Revel Bikes

buggravy said:
For sure. In fact, I had the non-cheater tires on until recently, but I felt like the bike really came alive in the ways you would expect with the Aggressor/DHF, to the point that I don't want to give that up as a primary tire combo. From recollection it also pedals a good bit better than with the same front, but DHRII 2.4 on the rear. I'm already rocking a DPX2 as well. So it's either keep the HT and pony up for an additional wheel/tire set for the Smash, or add a lighter/longer duty trail bike at the expense of hard tail ownership. Or do nothing, and just keep pedaling the Smash as far as I can. I'm probably splitting hairs at this point anyway.
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I'd go with the option of switching your bike back to 140/130. Sounds like the Smash is too much bike, but the HT is not enough bike. I believe you gotta ride a bike pretty hard if you are gonna run 160/150.....I know some will disagree, otherwise you are just overbiked(not a term I like to use).

Then again, the HT will handle a lot more than you think it can.....right @Mikie ?
 
mtnbikej said:
I'd go with the option of switching your bike back to 140/130. Sounds like the Smash is too much bike, but the HT is not enough bike. I believe you gotta ride a bike pretty hard if you are gonna run 160/150.....I know some will disagree, otherwise you are just overbiked(not a term I like to use).

Then again, the HT will handle a lot more than you think it can.....right @Mikie ?
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Took the Hightower to Kokopelli.
I drove it as hard as I knew how to. I felt I did my best to punish the suspension.
It killed it. For me... The Hightower is everything I would need in a big bike. It’s badazz!
 
mtnbikej said:
I'd go with the option of switching your bike back to 140/130. Sounds like the Smash is too much bike, but the HT is not enough bike. I believe you gotta ride a bike pretty hard if you are gonna run 160/150.....I know some will disagree, otherwise you are just overbiked(not a term I like to use).

Then again, the HT will handle a lot more than you think it can.....right @Mikie ?
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Makes sense on paper, but the Smash with the Aggressor/DHF is perfect for me for the vast majority of my rides. When I converted from the 140/130 Pistola to the Smash the bike just felt (and still feels) so good. I am "over biked" in that I don't truly need the amount of travel I have, but the bike just feels so comfortable and agrees with me so well, that it's not going any where. I just would like something that is a little more suited to the longer days that I want to make a more regular part of my riding. I thought that quiver counterpoint might be the hard tail, but I'm seeing a couple chinks in the armor, primarily related to the rider. I love riding it, but as mentioned I have chronic neck pain that is getting aggravated as I take the HT on rougher terrain. I also love the HT when I've been on it for a while, but at my stage of the game it takes me too long to adjust back to it after riding the Smash for a while. Not really from a suspension perspective, but it has 2.5° steeper HTA, 30mm shorter reach, and 100mm shorter wheel base, and I just struggle to quickly adjust if I haven't been riding it.

So I guess I'm falling prey to marketing with this new round of bikes (after smugly decrying above that I wasn't interested) as baby brother to the Smash for longer days. Really the only two that are moving the needle for me are the Spur, and a lighter build of a Trail Pistol (though not the Race SL), as those are the only two that would keep a familiarly slack HTA. Ripley could make sense as well, I suppose. Really though, most of this is, as @mike said, internet gnashing. Probably safe to say that more and more options in this category will continue to present themselves. In the meantime a spare wheel/tire set for the Smash will probably give me 90% of what I actually want.
 
This thread has gotten deep.

Is there no such thing as a one bike quiver? Can we not learn to ride at our limit on just one bike? That's been my quest. And technically, I have found it in the Paradox V3.

However, there is an inner battle that has been going on inside me for even longer. It's the urge to try/own different bikes, just to see where technology and design has taken our passion for riding. I've been living by this idea for at least a decade and it does not fair well for settling on the one, perfect bike.
 
