In May last year I had the rather good fortune to pick up a mk1 Santa Cruz Chameleon from ebay. The price? A mere £20. It also came with a seatpost jammed in it, headset cups, UN72 BB, a dead Roox rollercoaster chainguide, a drive side Raceface crank and ring and a mystery non-drive crank. I sold the Raceface crank, ring and the BB for about £35. Already in profit! Next job was to remove the seatpost which took quite an effort. Turns out it was a 27.0 post that had been pushed into the 26.8 tube, which also informed me that this is actually one of the first run frames so it's probably actually more of a '97 than '98 onwards but the build isn't period correct so this forum seems more appropriate.
So, all parts off it was time to get the rotten paint sorted. A trip to the powdercoaters and it became deep candy blue for £40. Original decals were hard to find so I got a set for a V10 from slik graphics, which look pretty good. I was going to build it with my Z1 duals and run v brakes but I came across a set of Fox 36 Talas and that changed the plan. Sold the Z1's and my v brake wheels. I had been building a 26" Yeti ASR with carbon wheels but this was made redundant by my rigid 29er so the yeti frame and forks were sold leaving the carbon rims spare. I bought a donor set of wheels to get the red hope hubs which had the same inner rim diameter as my carbon rims so it was a straight swap. Rolling chassis sorted.
Having decided on disc wheels there was the problem that the original chameleon does not have disc mounts. You can still get the ridiculous upside down mount from Jungle for £54(!) but I didn't want to do that. I looked on the Planet X site and found they were selling disc mounts for one of their frames for £1. Much better value. I wasn't sure how I was going to fit but for £1 it was worth a go. After a bit of thinking I decided that the best way would be to convert the hub to 12mm bolt through and then also drill the frame drop outs and disc mount to 12mm too. This way I was able use a 12x142mm bolt through axle to clamp everything in place. An extra 10mm hole and long chaingring bolt secure the mount in place. That's about all there is to tell, spec and photos below
Frame: '97 MK1 Santa Cruz Chameleon
Forks: Fox 36 Talas
Brakes: Hope Pro X2's
Wheels: Superstar carbon rims on Hope Pro2 20mm front / 12mm rear
Bar: Easton Haven 35mm Carbon
Stem: Easton Haven 90mm
Grips: Superstar with ODI end caps
Shifter: Sram X7
Mech: Sram X7
Cassette: Sram 10 speed
Cranks: XTR M970 with Superstar 34t ring
Pedals: MK1 DMR V12
Seatclamp: Hope QR
Seatpost: Thomson Elite 26.8mm
Seat: a red one?
So, all parts off it was time to get the rotten paint sorted. A trip to the powdercoaters and it became deep candy blue for £40. Original decals were hard to find so I got a set for a V10 from slik graphics, which look pretty good. I was going to build it with my Z1 duals and run v brakes but I came across a set of Fox 36 Talas and that changed the plan. Sold the Z1's and my v brake wheels. I had been building a 26" Yeti ASR with carbon wheels but this was made redundant by my rigid 29er so the yeti frame and forks were sold leaving the carbon rims spare. I bought a donor set of wheels to get the red hope hubs which had the same inner rim diameter as my carbon rims so it was a straight swap. Rolling chassis sorted.
Having decided on disc wheels there was the problem that the original chameleon does not have disc mounts. You can still get the ridiculous upside down mount from Jungle for £54(!) but I didn't want to do that. I looked on the Planet X site and found they were selling disc mounts for one of their frames for £1. Much better value. I wasn't sure how I was going to fit but for £1 it was worth a go. After a bit of thinking I decided that the best way would be to convert the hub to 12mm bolt through and then also drill the frame drop outs and disc mount to 12mm too. This way I was able use a 12x142mm bolt through axle to clamp everything in place. An extra 10mm hole and long chaingring bolt secure the mount in place. That's about all there is to tell, spec and photos below
Frame: '97 MK1 Santa Cruz Chameleon
Forks: Fox 36 Talas
Brakes: Hope Pro X2's
Wheels: Superstar carbon rims on Hope Pro2 20mm front / 12mm rear
Bar: Easton Haven 35mm Carbon
Stem: Easton Haven 90mm
Grips: Superstar with ODI end caps
Shifter: Sram X7
Mech: Sram X7
Cassette: Sram 10 speed
Cranks: XTR M970 with Superstar 34t ring
Pedals: MK1 DMR V12
Seatclamp: Hope QR
Seatpost: Thomson Elite 26.8mm
Seat: a red one?
