Revel Ranger Bike Check w/ Worldwide Cyclery's Jeff Cayley [Video]

Words by: Liam Woods

Why Would Jeff Build A Revel Ranger?

Jeff is no stranger to insane custom builds and his new Revel Ranger is no different. Why would Jeff want to build a Revel Ranger? The Ranger is a short travel trail bike, a down-country bike, new school xc bike, as Jeff calls it “His perfect mountain bike”. From the second we were able to ride the first Ranger prototype, we knew it was going to be an amazing short travel bike. With 115mm of rear travel, 120mm in the front,  modern geometry, and the famous CBF suspension, what’s not to like about this thing? If you want to learn more about the Ranger and CBF suspension, we have a full review on the Revel Ranger and a video explaining what the mysterious CBF suspension does on our YouTube channel. Prior to this, Jeff’s favorite bike was the Yeti SB4.5. A 114mm rear travel bike that has since been phased out of Yeti’s lineup, it just happens that the Ranger reminds him of that bike, in a lighter and newer package. So that is why Jeff chose the Ranger, let's look into what makes this bike so unique. 

Most notably on the Ranger is the drivetrain, we broke Instagram for a few days when we decided to remove the 52t cog on the SRAM XX1 Eagle cassette. Jeff has always run SRAM 11 speed on his bikes, especially his lightweight trail bikes. He claims that he doesn’t need the range, he likes the shorter cage of the 11 speed rear derailleur as well as the rock clearance. But… he decided that he did like how eagle shifting felt and more importantly, we wanted the gold cassette, chain, and rear derailleur. So after some thinking and talking about how to make this happen, Jeff had Liam plan it out. Liam looked at the cassette and figured he could Dremel off the upper part of the back 52t cog, where the machined steel 10-42t cluster gets pinned onto the alloy 52t back cog. We had to keep the lower part of that alloy cog as it’s the main structure, and the freehub interface needed to use the cassette. Next, we decided to take a road bike rear derailleur cage from a SRAM Force Rear Derailleur, the trick is we wanted a shorter cage, that also had the SRAM Type 3 clutch so it could all work together, then threw in some Absolute Black pulleys to add some flare. Once this was all planned out, we filmed Liam cutting off the cassette and posted it on Instagram, the rest is history.. Literally, Liam threw away the 52t cog never to be seen again. 

The rest of the build is decently straight forward. Along with the SRAM drivetrain, Jeff went with a E*Thirteen XCX carbon crankset, one of the lightest cranks you can get. Next, he went with full RockShox SID suspension, with the SID Ultimate up front at 120mm and the SIDLuxe rear shock out back. The new SID line might look mini and lightweight, and it is, but the performance you get from them is massive. It blew us away the first time we rode it and it fits perfectly on a lightweight Ranger. A 32mm Industry Nine stem paired with a 20mm rise OneUp carbon handlebar keeps everything smooth. Next, we have some SRAM G2 Ultimate brakes with a 180mm rotor up front and a 160mm rotor out back. Jeff always runs the 2-peice Centerline X rotors. Moving back we have a KS Lev Ci 150mm dropper post with a WolfTooth Remote, the Lev Ci is one of the lightest dropper posts, but maybe not the most reliable. On top is a WTB Silverado with carbon rails, a classic saddle and Jeff's current choice. For wheels and tires, Jeff has some Industry Nine Trail 270 24h wheels, 27mm internal width, lightweight and hydra hubs with 690 points of engagement, they are a work of machine art. Wrapped with Maxxis tires, the Dissector 2.4 up front and Rekon 2.4 out back, a fast combo that doesn't sacrifice performance in any way. The final contact points are some Crank Brothers Mallet E 11 pedals with an upgraded Titanium spindles, which might be the most expensive pedals on a trail bike. Last but certainly not least, we have some mystery grips. With a soft compound, a medium diameter, they feel great and hopefully in the soon-ish future you can buy a pair to use only our bike. 

All this weighs in at 26.5lbs with pedals, ready to ride. A very well rounded bike without any compromise in performance. It can go uphill equally as well as it can do downhill. A perfect bike for our local area, a perfect bike for quick rips, or all day adventures. Jeffs Revel Ranger built up by Liam is really a work of art that rides even better than it looks.

This article was written / authored by Liam Woods. Liam has been in the bicycle industry for over 10 years as a racer, professional mechanic, service manager and as of late, media and content creator. Liam has ridden thousands of different bikes, ridden countless components, tested endless MTB apparel of all kinds and written reviews on it all. He's a key piece to the Worldwide Cyclery "All Things MTB" content creation puzzle. He also makes consistent appearances on the Worldwide Cyclery YouTube channel and Instagram.