Revel Bikes launches at Sedona Mountain Bike Festival
Revel Bikes debuted last weekend with its 27.5 Rail and 29er Rascal.
With consumer demo events such as the Sedona Mountain Bike Festival becoming an increasingly important part of the bike selling business, more and more manufacturers are using the events as a launchpad for new product as well. Or in the case of Colorado-based Revel Bikes, the debut of an entire brand. The brainchild of Adam Miller (founder of Borealis and then Why Cycles), Revel rolled out two carbon fiber trail bikes in Arizona last weekend. Here’s the accompany press release. Mtbr has its eyes on a test bike and will be posting a complete review later this spring.
//www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxLiUK0tj38
Meet Revel Bikes
The time has finally arrived for the world to meet Revel Bikes. The culmination of years of work by a team of bicycle industry veterans has produced two new trail bikes. But first a little back story.
After launching two successful hardtail companies Adam Miller started shopping around for a full suspension trail bike for himself. After testing riding every major brand, he hopped on a Canfield Balance at a trade show. After only a few hundred yards of riding, he knew that this relatively unknown system was the suspension he needed in his life. Adam tracked down the Brothers and asked if they would be willing to license the suspension design, and right there, Revel Bikes was born.
The people behind new cycling brand Revel Bikes.
With the mission to create the best trail bikes the world has ever seen and to only make bikes that he wants to ride, Adam set out to assemble his team. He tapped into engineering, carbon fiber layup, sales and marketing expertise from his immediate group of friends that also happen to be successful in their respective fields within the bike industry. Jeremiah Starkey (RockShox, Trust Performance, Selle Royal) is lead engineer and COO, Jason Schiers (founder of Enve) leads carbon layup. Mike Giese is the team’s industrial designer. Two and a half years of development and prototyping has now led us to this day.
Revel is leading with two models. First, the Rail, a 165mm travel 27.5 wheeled all-mountain machine that can take the biggest hits the mountain has to offer while still gingerly pedaling to the top. Second, the Rascal, a 130mm travel 29er that is just as comfortable on that one-hour lunch ride as it is on all-day wanderings above tree line.
Frames for both bikes are $2599. Complete bikes start at $4999.
Revel Rail
The Revel team created the Rail with two things in mind: maximum thrills and climbing hills. A tuned carbon layup makes railing through berms pure joy. The Rail will put an end to the traditional trail bike compromises to ascent efficiency to which you’ve grown accustomed.
Revel Rascal
The Rascal is a sleek looking machine that is mischievously fast, nimble, and adept. Think capability and playfulness in both ascend and full send mode. Our vision for the Rascal was to deliver a confidence-inspiring and ultra-versatile mountain bike in all applications.
Why Canfield Balance Formula
CBF focuses on designing around the Center of Curvature (CC) and balancing that with the Instant Center (IC). Until now, most suspension systems have focused solely on the IC. CBF points the chainline and drive forces directly into the IC throughout 100-percent of the travel by balancing the CC over the chainring, resulting in maximum pedaling efficiency, regardless of where you are in the travel, what terrain you are on, or what kind of power you’re putting down.
To learn more read the Mtbr review of the Canfield Brothers Riot.
All the power you put into the pedals propels you forward, allowing the suspension to do its job completely independent of drivetrain and braking forces, and making the sag setting much less important. When we first rode the largely-unknown CBF system, we knew it was something special, and we knew we could make the best riding carbon mountain bikes.
Center of Curvature
The Canfield Brothers stumbled upon the importance of the CC after years of designing big hit, Rampage ready bikes. The IC constantly shifts throughout the stroke of suspension in multi-link bikes, causing the rear wheel to depart from perfect-arc rotation known only to single-pivot bikes (which is a less than perfect design for most other suspension criteria).
However, if you connect the rear axle at any point on its path with the ever-changing IC, the area where all those lines intersect for the entire range of travel is the CC. This is the “virtual pivot point” around which the rear wheel actually rotates (a fairly large area on most bikes). On most multi-link bikes, the CC changes location as the rear wheel moves through travel, sometimes over an area as large as several square feet.
The patented CBF focuses the CC precisely in a very finite are on the chainline/top of the chainring, pointing the pedaling forces directly into the IC through the entire range of travel. This creates the most efficient yet active pedaling platform possible, completely independent of sag, travel, and both drivetrain and braking forces. We could use lots of words like “versatile, smooth, efficient, etc, or we could just suggest riding the bike to see how it feels for yourself.
Revel Bikes are available worldwide through www.revelbikes.com and select bike shops around the USA. Complete bikes start at $4999 with framesets retailing at $2599. All complete bikes are SRAM equipped with Industry Nine or ENVE Wheel options, including the new Hydra and 101 wheelsets from i9.
“We really take pride in giving you the ultimate bike buying experience and offer several custom options on our website,” explained Revel’s Chris Reichel. “We even go so far as making sure you get the biggest dropper post. Just let us know your seat height and we will put the biggest 125, 150, or 170mm post on your bike.”
All Revel Bikes come with a lifetime warranty and crash replacement policy.
Commitment To Sustainability
Revel’s goal is more than designing and sharing amazing bikes that we love to ride, and it’s more than merely trying to offer the best customer service and purchasing experience possible. Our higher goal is to go home every day and feel good about ourselves, and that goes one step further: We want to find balance for ourselves and others by making this world a better place by any small means we are able.
To that end, we are committed to trying to having an environmentally sustainable business to the extent we possibly can. We ship all our bikes in reusable EVOC travel cases to eliminate cardboard waste. The bike case is our special touch and a lasting symbol of the quality product inside. You can keep the case or ship it back, on our dime, for a small credit so we can reuse it for someone else.
We also recycle all inbound cardboard and plastic that comes to our office, and we don’t use plastic and paperware in our office break room. Further, we chose to work with a manufacturer that abides as much as possible to these principles too. They too are committed recycling all scrap carbon, minimizing or eliminating the use of any harsh chemicals in the manufacturing process, and recycling and disposing of any shop items responsibly.
To learn more head to www.revelbikes.com.
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