Revel Bikes

buggravy said:
Not the bike I was expecting, but kudos to Revel for not pandering with another long travel 29er. Word on the streets is that GG might have something in this category dropping this week as well.

https://www.pinkbike.com/news/revel-bikes-introduce-the-ranger-trail-bike.html
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HBkites said:
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I’ve had a couple short travel 29ers and they are the only bikes I regret getting rid of. I’ll add another to the mix somehow. They are just fun to ride and really all the bike needed for most trails. They are great for the quick 1 hour hammer rides as well as the all day adventure rides. I like this ranger and but I prefer the voodoo black color over the tree hugging green...
 
Voodoo Tom said:
I’ve had a couple short travel 29ers and they are the only bikes I regret getting rid of. I’ll add another to the mix somehow. They are just fun to ride and really all the bike needed for most trails. They are great for the quick 1 hour hammer rides as well as the all day adventure rides. I like this ranger and but I prefer the voodoo black color over the tree hugging green...
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I'd like to demo one, just to experience something different. I wish I could go back in time and ride my Trance 29er again, now that I'm a step closer to having a clue about what a bike is supposed to do. In my mind these short travel bikes are the high efficiency bike for the rider that can't get down with a hard tail, but I'm sure it's really so much more.

And I agree about the color, though I think the green with Fox suspension Kashima and Orange bits would have a nice redneck chic quality to it.
 
buggravy said:
It's basically a bespoke Trail Pistol build. SL Race I think it's called. SID ultimate 120 fork, SIDluxe ultimate shock, XX1, carbon everything, special decals. Supposedly limited to 25 units. Hard pass.
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Testing the short travel market potential with a product they already have...

Sorry, Guys... The MBAs are taking over. It’s only a matter of time now... They’re the next Santa Cruz. :p
 
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Faust29 said:
Testing the short travel market potential with a product they already have...

Sorry, Guys... The MBAs are taking over. It’s only a matter of time now... They’re the next Santa Cruz. :p
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It does seem like they're reaching the limit of what they can do with one front triangle. I'm also reaching my limit of bike know how here, but the shorter fork and thus steeper HA increases reach on the size 3 (their large), with the headset in the short position no less, to a grape ape worthy 486.
 
I'd start with a Smash if I was going to try to make some sort of singletrack endurance slayer.

120mm bikes are nice I'm sure (I owned one), but to me, that travel length is the least useful. Overwhelmed on rough terrain beyond the pedaling/handling benefit compared to a 130-150 bike. Not the benefits of a hardtail. If you can stockpile bikes, power to you. I can't find a place for a short-travel bike in my stable. I'd consider 130 with a coil a minimum. Is that short travel?
 
Revel Rail.JPG

Sorry. Just thought I needed to post this again - you know to get the thread back on the Rail...
 
buggravy said:
It's basically a bespoke Trail Pistol build. SL Race I think it's called. SID ultimate 120 fork, SIDluxe ultimate shock, XX1, carbon everything, special decals. Supposedly limited to 25 units. Hard pass.

Edit: to be clear, by carbon everything I just meant all the bling. Still aluminum rear triangle.
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I think GG's niche is going to be the Made in USA/affordable boutique angle. That, and not producing an ebike is what sold me on them.
I've been bs-ing with a lot of my old surf buddies and they're all about buying American whether it's clothing, boards, or bikes- it's a thing.
I started buying only US made clothing a few years ago and it's just solid. You ever wear a US made tube t-shirt? No seams! That's some comfy-ass Sh!t!

As far as Revel goes, I do like the bikes but I can't do a 29er and the 27 is too much travel.
 
Sasquatch9billion said:
As far as Revel goes, I do like the bikes but I can't do a 29er and the 27 is too much travel.
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If the bike doesn't wallow while climbing, how is it too much travel? I guess the fork will be going crazy unless you can calm it down with some kind of climb switch, but the back shouldn't be much of an issue, based on what I've read and viewed.

But Revel bikes are not US made, so that might throw it off your list anyway. Seems like you got exactly what you wanted with the Shred Dogg!
 
I am still a little confused by Revel's decision to go this route. The demand for a full sus race rocket seems really small. The Ranger is so much more limited to the masses than the Rascal. Yes, I know that Nino Schurter can blow us all away with his abilities on a short-travel, no tread, steep geo bike (with his hands 2" below his stem) - and underbiking makes you super cool these days, but who is going to buy a Sid-equipped race whippet other than the 0.5% of spandex-clad riders who don't really like suspension? Revel says they build the bikes they want to ride, so I guess that's all the explanation they need. I wish them well on sales of the Ranger (and I like the Green).

