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An OoC Review: The New Revel Rail 29

Adam Jaber July 23, 2022 563 5

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An OOC REVIEW: What Can the New Revel Bikes Rail 29 Do For You?

It’s hit three months on this new rig, so I’m going to run through what my first 90-ish days have been like on this machine.

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The Bike – Revel Rail 29 Frame Only (With RockShox Super Deluxe Ultimate) – $3,499 U.S

 

The Highlights

At 160/155mm of travel – this is technically a “Long-Travel” 29er… but it climbs with admirable efficiency.

  • Revel has had the Rail – a 27.5 trail bike – in the lineup for quite some time now. This is not a replacement, but a new bike entirely, with big wheels.
  • CBF suspension is what Revel lay their heads down at night on.
  • Two Color Options.
  • 76 degree ST Angle

The Spec:

Available in sizes Small-XL (Small: 5’1 -5’7 XL: 6’1 -6’7)

Size Large (I’m 6ft Flat) – Seems correct.

I decided to stick with a RockShox Super Deluxe ULT with 155mm of travel while opting for a Fox 38 160mm fork up front. The drivetrain of choice for this build was SRAM’s XX1 AXS coupled with a set of SRAM Descendant cranks & an Absolute Black Oval 34T chainring. This is the bike I tested the new OneUp 240mm dropper post on, and have subsequently kept running that post. Maxxis Assegai & Dissectors in 2.4 ish for rubber on some Stan’s Flow complete wheels. Lastly, the cockpit sports an 800mm wide/20mm rise Rental carbon bar and a 40mm Raceface Aeffect stem.

Full Geo:

Revel Rail 29 Spec Sheet
Full Geometry Breakdown

Estimated Weight: 34 lbs

Fashion & Function

This bike is HOT in that red dress-up. I haven’t yet seen the black option, but let me tell you, red goes. Lightning McQueen ain’t got shit on a Rail 29. In addition, the linkage is clean & simple. That means a lot to me in a world full of Niner WFOs & Evil Followings. Great bikes, but linkage-wise, ugly and overbuilt.

  • New England is known for its “chonk” – a word that to me means, ” shitty, rooty, rocky, blown-out, nonsense, tech”. CBF is a fully capable suspension platform for the chonk, and allows for maximum compression without smashing bottom brackets & chainrings into things. Obviously, a reasonable BB height (348mm) helps with that as well.
  • Somehow in 2022, many long-travel 29ers feel like horses. Long, tall, and hard to whip around. One of the more impressive parts about this bike for me is its maneuverability in tight tech.
  • Okay, by FAR, the most shocking thing about this bike is how well it climbs. It would have been an absolute travesty if a 160mm bike couldn’t descend, so we know that already to an extent. This bike can sprint up a hill with the best of them. The rear wheel maintains traction while standing and the front whilst sitting and I didn’t find myself needing to force my body weight too far fore or aft in attempts to keep this. I’ve even tested the Rail’s climb-ability on straight-up steep road climbs and even that was impressive.
  •  For you mechanics out there, you’ll be thrilled to know that the cable routing is excellent and fully guided on this rig, and the frame-up build only took me about an hour to assemble

All in All:

Reality (does it do what it says it does): 9.5

Function: 9

Fashion: 9

Score: 9.16 /10 

 

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Adam Jaber

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