Giant launches updated Revolt

Lots of considerations here, and not all will align.

  • Toe Overlap was mentioned, and despite the roughly similar frame Reach, the slacker Head Tube Angle on the gravel bikes should get the front wheel further out. Notice the Crux front center is 21mm longer than the S3. I would guess the Revolt to be similar to the the Crux. Considering that, and if you are ok on the S3, I don’t think there will be an issue there.

As to the whole “sizing/fit” side, that is super tricky. True in the general direction that Gravel is following MTB with longer Reach, shorter stems, and slacker head tubes. Couple with that is the steeper seat tube angle in most cases (as seen here). Those aren’t huge amounts, and final saddle position may only shift a tad compared to the slacker road Seat Tube Angle. Considering you went to a zero offset post, those changes align too.

Taking the smaller Revolt, only to add a longer stem is a bit counter to the intentions, but may work fine. If you are aiming to keep the front lower, then the Giant may just be the wrong bike, considering a “smallish” size is taller than your S3, and the next takes that up further.

The Crux is the more “race” oriented gravel bike with the a similar reach, but more drop than your S3. So with the 20mm spacers, and assuming you hit the saddle position the same relative to the BB, this will fit the same as your S3. The key difference will be in handling via the Head Tube Angle, Front Center and longer Wheelbase.

Throwing a dart now, the Crux seems to win, but this is with just about 10 mins review and I would want to look harder if anyone was really handing over $$$ based on my advice.

1 Like

Thanks for the input.
Is there importance in maintaining the shorter stem for handling on the gravel bikes if a lot of gravel rides are straight, or sweeping bends without the technical mtb type courses? I’m guessing it is down to weight balance also.

It’s genuinely quite hard during this pandemic to test ride bikes and get a good idea of what geometry works, or trying to make what is available work!

Longer stem can certainly work. Yes, it is largely about weight distribution, but also impacts the actual turning aspect from the change in leverage. I am doing that right now with my Warbird, in an effort to overcome the stock handling that is not my favorite. As ever, we have to make do with what we can access.

1 Like

I suspect this might be a nice pick for a gravel/cyclocross double-duty bike. I know the handling wouldn’t be quite as quick/responsive as a dedicated CX bike, but for occasional CX dabbling this seems like a potentially good pick :thinking: