[Closed] My Chameleon Is Finally Finished

i like that! Hows the frame geo vs the stiffee - i rmemeber there were two camps back in the day, Stiffee or chameleon (stiffee obviously better) 🙂

Love that, proper attention to detail!

I couldn't tell toto be honest. My stiffee has 120mm forks and this has 160 so they are probably quite different on paper. The best description based on the short amount of time I have spent on it is that it feels like the Stiffee on acid.
I think the Stiffee was way ahead of its time though in 2001

Always liked the Chameleons, good looking bike, nice job.

Woh! v.nice.
Keep us updated

That is lovely! I bloody love Chameleons. They're like oversized BMX's. Massive grin factor! You end up cackling like a maniac on the descents. Then after you've been in the saddle for a few hours they revert to be medieval torture implements

Mine always makes me feel like I've done an eight hour ride in two hours but always with a big grin. Purple theme here with Abigales

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One of the things I first noticed is how hard the back end is. I thought my Stiffee was stif But this is a lot stiffer.

That is lovely! I bloody love Chameleons. They're like oversized BMX's. Massive grin factor! You end up cackling like a maniac on the descents

It's because of of this I still want (another) one.

Then after you've been in the saddle for a few hours they revert to be medieval torture implements

But then I remember this 😉

That is one braw looking bike, love it!

Looks awesome, love the colour scheme! I couldn't get used to my chammy, way too stiff.

See, i don't get this ^. I've got one very similar to the OP's. it feels direct in the sense that you know where the back is, but I'm running a 2.4 chunky monkey in there tubeless, and don't find it any less comfy than the steel hardtails I was riding before. i am running it SS, so standing more I expect, but i think, especially now that steel frames have to be built more burly due to the CEN thing, that the whole 'steel is more comfortable' thing is frankly bollocks. 🙂

edit: rear pressure at ~ 40psi, so not particularly low either!

I don't mind a stiff back end on a bike. I think you get used to it and your arse toughens up to it.

The only thing is the wheels look small IMO.
Congrats on the bike build!

You mean they look normal!

See, i don't get this ^. I've got one very similar to the OP's. it feels direct in the sense that you know where the back is, but I'm running a 2.4 chunky monkey in there tubeless, and don't find it any less comfy than the steel hardtails I was riding before. i am running it SS, so standing more I expect, but i think, especially now that steel frames have to be built more burly due to the CEN thing, that the whole 'steel is more comfortable' thing is frankly bollocks.

It's nonsense isn't it, the idea that fractions of a mm movement in a rear stay can be felt over a tyre deforming/seatpost & seat rails bending. I've never bought into it.

Back to the op though, love the bike, I think I have a matching ocean Pacific t shirt from 1994. 😀

Nice bike!

Not my cuppa colour-wise, but a 'right' bike always looks 'right', if you get my drift!

Thanks for all the comments. I was expecting more dislike for the colours.

I hate it

That's more like it

No it's really nice actually. rad infact

I had sick and bad from a group of teenagers on Saturday.
Not sure if that's good though.

Great bike, however...

So far it has cost £2564 and I just need to get a reverb stealth to finish it completely.

So you've built a new bike completely around a seat post, to finish it and then put a different seat post on...

Win! 🙂

I have only borrowed the normal reverb on it at the moment but you're not far off the mark.

Looks great mate, not to dissimilar to mine 😉

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It is exactly like an oversized bmx, and I don't find it too stiff at all. I've just given a cube hard tail to the Mrs that could shake fillings loose. This is way more compliant and so much fun 🙂

See, i don't get this ^. I've got one very similar to the OP's. it feels direct in the sense that you know where the back is, but I'm running a 2.4 chunky monkey in there tubeless, and don't find it any less comfy than the steel hardtails I was riding before. i am running it SS, so standing more I expect, but i think, especially now that steel frames have to be built more burly due to the CEN thing, that the whole 'steel is more comfortable' thing is frankly bollocks.

edit: rear pressure at ~ 40psi, so not particularly low either!

You want to try a Subzero back in the day... now that was stiff!! Jedi like reflexes required... The biggest grin going though

Typer, I have that pic saved on my phone as inspiration for mine. Came up a few times when looking for pics.
Lovely looking bike.

Not a Chameleon, but I also built a bike around a single component! I couldn't resist a bargain purple, white and black SDG saddle (I got 2 ti ones for fifty quid), but realised it didn't go with any of my existing bikes, so set about putting one together that it did suit:

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Nice bike by the way, I also own a Cove Stiffee, one of the last Easton tubed ones.

Thanks fella, may as well stick up another 🙂

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What length forks are they? I was concerned about using 160mm but the shop I had the frame from convinced me they would be perfect and so far they feel very good. I went for talas because I will also be using it for committing to work so I can go the long way home through the local woods.

They were 150mm floats, but I reduced them to 140 as I still wanted to be able to clock up the miles . To be honest though they would have been fine as they were so I'd imagine 160 will also be fine, especially with talas 🙂

I rode it to work this morning which is pretty much 4 miles uphill road. I messed around with the talas flicking between 130mm and 160mm. The bike fit currently feels perfect on the 160mm setting as that’s what it was on when I installed the brake levers and saddle. When I dropped it to 130mm it felt like the saddle had tipped to far forward and the levers had rotated a bit far round the bar. All obvious due to the drop in height.
Do people with an height adjustable fork set up the saddle etc. at a happy medium or set everything up at the height they use most?
I will experiment later but initial thoughts are that I will use the different heights equally.