After all its dimensions aren’t much different to other hardtails and there’s nothing radical about it. Obviously I’m talking pre-EBB version.

I’m struggling to think of any hardtail that doesn’t need ‘learning’/adjusting to on its first ride. Love it. I better do as its my fifth one now over the years…… 😀

the rider? 😉

when is it for sale?

I didn’t really need to adjust to my BFe. It just felt right, nothing particularly special or anything, just had that feeling that the bike wasn’t holding me back like I sometimes felt on the Trailstar cos it was a bit jittery at speed..

Used to ride a medium Planet X Jack Flash which always felt good but slightly too big. Recently bought a pre EEB small Chameleon and it’s fantastic, just rolls over stuff that I would have got bogged down in on the Jack Flash.

What’s up with the EBB version? Loving mine.

2x ebb ones here (although a friend is borrowing one)

They are truly brilliant bikes and I put it down to them being very stiff so very sharp when you ride and I think you are just perched between being in it and on it if that makes sense.

Better than my soul, but that might be a swear word on here!!

its my fifth one now over the years……

Eh? how can you have had five – keep breaking them?

Sell then regret. I have a rule- only one mtb. When I switch back to a full suss though I might keep the frame mothbsalled as its only 140£

I loved mine, looked good, stiff, fast, sorted geometry until one fateful day riding the Peak I realised how uncomfortable it was for anything other than groomed trails and singletrack

Wash your mouth out rob2 !!! Better than a Soul…. The wrath of the Gods I am sure will follow! We have had both, I preferred the Soul not so harsh and just as flickable – but that could be an age thing (my age) if I was younger, jumped more stuff then it might go the other way. If I could only have one it would be a Soul 😉

ER, really really really really really really really want one….

My friend bought one last year and I like it lots, need to get rid of Klein Attitude first though.

Great fun in this guise but only for a few hours.

I think part of it is because they’re so stiff at the back. I’m all hoppitty this and hoppity that on mine. That back end is just the best for flicking off rocks and roots and things. Makes climbing on ther rough stuff a bit challenging mind.

After that it’s just a perfect geometry long travel hardtail. And that’s always a good thing.

I’ll add, that with it being made out of half inch aluminium or something, it’s apparently immortal, and that’s another bonus point in my eyes.

Best bike ever? Quite possibly.

chameleon by Jon Wyatt, on Flickr

Agree- you feel (or it feels like) the instant power input from your pedal-stroke. Almost as though you legs have more power than they normally have.

Stiffness differences must be minimal though in the grandscheme- its that feeling of sitting in the frame rather than ontop and learning it!

😀

Cheers for the ‘loan’ ^rob^

On the basis of the one ride so far with a build from available spare bits (wonky brakes, too short a stem and too narrow bars), you ain’t getting it back 😉

Bit of a grind on climbs round here in Zummerzet but oh what a hoot when pointing down 😯 Methinks a quick pop out for a pootle over lunch is called for 😀

I love the way you can feel every tiny bump, root and rock. It makes you really feel connected with the trail and forces you to pick the smoothest line choices instead of just barging through like you can on a full sus or a frame with a bit more give.

Agree GEDA but saying that I rode every single bit of drop off etc of rocky icy trail on the Jacobs Ladder loop yesterday. I just blasted through and over straight ahead whereas on my other frame I really had to work at it and think.

I’ve just un-built mine after buying a Soul. It was an amazing bike and I loved every minute of riding it but I fancied a change and Souls come so highly recommended.

First impressions of the Soul are that it’s a softer ride, but apart from that, I’m gonna miss the Chammy.

If anyone wants to buy a pre-EBB US-built XL in Dog Knob red, email me…

Bloody hell. I wish I’d have known you were buying this. I wouldn’t have bought the Pace. I’d have just made sure I had first dibs on it, when you get bored and want to sell it

Which by my estimates should be about….3….2….1…..

NOW 😀

Has anyone ever switched their Chameleon to another hardtail and preferred it? I’m thinking, of going to a Ti Frame of similar a character?

The lad who sold me his Chameleon frame and bought a PA has regretted it ever since. In fact, the PA didn’t last long before he sold it.

I sold mine 6 weeks ago after 5 years faithful service.

xc-steve keep hold of your Cham. How much will you lose on it if you don’t sell it for 6months? £5?

