Revel Bikes

Let us know how it rides!

 

It is XL, but I'm not sure the owner wants it to get dirty under someone else.

 

How does it fit? The color wouldn’t be a leap. : ) Cool bike!

 

Oh, trust me I've studied the numbers - before I was seduced to the 29er life. Reach and stack are perfect, but there are some numbers I would change. The chainstays are a wee bit short at 430 (under 17"), the BB is a little low at 337 (13.25") and the effective seat tube is 75° ... 2° better than my Tracer, but 1 or 2 slacker than the current State of The Art.

But we all know that the whole experience is greater than the sum of its parts. Numbers don't tell the whole story.

That said, there is a certain 29er that I like a lot too. I've been exorcising the demons and we've been in couples therapy. Trying to avoid being tempted to stray.

 

This did not slide by me, just so ya know.

Damn, sorry, Chris!!!!

 

For @DangerDirtyD…and @UPSed.



The steep top tube is more in check with the 120 fork. Saddle about an inch higher than grips, perfect for me.

Some breathable air might be nice…

 

I see you have a scale there. What does you're Ranger weigh?

 

@UPSed: Sub 29 lbs now. No gram counting here, that’s on the portly side. The bike weight will come down a little more with the new wheels, but the rotating weight was my motivation there. The Derbys on it are slammer but overbuilt for its/my intentions.

 

Looks like they have a fat bike coming out....

 

Sounds like that is where they started.......

https://bikerumor.com/revel-bikes-taiwan-facility/

 

Looks like Revel's NFA. The Revel Rodeo is a 3D printed composite CBF downhill bike made in the good old U.S. of A. It's only a concept for now but, I'm guessing they have something in the works.

https://revelbikes.com/product/rodeo/

 

I read through this thread tonight. I don’t have a Revel. I still love my Smash but ride an old hardtail more often. There’s places I won’t ride on my hardtail, but that’s not true for my Smash. I’ve been oogling over modern AM hardtails for about a year.

 

Revel has a Ti AM HT. Seems a little spendy but what a beautiful bike.

 

For that type of money, I’d buy a custom Steve Potts or Alchemy. But yea it’s a beautiful bike.

 

DH bike with two water bottle mounts. Nice!!

One can get thirsty halfway down a DH run!

 

So Ranger owners, how does it ride? Climbing, descending? Likes\dislikes?

 

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Perfect DownCountry bike. I have a coil 11.6 on mine. Its built a lil heavy, but after riding the ebike, its superlight! @UPSed has lotsa miles on his too.
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I have not ridden the Ranger but have ridden the Rascal and Rail models. They climb fine but admittedly, not the fastest at least for me and my style/form. Going down? That suspension is the absolute best, hands down, no question about it design I've ever ridden. It is especially fantastic when you're going thru stuff with constant, repeated chatter. I demo'd several bikes, including long travel bikes on the Whiting/Luge loop and the Rascal destroyed them all on the downs. I was riding with @pdqmach26 and I told him as soon as we got down that it was going to be my PR on Strava...and it was not close.

 

So I demo'd the Ranger the other day. Went to worldwide cyclery out thousand oaks area. Good shop there with a smooth demo program. Did part of space mountain on the recommendation of @buggravy and @Bluesrider . A nice climb and descent to check out the bike.
So it was set up at about 20% sag. I didn't bother to fool with the rebound which in hindsight would have helped the feel of the bike. Tire pressure also was definitely higher than I normally like. Removed some air , probably not enough . There is a good amount of tweaking that I could do to make it better.
It was definitely an efficient climber. Climbing I did feel some pedal feedback when hitting some obstacles.
Descending felt pretty good but I think adjusting rebound would have helped. Felt like the 115mm in back it has,but I could see more fine tuning would help. . The SID 120 in front was solid and fairly smooth.
First time I've used AXS shifting and it was pretty smooth. Not a game changer IMO.
I like short travel bikes cuz that's the kind of riding I do.

I've been riding a Scott Spark for several years now, 27.5. I've noticed with these efficient climbing bikes like the Ranger and Ripley they don't seem to have the plushness as my spark. I really like my three position lockout that I can firm up or open up quickly and easily. I don't get the pedal feedback that I felt on the Ranger. I did like 29er aspect and it has a steeper seat tube angle that was noticeable and I liked.
FWIW

 

I looked at Revel when I was shopping for a for a do-it-all ride. The Ranger seems to me to be a race focused rig. I was seriously considering the Rascal with it's slightly bigger travel.

Perhaps Ed will chime in on the Ranger.

 

The Rascal looks fun!

 

A major bummer that the shop guys do not set up the demoes correctly. I always set mine up , including tire pressure. If they set them up per your spec they would sell more . The stock setting rarely are spot on. I bet you would have had a lot more fun if you had set it to your specs.

 

The day before I told them my weight, height. I think like others have said , getting it right you need more time. I thought they had a 7 day rental but I was mistaken.

 

@Tom the Bomb is spot on. The shop will NEVER set up a demo bike right for you. They will set it to factory spec - ALWAYS too stiff. ALWAYS too much air in the tires. And if you reduce air in the fork or shock, you need to reduce rebound damping accordingly (speed it up a little).

You need to know what you like and adjust it to your tastes before you pedal.

That said - I am glad to hear you like your own bike better. Saves you some money and N+1 anxiety. I probably demo'd 10 bikes before I liked one better than my Tracer.

My Revel Rail has zero pedal "kickback" while climbing. It climbs chunk better than the Yeti. That said, it has 165 mm of travel and a 27.5" rear - so not real comparable to the Ranger - or even the Yeti SB 130 LR.

 

Wait you mean Scan the man is looking at 29ers?

Every demo bike I've ridden was setup just as you describe, way too stiff and way too much tire pressure. It's like they think we are all rampage riders. The last couple demos I took my own shock pump and tire pressure gauge and as soon as I softened things up the bikes rode way better. I went to a couple Yeti demos at Space mountain and had a line of guys at the top borrowing my pump and gauge so we can't all be wrong...

As much as I love Ripley's I agree with you on the modern Ripley in that it's not real plush. My OG and the wifey's Ripley LS are far more plush and yet crazy efficient climbers in comparison.

For the short time I had my Ranger I thought it was super plush. I ran more like 25-30% sag though and it did have Fox suspension. I did use the middle position on the shock for climbing but that's just what I'm used to. Honestly I think most modern short travel bikes are just as efficient when fully open as they are when locked out.

 

My experience on the Spur backs this up. In the entire time I owned mine I don't think I locked the rear shock out a single time. I haven't paid enough attention to know if the current SID stuff is the same as what came on the Spur, but I found them to be both magical and finicky. When they were set up right, and new or freshly serviced that bike was amazingly energetic but still well damped and composed. When in need of a fork/shock service, which was frequent, or set up wrong, it definitely felt harsh.

 

Eggszactly. The shop had my bike and I told them to set up the demo bike just like The Beast. I didn't check because they always have done what I ask.
It didn't happen and the bike was terrible. Never been on a e-bike or a mullet set up, so what did I know.
I did let the shop know so they would have a better chance for a sale on the next customer.

Thanks @Tom the Bomb for setting the sag correctly.

I do not see an e-bike in the near future for me.

 

Meant to post these earlier. SID front and back.

 

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Definitely not race rig. .
What size frame you looking for? I may have a Yeti SB130 or Spur for sale soon...
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That was back in 2022 when I was bike shopping. I went with a YT Izzo which is wonderful.