"old" Santa Cruz chameleon dilemma
Discussion
Hi folks
Right,as above i have a bit of a decision to make regarding my bike. Background is i used to race downhill and dual slalom back in the mid 90's with mainly GT's,RTS and then LTS DH,state of the art at the time!! Gave it all up when commitments grew too much and bought a Santa Cruz Chameleon frame and built it up as something to have a bit of fun with. Pretty sure i bought the frame new from Stif bikes in 2002. All the components on it are from that time and were (are!) pretty good.The frame and forks have there fair share of scratches but not too bad really! The spec is roughly
Kawasaki Green 14" (Think) frame
Marzocchi bomber Z1 forks
Mavic 321 disc Rims on Hope big 'un hubs F and R
Hope Hyd discs F and R
Kore stem
Bontrager seatpost
GT downhill cranks with TA chainrings
XT F and R mechs
Now apart from the first year or so i have hardly ridden the bike at all and is still in great condition and works fine and now with the youngest at school i am finding myself getting the the bug again!!
The problem is that i am kind of too big for the bike! Was ok few years ago when i was young and fit and never really needed a comfortable bike but now i really need something a bit more suited for long rides rather than messing about in the woods with.
So,looking at couple of new bikes now,Gt Zaskar i used to have and they still look great and the Orange Subzero i think it is. But do i buy new bike or buy a new frame where i know i will want to upgrade to lots of shiny new bits which will prove pricey i think!!
The Chameleon really is superb but just too small (i'm 6'3),i realised that when i built it but could live with it then but not now.
The problem is if i buy new is what to do with the Chameleon as no idea what it would be worth or where to sell??
Really out of touch with the whole scene these days and things have changed so much!!
Look at how old the mechs are but still work like new!!
So bit of a quandry really......
Cheers for reading
Dave
Right,as above i have a bit of a decision to make regarding my bike. Background is i used to race downhill and dual slalom back in the mid 90's with mainly GT's,RTS and then LTS DH,state of the art at the time!! Gave it all up when commitments grew too much and bought a Santa Cruz Chameleon frame and built it up as something to have a bit of fun with. Pretty sure i bought the frame new from Stif bikes in 2002. All the components on it are from that time and were (are!) pretty good.The frame and forks have there fair share of scratches but not too bad really! The spec is roughly
Kawasaki Green 14" (Think) frame
Marzocchi bomber Z1 forks
Mavic 321 disc Rims on Hope big 'un hubs F and R
Hope Hyd discs F and R
Kore stem
Bontrager seatpost
GT downhill cranks with TA chainrings
XT F and R mechs
Now apart from the first year or so i have hardly ridden the bike at all and is still in great condition and works fine and now with the youngest at school i am finding myself getting the the bug again!!
The problem is that i am kind of too big for the bike! Was ok few years ago when i was young and fit and never really needed a comfortable bike but now i really need something a bit more suited for long rides rather than messing about in the woods with.
So,looking at couple of new bikes now,Gt Zaskar i used to have and they still look great and the Orange Subzero i think it is. But do i buy new bike or buy a new frame where i know i will want to upgrade to lots of shiny new bits which will prove pricey i think!!
The Chameleon really is superb but just too small (i'm 6'3),i realised that when i built it but could live with it then but not now.
The problem is if i buy new is what to do with the Chameleon as no idea what it would be worth or where to sell??
Really out of touch with the whole scene these days and things have changed so much!!
Look at how old the mechs are but still work like new!!
So bit of a quandry really......
Cheers for reading
Dave
Edited by nessiemac on Tuesday 4th March 23:48
snotrag said:
Oh mate, thats is AWESOME. D321 rims, Big-un 5 bolt hubs, Orange Bombers.
Thats the kind of thing I yearned for as a 14/15 yr old.
It looks mint. So the on;y problem is sizing?
Get yourslef on www.singletrackworld.co.uk , ebay etc, and you'll be able t obag yourself a decent period frame for probably less than £100, or something a bit newer.
Someone will love the chameleon frame too, very sell-able I reckon.
Swap the bits over to larger frame, and et voila, a very cool, fully working bike.
If it aint broke...
Yeah the only problem really is the sizing and the lusting after something new after looking round a couple of bike shops at the weekend!!Thats the kind of thing I yearned for as a 14/15 yr old.
It looks mint. So the on;y problem is sizing?
Get yourslef on www.singletrackworld.co.uk , ebay etc, and you'll be able t obag yourself a decent period frame for probably less than £100, or something a bit newer.
Someone will love the chameleon frame too, very sell-able I reckon.
Swap the bits over to larger frame, and et voila, a very cool, fully working bike.
If it aint broke...
Anyone have a clue as to how much it might be worth as a whole bike then???
snotrag said:
Might just have to drop him a PM.....Cheers Mate
Dave
LRdriver II said:
try here:
http://www.retrobike.co.uk/forum/
better than singletrack when it comes to old-skool rides..
Cheers lads....what a great site!!!http://www.retrobike.co.uk/forum/
better than singletrack when it comes to old-skool rides..
Dave
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