Well, I am now a
Revel-er... came to Revel in a bit of a round about way. So, I thought I'd share some of my journey.
I've been riding since the early 90's. Did a bunch of endurance racing 15-20 years ago. I was an early adopter of the 29" wheel back when I raced, but I transitioned to 650b because of the feel. Early 29'ers felt like a big ol' wagon wheel and the philosophy of designing the bikes to
sit-in-them rather than
on-them resulted in way too many pedal strikes for me. I just found them unwieldy, with sluggish handling.
I played around with a Mullet for a while before that was even a thing, but my Titus Racer-X 29er with a 650b rear wasn't really designed for that and it too felt unmanagable in the really rough stuff. For racing I always rode a Lefty; light, stiff, with super small-bump compliance. So, as the 650b (27.5) craze got going I sprung for a used 2013 Cannondale Trigger Black Inc. Got a screaming deal in 2015 when Cannondale ran into financial difficulty trying to build an eBike before those were even a thing.
I've been on that bike for almost 10years and haven't regreted a day of it. At ~26lbs with 140mm of travel, that thing can take on all day romps in the Colorado Rockies with out breaking a sweat, for me or the bike. However, over time I saw my friends rocking the newer 29er geo's and having taken a few spins on them, I felt maybe it was time to revisit the
'Big Wheel'.
So I started looking around. I always liked Orbea since I had raced on an Alma 29er when that first came out. I thought maybe an Occam or Rallon might be the ticket. I also looked at a YT Jeffsy and an Ibis Ripley, but then my future came into focus. I read about the V2 Revel Rascal in a number of glowing reviews and just had to give one a try.
We had a trip planned to Hurricane, UT and I was looking forward to perhaps demo-ing one at Over the Edge Sports. Alas, they didn't have a V2 and only had a Large V1 to roll around on. I gave it a go, and the suspension felt phenomonal, even though it was just a
'parking lot test'! So, I left Hurricane wanting more time on one, and it seemed I might be in luck!
Outerbike was scheduled to be in Moab the following weekend and we were headed right that way! When we got there my curiousity was satisfied with Revel in attendance with a number of the other manufacturers. I got to kick the tires on a Yeti, Ibis and Revel. The Revel just wow-ed me with it's ride! The bike I got to demo was an XO Build with the Revel wheel upgrade, and it was really sweet. So sweet, I decided to buy it on the spot with the deal they put together for me... today only!
Now, the size Large is built like most all of the modern geometries. The bars felt a little too
'under me' for my liking. It had a 40mm stem with 780 bars and at 6'0" and a 34" inseam/35" arm length, it just felt a bit cramped. I then tried an X-Large and it felt more in tune with my riding style. 650mm Top Tube length, ~500mm Reach with a Stand Over of 742mm.
The Large has a Stand Over of 728mm, so it provides about 1/2" more room for the boys. But I've got 3-4 fingers of clearance on the XL and am not concerned at all. I can tell I'm on an XL somewhat. Seems more planted (stable) and yeah, front end pop is perhaps a bit muted. But I like the more open cockpit. I guess I'm an
'over bike' kind of rider.
Loving the Rascal and very happy on an XL! It is super smooth (calm?) and climbs almost effortlessly (floats?). The CBF is the real deal, no gimicks about it. Stays within it's travel and is really, really efficient both peddling and braking. Yep, this is going to be another long-term relationship! Reveler for life!