I had a ti456 and I really don’t know what the magazine fuss was about. I just found it to be very flexy.

Binners- sell the Pace I reckon. Was Rivi/Ramsbottom good? Yesterday was my ‘posh’ ride of the week so I had to do the Peaks. Stopa- mbr gave the Surrey Hills 4th spot overall of all trails 😉

I’m hoping my Pace lives up to expectations (its nearly built) as its been bought to be a similar experience to the Chameleon I’ve always regretted getting rid of (which was incidentally bought off Hora)

I’ve sold Chameleons to everyone. Without me the bottom would fall out of the chameleon market 🙄

Sell it?! I’ve not even ridden it yet?!!!! Only you could come out with a comment like that. You’re as fickle as Carlos Tevez 😉

We had a good run yesterday. It was bloody cold towards the end. And the Belmont descent was greatly enlivened by the patches of ice. EEK!!!!

As bad as last year when we rode it with Iain and Paul? http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=227506285805&set=t.670495805

Used to ride a Chameleon and loved it, now ride a Lynskey Ridgeline LT with a pike on the front, its not as brutal as the Chameleon but is still pretty rugged with a bit of comfort thrown in, we sell both at the shop and both are selling well and everyone who rides both like each one for their own characeristics so I guess its horses for courses

I loved mine aswell. Did find it abit brutal on the backside. But funnest bike i’ve ever owned.

First impressions of the Soul are that it’ll be more enjoyable to ride all day, but I’ll miss the short-sharp-blastability of the Chammy on dry trails on summer evenings.

I’d keep it, but I really can’t justify another build that would be so similar to the Soul…

I had 8 or 9 mtb frames in a 7 or 8 year period prior to buying my chameleon, one of the last pre ebb models, ive had it over 3 years now and wouldnt even think about changing it for anything. ive never sat on a bike that felt so immediately right and planted..for me..best bike in the world..(although I quite fancy a go on a soul)..

Anyone run them SS?

I’ve had three of them, one of the 1st batch that they ever made, a MK2 and a MK4? -pre EBB. Loved all of them.

Nice pop-able manual roll kind of bike-bought the 1st one as apart from the Spooky Metalhead (which my brother had) they were the closest MTB frame to enable you to ride it like a BMX.

I only sold them on as they dented quite easily (as does any ali frame I guess) especially riding up in Lee Quarry a lot.

Now ride a Bluepig but I miss the Cham handling-the ‘Pig is more of a plough through-stick to the floor bike compared.

The Cham is a lot stiffer, in areas where the back end would start tankslapping at speed the Pig is more settled and does take the edge off. Awesome punch though out of tight berms/corners-never matched by the wind it up to speed ‘Pig.

original spec ’97 MK1 (note the ’98 Z1’s)

Dirt Jumper forks spec;

MK2/3 Hack/winter bike spec (with those original Z1’s)

Same again but stripped an polished upgraded spec;

None of the Mk4 (didnt have it long enough!)

How could you strip the rootbeer paint of that chameleon? mines white but ide have given my arm for a rootbeer one…

with a gallon of Nitromors-quite easily. 😀

Horrid colour but cheap. Looked more like dog poo brown in the flesh so to speak. Not a nice McDonalds rootbeer that tastes like Germoleen colour.

chameleon. seriously what makes it so good?

definitely NOT the rider!

I just blasted through and over straight ahead

did you go round for another go after i had left then?

Only kidding hora, its a sweet little bike that. couldn’t believe how light it felt either (though you wouldn’t know it from the meal you made of the first climb)

Slowrider I still rode every line you took on your full suss though, maybe not as fast mind. Plus after the last gate on jacobs I rode down the steep grass banking rather than walk the snowdrift! Still that first climb to mam tor almost killed me 🙁

i had a black v-only ’97 version like the one above, same orange bombers.. possibly my most loved bike ever, not just the bike, but what and how i rode at the time too. very good times..

how do current ones compare, anyone had them over a 12 yr + period? my old 97 17″ is still in the garage with a cracked headtube. i sometimes wonder about putting it on a jig then getting a carbon copy made in cr-mo.

It’s the anodised red bling that makes mine so good.

In all seriousness, I love my Chammy more than life itself.