![]() ![]() Our timed lap for the trail bikes was just shy of 20 minutes long and split into three sections. But hey, just ignore me if you do most of your climbing on gravel roads. At those tipping-over speeds, the black Revel was more of a friend than the Spur, but neither can match Yeti or Cannondale. Mind you, while the Yeti SB115 and Cannondale Scalpel SE 1 are happy to be steered around troubles, both the Spur and Ranger give you the sensation that you're swinging the bike's front-end around the rear tire's contact patch that isn't moving at all. What happens when you get to the kind of sections where skill counts for more than squats? There were times on the Transition Spur when it felt like I'd never clean a patch of shiny roots that some jerk planted right in the middle of that sharp uphill lefthander, but the Ranger seemed to be more manageable. I realize that doesn't square with my timing, but it's worth noting that I also bagged a handful of PRs on the Ranger while riding trails outside of our test loop. All of a sudden your riding buddies are wondering which Russian website you ordered your ''herbal medicine'' from, and you're the jerk who asks "ready to drop in?" as soon as they get to the top. That's the nice thing about an efficient suspension system it's kinda like it rewards you more for your hard work than something less responsive, and therefore you're more likely to put in that work. The clock might not lie, but I can only report on what I experience, and what I experienced was the desire to go flat-out for most of every ride. But wow, it feels like an absolute rocketship on the trail. Yes, there were much lighter bikes to ride, and it also finished second-to-last in both our bro-science Efficiency Test and total lap time. The ones that are good at it, like Spot's Living Link, dw-link, and a few others, add life and energy to a bike, and the Ranger's CBF layout does the same. Remember when I said that, relatively speaking, the Ranger's 2,900-gram frame isn't the lightest? The truth is that a bike doesn't need to be a flyweight to be quick, but it does need to use an efficient-feeling suspension system. CBF is a dual-link, co-rotating system, meaning both the upper and lower links rotate clockwise, with a clevis to drive the SIDLuxe shock and deliver 115mm of travel. Revel says they wanted the Ranger to be a fast, efficient bike, and that its 'Canfield Brothers Formula' suspension layout accomplishes exactly that. I don't know how others do it, but I think that lets me be more open to what the bike is "telling me" me when I ride it. That's a lot of numbers to think about, but I'll let you guys in on a secret: Aside from sometimes having to confirm that I'm on the correct size, and assuming nothing strange is happening, I almost never even glance at a review bike's geometry chart until I'm deep into the testing process. Compared to the Spur, its head angle is also 1.5-degrees steeper, and the 75-degree seat angle is 1-degree more relaxed. The Ranger is longer overall, as you'd expect. Head angles aren't everything, but it's worth noting the Ranger's 67.5-degree front-end that's essentially the same as the SB115 that I didn't get on with, but with a 120mm fork rather 130mm. Not only that, but Revel even has a chart on their website that helps you figure out which post to pick for your bike to get the most amount of drop.Īt 5' 10" Revel says that I should be on a large-sized Ranger, and that comes with a 473mm reach and that stubby, 439mm seat tube that let me run a 170mm Crank Brothers Highline dropper. Routing is internal and tube-in-tube, and the short, 439mm seat tube is also nice to see. Actually, I don't like tires that big but I'm not going to complain about tons of mud clearance. Things I like: The threaded bottom bracket, room for a large bottle inside the frame with another spot on the underside of the downtube, as well as room for a 2.6" wide rear tire. There's more to this than weight, though, and the frame is a stunner in person both front and rear triangles, both upper and lower links, and the clevis are all carbon fiber, and there are titanium and aluminum fasteners holding it all together. Not gonna lie, with many options coming in at well under the 2,000-gram mark, it doesn't sound all that fast. Regardless of the spec, all the bits hang off the same carbon fiber frame that weighs a claimed 2,766-grams (medium, w/ shock) according to Revel.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |