat

There are three tiers of complete build, the D, R, and S. These range from £2,399 for the lowest-spec D build with Rockshox Recon RL forks, up to £3,499 for a complete S bike with Fox 34 Performance suspension, SRAM GX groupset and DT Swiss 370 wheelset. The R build sits in the middle, with a Fox 34 fork featuring the more basic Rhythm damper.

Other components on the bike draw heavily from the SRAM stable, with an NX Eagle 12-speed mech and shifter, Descendant crank, 11-50T cassette, Guide T brakes, and SRAM MTH 716 hubs laced to RaceFace rims. There’s also a nod to the UK market with Burgtec finishing kit. The SDG Tellis dropper post offers 150mm of radness room on a medium size bike.

All of this is attached to a very nicely-finished alloy frame, in two colour choices – a glossy subterranean blue or our test bike’s gorgeous thick custard.

Cables are tucked out of the way inside the main triangle, there are discreet chain guide tabs for the jibbers, and there’s a triple bolt mount under the down tube for a bikepacker’s kit cage.

Colour-matched fork decals add a splash of panache, and there’s a very tactile custom rubber chainstay protector.

Geometry gubbins

But enough about the aesthetics – what about the stuff that actually matters?

Depending on your viewpoint, the previous Chameleon was either a valiant hold-out against the tide of long, low and slack nu-skool hardtails, or an obstinate laggard that disregards developments in frame geometry.

This version is significantly longer and slacker, with a 65° static head angle and 445mm reach for the Medium size (465mm for the Large). It’s not a huge change from the previous Chameleon but it’s enough to stop it looking dated next to its competitors.

The stock fork length has crept up to 130mm, but the top tube of the bike has also been dropped to give tonnes of standover room and a nice clean line with the chainstays. This also means that the 150mm dropper specced on our medium test bike looked a bit inadequate.

However it’s good news for short-legged folks who want to experiment with longer frames. At 5’10″ I’m at the top of the size range for the medium, and could have sized up, but I also wanted to see if the mixed wheel size and bet-hedging geometry added up to a trail hardtail that might also be fun at the pump track. 

The ride

The first surprise on getting on board the Chameleon MX was that it climbs much better than the numbers suggest. It’s not a particularly light bike, and nor does it have a fashionably steep seat angle, but the frame feels direct, there’s plenty of room to shift your body weight around.

There’s enough traction from the low-profile Maxxis Aggressor rear tyre to get up slippery, awkward technical climbs without any drama.

On the descents, it’s engaging and fun, requiring less input than a longer, slacker bike but also less forgiving of mistakes. It lends itself to flighty direction changes, hops and pops rather than battering through rough sections of trail.

The frame feel is relatively stiff, and I missed the vibration dampening of carbon version, but it’s not a total boneshaker either. I’ve ticked off longer rides on it without feeling like I’ve been pummeled. So in that respect it totally meets its remit of being a bike of all trades.

On more technical trails, some issues did emerge, but these were mostly to do with the build rather than the frame.

The SRAM Guide T brakes are underwhelming, with a vague, slightly underpowered feel. They have a fair amount of lever throw and no easy way of adjusting this, meaning that you often seem to be braking late unless you drag them. 

The fork is also a tad disappointing, needing extra pressure to give enough support. It’s not awful but the frame deserves better, especially given that the performance of a hardtail’s fork can have a disproportionate effect on how it rides.

The Rhythm-damper equipped Fox 34 feels a bit spikey when things get up to speed and makes it harder to relax and stop worrying about what the back end of the bike is doing.

Value judgments

Although this particular build of the Chameleon is all functional, serviceable kit, it really doesn’t feel like a £3,000 bike. SRAM NX running gear is decent stuff but hardly glamorous, and I’m not a huge fan of the clunky Matchmaker clamps which seem to put your controls in slightly the wrong place.

The rear hub doesn’t have a proper XD driver, and comes with a heavier non-series cassette. There’s nothing wrong with any of it, but you’d expect to find it on hardtails costing a third less than this one.

There is some stuff to like about the build. The SDG Tellis dropper post might be on the short side for me, but has a lovely smooth action and no annoying wobble.

The Maxxis Minion front, Aggressor rear tyre combo is a great balance of fast acceleration and decent cornering ability – although I do wish more complete bikes came with a “UK Winter” tyre spec option, as I found them a bit out of their depth in the wet.

Despite my misgivings about performance, nothing on the bike has stopped working as it should over three months of riding in mixed conditions.

Overall

Apart from the uninspiring spec, I wish that Santa Cruz had been a bit more exciting with their range of Chameleon complete bikes. A singlespeed or Plus tyre (remember them?) option would be something different and invite less head-to-head comparison with what other brands are doing.

There’s a tonne of tyre clearance in the rear of the frame too, so it seems a shame to stop at 2.5 inches of rear cush. That said, the Chameleon works well as a mullet, and Santa Cruz’s somewhat incremental approach to geometry changes doesn’t seem to alienate their fans.

I suspect that the vast majority of riders will buy their Chameleon as a £799 frame, before building it up as they choose, instead of going with this complete build option. That’s still pricey for an alloy frame, but it’s backed up by a well-regarded warranty. And as a base for anything from a play bike to a bikepacking rig, the Chameleon would work well. It’s not really a bike for going as fast as you can on, but it promises that wherever you’re riding, it’ll be fun. It may be venerable, but it’s still versatile.