Santa Cruz Chameleon custom build

billysan

Have had this built up for a while now, but having found myself with a couple of hours to kill earlier this afternoon I thought I'd finally get some decent pics of it.

Pics:










Frame: 2009 Santa Cruz Chameleon Ano Gold
Forks: 2010 Magura Thor
Bars: Truvativ Noir Team 680mm
Stem: Thomson X4
Headset: Hope
Grips: Onza Ules

Front Brake Lever assy: Avid Juicy 7
Front Caliper: Avid Juicy 7
Front disc: Avid G3 Centrelock 185mm
Rear Brake Lever assy: Avid Juicy 7
Rear Caliper: Avid Juicy 7
Rear Disc: Avid G2 Rohloff
Hoses: Avid

Shifters: Rohloff
Cables: Shimano SP41 + XTR inners
Front Mech: N/A
Rear Mech: N/A
Chain Device: N/A

Seat: Fizik Nisenne Ti
Seat Post: Truvativ Noir Team
Seat Post Clamp: Hope QR

Cranks: Shimano Saint
Chainring(s): Shimano Saint
Chain: Sram PC971
Cassette: N/A
Pedals: Shimano M540 (Was M646 DX till last weekend when I bent an axle)
Bottom Bracket: Shimano Saint

Front Wheel:
Rim: Mavic XM719 Disc
Spokes: DT Revolution
Hub: Shimano XT 20mm
Tube: Conti
Tire: Schwalbe Racing Ralph Evo 2.25"

Back Wheel:
Rim: Mavic XM719 Disc
Spokes: Sapim DB
Hub: Rohloff Speedhub 500/14 Disc
Tube: Conti
Tire: Schwalbe Nobby Nic Evo 2.25"

Weight: 26.3lbs

Other info: I love it 8)

A few people have commented on the colour, so I thought I'd share the history of this one. This frame was one of two samples in this colour sent to Santa Cruz UK from the factory in the USA. One was sold legitimately, but this one never was due to a tiny defect in the anodizing. It changed hands within the trade a couple of times between friends, then popped up on the STW classifieds, where I bought it! You could say its rather rare. Why SCUK decided against bringing them in is beyond me, it looks so good in the flesh. The only other Ive ever seen a pic of in this colour is the sample that ended up in the wired magazine review!

Da Mighty Chicken

Beautiful, absolutely love the frame colour :shock: 8)

Love the 3rd pic down, very well composed, what camera are you using if you don't mind me asking?

Spugnut

Great looking bike Billy. Superb photos as well.

billysan

Cheers fellas.

I used a Canon 20D with a 70-200 F4L for the 3rd and 4th photo. The rest were with an 17-85 F3.5/5.6 IS.

orange_man

Gorgeous bike! Quality pics

Love those handlebars too!!!

paul.skibum

how do you find the Rohloff for trail riding?

Beautiful looking bike too except that pit of tape or whatever on the downtube holding the cable - ruins the lines a bit....

ilovedirt

Gorgeous bike, very cool photos too.

billysan

paul.skibum wrote:

how do you find the Rohloff for trail riding?

Beautiful looking bike too except that pit of tape or whatever on the downtube holding the cable - ruins the lines a bit....

The 'tape' you mention are actually Swinley Forrest season permits! But there is a cable tie there too to keep the stick on cable guide in place as the cables used to pull it off when you turned left. I dont mind it too much, but it does break up the lines a little. for a tidier cable run I'll live with it.

As for the Rohloff, I love it. For trail use it is possibly a bit overgeared, the lowest I used on Whites Level climb the weekend before last was 5th for example. Ive geared it so Im in the most efficient gears (8th - 12th) most of the time when having a blast. Where the gear range does come into its own is on big long days out. 1st will climb anything, and 14th spins out in the mid to high 30's on road/fireroad. The usual benefits are there, chain never drops, gear changes when coasting, not affected by mud. I do like the way the weight keeps the rear wheel planted too.

BUT, I'd be lying if I said I wasnt having a serious craving to try a 1x9 setup on it too. Im really tempted to get a second rear wheel and 1x9 transmission and keep it just for trail use seeing as I dont use all the Rohloffs range, and a 1x9 would be a fair chunk lighter and make the bike a bit more lively. This would be a luxury though because to be fair, the bike isnt really lacking anything as it is.

giantculler

wow, i'm impressed!!! Very good bike. very nice. amazing.

joshtp

Just some Hope brakes and a MMMBop frame off my dream bike.....!

the article don

Lovely jubbly.

And you've just persuaded me to finally get the Truvative Noir bars I've been dithering about for ages.

thecremeegg

Going to sound like a noob here, but in the last pic what is that little black box with two cables coming out of it?

Nice bike as well btw

chedabob

thecremeegg wrote:

Going to sound like a noob here, but in the last pic what is that little black box with two cables coming out of it?

Nice bike as well btw

It's part of the Rohloff (internal gear) hub.