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buggravy said:
Makes sense on paper, but the Smash with the Aggressor/DHF is perfect for me for the vast majority of my rides. When I converted from the 140/130 Pistola to the Smash the bike just felt (and still feels) so good. I am "over biked" in that I don't truly need the amount of travel I have, but the bike just feels so comfortable and agrees with me so well, that it's not going any where. I just would like something that is a little more suited to the longer days that I want to make a more regular part of my riding. I thought that quiver counterpoint might be the hard tail, but I'm seeing a couple chinks in the armor, primarily related to the rider. I love riding it, but as mentioned I have chronic neck pain that is getting aggravated as I take the HT on rougher terrain. I also love the HT when I've been on it for a while, but at my stage of the game it takes me too long to adjust back to it after riding the Smash for a while. Not really from a suspension perspective, but it has 2.5° steeper HTA, 30mm shorter reach, and 100mm shorter wheel base, and I just struggle to quickly adjust if I haven't been riding it.

So I guess I'm falling prey to marketing with this new round of bikes (after smugly decrying above that I wasn't interested) as baby brother to the Smash for longer days. Really the only two that are moving the needle for me are the Spur, and a lighter build of a Trail Pistol (though not the Race SL), as those are the only two that would keep a familiarly slack HTA. Ripley could make sense as well, I suppose. Really though, most of this is, as @mike said, internet gnashing. Probably safe to say that more and more options in this category will continue to present themselves. In the meantime a spare wheel/tire set for the Smash will probably give me 90% of what I actually want.
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Can the DV9 be made more spine friendly? More rubber floatation and a squish dropper? Extra compliant bar or hand position?

Matt, FWIW, I think my spine flare up is, oddly, due in part to how comfortable my hardtail is, that I can ride it for long hours and get those back muscles tighter than they’ve ever been with the one gear. I don’t think it’s the hardtail delivering more punishment to my body on this bike. I feel the squish dropper activate on every ride. I know what a spine jackhammer feels like. I think I got cocky by not hydrating and stretching and paid a price.

You know your condition better than anyone; I may be blowing smoke. But as a lifelong back issue person, I’m seeing hardtail hope I haven’t seen in decades, despite my setback last week. FWIW!
 
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SnakeCharmer said:
Can we not learn to ride at our limit on just one bike?
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Thoughtful questions. Yes and no. One bike will present limits on how it can be ridden. You can ride it at your limit, but your limit will be greater on a more tailored bike. At some point we consider the fun and think less of the limit. And the endless combinations of fun and stats keeps the solutions interesting.

To me, the joy of the one-bike quiver is in the simplicity of owning and riding one bike for everything, not what it specifically can or can’t do awesomely.
 
mike said:
Can the DV9 be made more spine friendly? More rubber floatation and a squish dropper? Extra compliant bar hand position?

Matt, FWIW, I think my spine flare up is, oddly, due in part to how comfortable my hardtail is, that I can ride it for long hours and get those back muscles tighter than they’ve ever been with the one gear. I don’t think it’s the hardtail delivering more punishment to my body on this bike. I feel the squish dropper activate on every ride. I know what a spine jackhammer feels like. I think I got cocky by not hydrating and stretching and paid a price.

You know your condition better than anyone; I may be blowing smoke. But as a lifelong back issue person, I’m seeing hardtail hope I haven’t seen in decades, despite my setback last week. FWIW!
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Possibly? Tires are already pretty fluffy (2.6 NN/HD), but I haven't done much experimenting with bar positioning. The recent bar/fork switch were improvements, and provided a slightly more damped ride. For steering input purposes I don't want to go longer than the 50mm stem I have on, but bar angle and stem spacer placement could be experimented with. Part of the neck issue is the jarring of the hard tail, but I bet a good bit has to do with me just riding more tense as I learn to adapt to hard tail riding in more technical terrain.
 
buggravy said:
Possibly? Tires are already pretty fluffy (2.6 NN/HD), but I haven't done much experimenting with bar positioning. The recent bar/fork switch were improvements, and provided a slightly more damped ride. For steering input purposes I don't want to go longer than the 50mm stem I have on, but bar angle and stem spacer placement could be experimented with. Part of the neck issue is the jarring of the hard tail, but I bet a good bit has to do with me just riding more tense as I learn to adapt to hard tail riding in more technical terrain.
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Sounds like you have softened it up as much as reasonably possible. A body position change could help but of course has ramifications.

