Custom Revel Ranger Build “The Loam Ranger”

Initial Thoughts…

This bike is replacing my 2024 YT Jeffsy as my trail bike. The YT always felt sluggish, heavy, and boring somehow regardless of tires and suspension tunes that I tried.

I also come from a custom 120mm Specialized Chisel hardtail that’s been my XC and adventure racing whip for years and a 170mm Ari LaSal enduro bike used for lift access and shuttle runs. Both awesome bikes for their duties.

On the Ranger I did about 15mi and 1,800ft of up and down elevation for my 2nd ride with a mix of tight but relatively tame “down country” single track (Carpe Diem in Draper, UT) and a downhill blue jump/flow trail (Vertigo in Draper, UT) and I was amazed at how well it handled everything, especially Vertigo. I felt like I was on a full suspension BMX bike with jumps and whips highly encouraged by the bike. My time down Vertigo was faster by about 30 seconds than any previous run on the Jeffsy or LaSal which blew me away. Such an absolutely fun bike to ride. Definitely shows its limits a bit on chunkier stuff going downhill, but totally manageable. On climbs smooth and rocky it just rockets up absorbing anything on the way and maintaining good traction. This feels much more like a 140-150mm trail bike when it comes to plushness and capability but climbs like a nice XC bike. What a machine!

That full silver front end is AMAZING.

Not a fan of the silver rims but absolute banger