Today, Revel announces the third generation of its beloved XC mountain bike, the Ranger. However, Revel has taken quite a departure from the first two versions of the Ranger, landing the bike more in the “downcountry” category. The brand claims that “this is not a refresh. It is not a tune-up. Every tube, every link, every bolt, and every line of geometry has been rethought to create the most capable and most playful Revel ever built.”
According to Revel, the result is a more capable bike that blurs the lines between XC and trail. A bike that won’t hold you back on the climbs or the descents. “Selfishly, this is the Ranger we have always wanted. The lower weight (~200g) definitely allows it to achieve a race build. The updated suspension kinematics are more efficient pedaling than previous generations. But we wanted to make something equally capable on a long XC track and in the high country,” Chris Reichel, Revel’s Global Brand Strategist, told Singletracks via email.
Meet the third-generation Revel Ranger.
Significant changes to the Revel Ranger geometry
The Ranger V2 hit the ground roughly three years ago. Singletracks tested and reviewed the V2 Ranger, describing it as “a cross-country bike, with trail bike characteristics.” And, looking at the geometry of the previous bike, it certainly did land squarely in the XC bike category.
While Revel claims the Ranger maintains its XC climbing prowess, they also claim it “descends like something with much more travel.” Looking at the changes they made to the geometry, the V3 certainly seems to be a touch more descent-oriented.
The previous Ranger featured a 67.5° head tube angle and a 75.3° seat tube angle. Our size medium test bike had a relatively low stack height of 609mm, a 453mm reach, and a 1,170mm wheelbase.
Revel has changed these numbers fairly drastically for the V3 Ranger. Compared to the size medium Singletracks tested in 2023, the V3’s reach increases to 465mm, while the stack grows slightly to 615mm. The wheelbase also increases significantly, now sitting at 1,207mm.
This massive increase is despite the chainstays actually shrinking in some instances. The V2 Ranger had a 436mm rear center across all sizes. Moving forward, Revel introduces size-specific stays, with 435mm chainstays on the two smallest sizes (small and medium), 437mm on a size large, and 439mm on X-Large.
And we can’t leave out the head tube and seat tube, which have also changed dramatically. Both see a nearly 2° swap in either direction, with the Ranger V3 head tube angle slackening to 65.7°. Moving in the opposite direction, the seat tube is significantly steeper, now sitting at 77°.
More travel
Likely adding to the descending capabilities of the new Revel Ranger is, well, added travel. From its inception in 2019, the Ranger had 115mm of rear travel paired with a 120mm fork.
Those numbers bump up for this latest version, with the V3 Ranger now sitting at 130/120mm of travel front/rear. Revel maintains the CBF suspension platform the brand was built around, albeit geared toward short-travel bikes.
The suspension kinematics have been updated and “refined for what a downcountry bike should feel like,” resulting in a bike that is more progressive than its predecessors. The Revel team describes the new Ranger’s suspension platform as an “air pillow on top, supportive platform in the middle, bottomless at the end.”
What exactly those new kinematics look like is unavailable at the time of writing. Singletracks was told that kinematic data is not yet public.
A new frame design
A side-by-side comparison of the V2 and V3 Rangers shows two bikes that look relatively identical. However, a keen eye might notice some differences, specifically in the suspension layout.
Revel says that the most significant visual change is a linkage update. All links have been updated, with the lower link now housed within the frame and featuring more robust suspension hardware. Revel claims these changes result in a more efficient platform and improved stiffness, with “boxier”-shaped links adding strength while reducing weight.
In fact, the claimed frame weight reduction is “an average of 200g lighter across all sizes than previous versions,” despite the travel increase. Revel also claims “massive dropper post insertion across all sizes.” However, they haven’t yet released the exact numbers.
The Ranger maintains two bottle mounts inside the front triangle, plus a third set of mounts on the underside of the downtube. There’s also a set of accessory mounts on the underside of the top tube. In addition, the third-generation Ranger gets a fender on the seat tube to protect the shock and linkage from debris.
Improved internal cable routing and impact-resistant rubber guards on the downtube and chainstay promise “the quietest Revel ever,” according to the Colorado-based brand.
Revel offers the new Ranger in four sizes (S-XL), two colorways (“Red Zeppelin” and “Steezy”), and three SRAM-focused builds. They will also have a frame-only option at $3,699. Builds start at $5,599 and top out at $10,199.
So, Revel is back?
Yes, it would seem so. Just over a year ago, we watched as Revel attempted to get rid of inventory, heading toward what seemed to be an apparent closing. Fortunately, Revel’s founder, Adam Miller, re-purchased the company from the investors he had sold it to a handful of years earlier.
Just a year into his new (old) role running the company once again, key figures of the original Revel team have come back on board. And, as a result, the V3 Ranger is the first completely new bike from a reestablished Revel Bikes.
“The new Ranger has been really a meaningful bike to bring to life. It is the product of everything we’ve learned over the past decade compressed into one bike,” said Miller in a release. “Ground up, no compromises, and no assumptions carried over. This is what a bike from Revel looks like when we start from scratch, making the bikes we want to ride, with no bureaucracy.”
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