Maybe that’s just your bike. I honestly fear CF hardtails, and even metal ones seem to vary widely in compliance. My Pedalhead was damn stiff compared to the Vendetta. I’m still surprised by the feel of a (or my) ti frame. Not sure if trying out various bikes to avert a physical issue is efficient or smart. Somehow I’ve ended up in a good place with my hardtail despite my physical situation. You’ll be able to take my bike for a spin later and see what you think.
 
mike said:
Sounds like you have softened it up as much as reasonably possible. A body position change could help but of course has ramifications.

Maybe that’s just your bike. I honestly fear CF hardtails, and even metal ones seem to vary widely in compliance. My Pedalhead was damn stiff compared to the Vendetta. I’m still surprised by the feel of a (or my) ti frame. Not sure if trying out various bikes to avert a physical issue is efficient or smart. Somehow I’ve ended up in a good place with my hardtail despite my physical situation. You’ll be able to take my bike for a spin later and see what you think.
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San Gabes hardtail party? Enduro tour without the shuttle?!?
 
SnakeCharmer said:
Is there no such thing as a one bike quiver?
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I've never been an N+1 guy. I pretty much have always just had a fairly slack, fairly aggressive, long-travel trail bike. Never yearned for anything else. But then again, I didn't yearn for, nor participate in, all-day death marches on fire-roads and/or death defying, slow-rolling singletrack.

The problem for me since deciding to replace my Tracer is there are waaaaaay too many bikes that could fit the bill, whereas I used to just get whatever was long enough, that I could get at a decent price and that made me excited to ride. Yeti 575 - there was nothing like it at the time - long, relatively slack with 150 travel. Knolly Endorphin - ambassador hook up. Intense Tracer, insider hook up. Those were all great do-it-all bikes with very little upper limit. Perfectly capable of Snow Summit bike park duty, Laguna steeps AND easy crusin' Skyline Trail. Now, there are just too many options to find "the one." So I just need to land on the one I have - adapt it to me and me to it and call it good for 4-5 years.
 
SnakeCharmer said:
Is there no such thing as a one bike quiver? Can we not learn to ride at our limit on just one bike?

e.
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Actually yes, sort of. I have a two bike quiver. The GG trail pistol for all my dirty trails, and a road bike for the occasional roady experience.

Almost kept the Rocky mountain, but was really tired of having it in the way, and didn't ride it enough to make having a second bike worthwhile.

So the limitation is trail pistol isn't as good of a climber as some bikes I've had, and maybe that's due to the extra weight, or 29" wheels, or my extra weight, or that I'm not a young man anymore.

Either way, I'm making due and pretty happy with the 2 bikes I have. Neither could replace the other.
 
mtnbikej said:
Sorry, I was actually referring to your latest love affair with the hardtail.
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Sorry. Saw HT as Hightower since you were talking suspension.
On that note (D Flat). I got to admit, I am having a lot of fun on the hardtail. The key in the chunk is body suspension. I bend my knees and elbows more and keep a much lower profile ready to absorb the hits. Have not had too much trouble keeping up with FS riders in the technical or the chunk. Well, there was the one time recently chasing @Grego down Silver Moccasin, that was fool hardy on my part. I crashed and scratched my pretty bike.
I’m really glad I have polar opposites for bikes. I feel I got the best of both worlds. The hardtail will get ridden the most as most of the time the trails only calls for a hardtail, but the Santa Cruz is poised for action in the supah chunk!
 
