This past year I made the switch over to SRAM AXS for all my bikes. I know, it's not necessary but I didn't want to have just one bike on AXS as the shift timing and shifter style is different. So once GX AXS came out I could justify having that on the bigger bike where I am more likely to damage my rear derailleur past the point of saving. But on the smaller travel bike I went for weight, choosing the SRAM XX1 AXS rear derailleur matched with the SRAM GX AXS shifter since the shifters are the same but with different back colors and it has the SRAM Rocker Paddle. I use the newer rocker paddle as well to feel more like a traditional SRAM shifter. For gearing I have a SRAM XX1 10-52t cassette and a SRAM X01 chain wrapped around a Wolf Tooth 32t chainring that is mounted on a Race Face Next SL crankset in 170mm. Being that this bike does a bit of everything for me, I find the 32t allows my legs to be fresher on big days and steep climbs and the 52t rear cog is a great bail out gear when I just want to spin. For my bottom bracket I like to ride Wheels Manufacturing whenever I can because I love the quality of the bottom brackets. They feature Enduro bearings and are easily serviceable as well.

I also have a custom upper chain guide on my bike. Since the Ranger doesn't have any chain guide mounts, I modified a bottom bracket mounted upper guide. I found a OneUp Components bottom bracket mounted chain guide on Pinkbike. I chose this one as I tried another brand but since the top guide was fixed my spacing was not correct and hit my rear triangle. The OneUp chain guide allows for the upper guide to be spaced out while the mount stays behind the BB. In order to fit the chainguide I had to do a bit of dremeling and cutting. First to fit my Wheels Manufacturing bottom bracket with the larger bearings and cups, the outside ring on the chain guide had to be ground down so it was flush with the mounting spot on the guide. After that I had to modify the back of the upper plastic guide. To get the main part of the guide on top of the chainring I had to cut off about half of the backside of the guide. By doing this I can rotate the guide to be on top of the chainring and spacing it out it works perfectly. I'd rather be safe than sorry with a little bit of weight but a lot of security.

What makes our bike special from your buddies, what do you value? Storage, a quiet bike or maybe something else. For myself, I really value storage on my bikes as well as I need my bikes to be quiet. For the storage on my bike, I already mentioned my spare kit with the Wolf Tooth B-Rad strap, but it's so awesome I want to mention it twice. In that spare kit I have a Turbolito tube, two 20g c02, a c02 presta head, a small tire lever, spare tire plugs & a large Park Tool tire boot all wrapped in a small black cloth bag to keep it all clean and helps any small things from falling out. Plus I can take it on and off without having to re-organize and strap it all down.

I also have a One Up Components EDC tool in my fork's steerer tube, I choose to thread my steerer tube and run the full size EDC tool. That has my multi tool, chain breaker, a chain quicklink and on the bottom I have the tire plug kit, I normally have it loaded with one large tire plug and one small, so I can quickly pull it out and plug a tire, I just take off the plug I don't need, but having this loaded and quick access has saved me and friends a ton of times.

A quiet bike is a happy bike! I used to have to go to great lengths to get my bike dead quiet, foam in the frame to stop cable routing, shrink wrap cables so they don't tap and bounce, add a ton of 3m mastic tape all around the bike, mess with the rear derailleur so it doesn't slap around and so much more. Now bikes are pretty damn good, with AXS on my bike I only have front and rear brake cables. I don't have to worry about cable slapping around. Inside the frame the Revel Ranger has tube in tube routing and the cables don't rattle in there. I do still add some extra mastic tape to both the chain stay and around the rear tire to prevent rocks from scraping the frame, this just adds protection and I can peel it off when I am ready to sell the bike. The last trick I do, I put a pedal washer between the b-tension plate and the main derailleur body, by doing this it does not allow the main derailleur body to move while riding. I think this helps not only quiet down the bike as the rear derailleur does not bounce as much, but also has more precise shifting in rough terrain with the body not bouncing around.

To me, my Revel Ranger is a mountain bike. It goes equally as well uphill as it does downhill. By choosing parts from XC race to downhill and everything in between, I find this bike matches the trails I ride. As I mentioned in the beginning this bike finally passes the Yeti SB4.5 in performance.

The way the Ranger climbs is the first part of loving this bike. It can feel snappy when you need it to but mostly the way it just works over technical and rough terrain is my favorite part. In hard tech climbs I feel this bike has so much traction while not being a slug or stuck to the ground. You can pop it up and over stuff on the climb and get support to power up steep sections. On faster and rolling terrain the bike has a nice aggressive feel that makes you want to pump, get on the pedals and fly over terrain with speed. Once the trail gets going downhill the bike becomes super fun. What got you to the top with ease now allows you to play around on jumps and features and still provide traction in corners. The way the rear end tracks has other short travel bikes asking what they can do better. While the Ranger isn't the longest nor the slackest short travel bike out there, I think it's the perfect do it all bike. I have yet to find a short travel bike that is equally matched going up as it is going down, which I attribute to the bike itself and not the part spec. The Ranger frame can go from XC to trail without any hesitation with the right build.