I am glad they didn't release a 150-160 mm slack 29er though. It would have been really hard not to get CBF curious!
 
herzalot said:
I am glad they didn't release a 150-160 mm slack 29er though. It would have been really hard not to get CBF curious!
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This whole cycle of new bikes over the last couple of months has worked out great for me, in that there's nothing I feel compelled to make an irresponsible move for. A revamped GG hard tail, or an actual new short travel XC bike (new front triangle/geo, lighter layup, etc.) would have been tough to resist, and if I had cash bulging out of my pockets a Rascal or Following would be a fun experiment. If Revel did a more Smash/Ripmo like bike without going full long travel that would probably make my heart flutter, but I'm kind of breathing a sigh of relief that nothing is truly tempting me.
 
herzalot said:
I am still a little confused by Revel's decision to go this route. The demand for a full sus race rocket seems really small. The Ranger is so much more limited to the masses than the Rascal. Yes, I know that Nino Schurter can blow us all away with his abilities on a short-travel, no tread, steep geo bike (with his hands 2" below his stem) - and underbiking makes you super cool these days, but who is going to buy a Sid-equipped race whippet other than the 0.5% of spandex-clad riders who don't really like suspension? Revel says they build the bikes they want to ride, so I guess that's all the explanation they need. I wish them well on sales of the Ranger (and I like the Green).

I am glad they didn't release a 150-160 mm slack 29er though. It would have been really hard not to get CBF curious!
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Who’s buying SB100’s?
 
herzalot said:
The demand for a full sus race rocket seems really small. The Ranger is so much more limited to the masses than the Rascal. Yes, I know that Nino Schurter can blow us all away with his abilities on a short-travel, no tread, steep geo bike (with his hands 2" below his stem) - and underbiking makes you super cool these days, but who is going to buy a Sid-equipped race whippet other than the 0.5% of spandex-clad riders who don't really like suspension?
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@herzalot for the riding you do, this bike does not make sense.

If demand is small it is because people convinced themselves they need more bike than they actually need. This Ranger is a perfectly capable bike for the majority of riders in SoCal, if we are truly being honest about what people actually spend most of their time riding. Remember the meme below? "What I actually ride" is a lot closer to reality than "what I think I ride" for most riders, most days. "Yeah, but I'm all about the descent!" say many riders. Sure. But they still spend probably 4 times more time climbing than descending, so doesn't it make sense to have a bike that climbs as well as possible? It will descend just fine, I promise. On burlier trails you might need to slow down a bit and pick your lines. Blasphemy, I know. I'll show myself out know.

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evdog said:
@herzalot for the riding you do, this bike does not make sense.

If demand is small it is because people convinced themselves they need more bike than they actually need. This Ranger is a perfectly capable bike for the majority of riders in SoCal, if we are truly being honest about what people actually spend most of their time riding. Remember the meme below? "What I actually ride" is a lot closer to reality than "what I think I ride" for most riders, most days. "Yeah, but I'm all about the descent!" say many riders. Sure. But they still spend probably 4 times more time climbing than descending, so doesn't it make sense to have a bike that climbs as well as possible? It will descend just fine, I promise. On burlier trails you might need to slow down a bit and pick your lines. Blasphemy, I know. I'll show myself out know.

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Yup. Underbiking is the new cool.

“I don’t need more bike...” Often implying “if you think you do, you must suck.” But that’s cool. I only want one bike, so I choose to be overbiked and usually behind the latest trend (and behind most riders).
 
evdog said:
You may need to explain how the Ranger is "underbiked" to all the hard tail riders on IMTB. I'm sure they are confused right about now. Or maybe they aren't.
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I doubt our hardtail riders are confused by my comments. Many of them have 5" trail bikes also. Most do not have a short-travel full sus XC bike.

Short travel full sus XC bikes are nearly as demanding to ride as hardtails. Once you get into the 5" travel category with slacker head angles and beefier stanchions, wheels and tires, you get into the more forgiving category of bike. I'm not telling you anything you don't know, and I am not sure why this is even a point of contention. There seems to be a great sense of satisfaction from riders who can ride more demanding equipment on demanding trails, and there seems to be a trend here if not in the broader mt bike community to switch from "fluffy" to "responsive and firm." The Ranger appears to fit into that category.
 
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