buggravy said:
Makes sense on paper, but the Smash with the Aggressor/DHF is perfect for me for the vast majority of my rides. When I converted from the 140/130 Pistola to the Smash the bike just felt (and still feels) so good. I am "over biked" in that I don't truly need the amount of travel I have, but the bike just feels so comfortable and agrees with me so well, that it's not going any where. I just would like something that is a little more suited to the longer days that I want to make a more regular part of my riding. I thought that quiver counterpoint might be the hard tail, but I'm seeing a couple chinks in the armor, primarily related to the rider. I love riding it, but as mentioned I have chronic neck pain that is getting aggravated as I take the HT on rougher terrain. I also love the HT when I've been on it for a while, but at my stage of the game it takes me too long to adjust back to it after riding the Smash for a while. Not really from a suspension perspective, but it has 2.5° steeper HTA, 30mm shorter reach, and 100mm shorter wheel base, and I just struggle to quickly adjust if I haven't been riding it.

So I guess I'm falling prey to marketing with this new round of bikes (after smugly decrying above that I wasn't interested) as baby brother to the Smash for longer days. Really the only two that are moving the needle for me are the Spur, and a lighter build of a Trail Pistol (though not the Race SL), as those are the only two that would keep a familiarly slack HTA. Ripley could make sense as well, I suppose. Really though, most of this is, as @mike said, internet gnashing. Probably safe to say that more and more options in this category will continue to present themselves. In the meantime a spare wheel/tire set for the Smash will probably give me 90% of what I actually want.
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Any thoughts of tweaking the bike builds closer together related to steering stem hight and reach? Same bar width, etc.
You could also go with a fluffy wheelset. I really enjoyed my 27.5 wheels with 2.8 Rekons on the Hightower. They would be great in the DV9, give you a little less jarring in the rough.
Me just thinking out loud...;)
 
Mikie said:
Any thoughts of tweaking the bike builds closer together related to steering stem hight and reach? Same bar width, etc.
You could also go with a fluffy wheelset. I really enjoyed my 27.5 wheels with 2.8 Rekons on the Hightower. They would be great in the DV9, give you a little less jarring in the rough.
Me just thinking out loud...;)
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The 27.5+ should fit on the front without any problem. The back is where the 2.8" might be an issue (or not).
If you end up with both of them no the HT you might find that pedal strikes are more common. If you do a reverse mallet the geo might get weird.
 
Mikie said:
Sorry. Saw HT as Hightower since you were talking suspension.
On that note (D Flat). I got to admit, I am having a lot of fun on the hardtail. The key in the chunk is body suspension. I bend my knees and elbows more and keep a much lower profile ready to absorb the hits. Have not had too much trouble keeping up with FS riders in the technical or the chunk. Well, there was the one time recently chasing @Grego down Silver Moccasin, that was fool hardy on my part. I crashed and scratched my pretty bike.
I’m really glad I have polar opposites for bikes. I feel I got the best of both worlds. The hardtail will get ridden the most as most of the time the trails only calls for a hardtail, but the Santa Cruz is poised for action in the supah chunk!
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And on that note, which bike will get the calling for Cannell?
 
mike said:
Eh sorry, we take the in-depth convo where we get it here...


Revel bikes. @herzalot, I know you said 4-5 years, but could/would the Rail be a contender?

I like my Smash too much to get a Rascal. But I think they have hit a sweet spot with the bike.
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All truth. If I was in the market for a new primary bike I would take a hard, hard look at the Rascal, and then probably buy another Smash.
 
Mikie said:
Any thoughts of tweaking the bike builds closer together related to steering stem hight and reach? Same bar width, etc.
You could also go with a fluffy wheelset. I really enjoyed my 27.5 wheels with 2.8 Rekons on the Hightower. They would be great in the DV9, give you a little less jarring in the rough.
Me just thinking out loud...;)
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Great minds......I've pretty much done just that, at least where applicable. Identical bars and width were the latest (helpful) addition. Though with the pedal-happiness of the DV9 being one of it's most addictive qualities, I doubt I'll experiment with the 27.5+. I'm not throwing in the towel just yet. I do love the bike when I love it.

And with that, I'll cede the thread back to the Revelers.
 
Here's one in person! Re-Rail the thread with a Rail (again).

3882E8F9-B1E6-4AFF-8058-20F1E7739903.jpeg
 
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