Review: Airnimal Chameleon Performance Sport

I bought my Airnimal from Spa Cycles in Harrogate last July and can honestly say that I have enjoyed every second I’ve spent on it since.

I wanted a bike that was easy to transport yet had as few performance compromises as possible. The Chameleon certainly delivers on both scores. It can be folded very easily to fit in a reasonably sized car boot with it’s quick fold. Though, it can fold much smaller if you have more time to spend. I can’t comment on the smaller folds as I’ve never had cause to do it. From reading the rather modest manual, it does look fairly involved and is probably beyond my very modest bike mechanic skills. If you need the smaller folds, I’d have your bike shop show you how to perform the fold.

The Chameleon is a remarkably quick bike, even with my less than sterling efforts. The bike is always responsive and feels really nippy. I went for the drop handle bars of the Performance Sport model because on long rides I like the multiple positions I can adopt.

The gears are the Chimano 20 speed 105 groupset. The gears work as expected, though I think only having two front cogs does limit my up hilling ability. Next time I will ensure that I have three front cogs. Having ten rear cogs doesn’t make up for the absent front cog. Having said that it is quite rare that I have a problem on an uphill section. When I do, I just get off and walk. I am not a good enough cyclist to do the more demanding hill climbs. If you are, then I suggest you go for the 30 gear setup.

Weight wise the Chameleon is pretty light, though for the same money I expect you can get a lighter, higher spec’ed non-folder. Only get a folder if you really need one. Folders have all sorts of compromises to incorporate the fold, one of which is price.

My only regret apart from not getting the 30 gear setup is the frame colour. I really should have gone for the yellow model or prefarably the orange model. The shop said the orange model was being discontinued so I don’t think they are being made any more…pitty!

In conclusion the Chameleon is a great bike that I have absolutely loved riding. If you need a folding bike & don’t want to comprmise your bikes performance then make sure you take a Chameleon for a test ride when you are evaluating which bike to buy. You will not regret it!