Grizl / Revolt / AN Other - Help / Recs

[rtrt]

Originally a mountain biker, then broadened to include road & now considering my first gravel bike - I'm UK based.

I’d use it on road throughout the year, for 1 or 2 multi day bike packing trips and hopefully some gravel day rides. Bikepacking / day rides would include some single track cross country uphill/downhill.

So it definitely needs to be geared to keep up with my buddies on road with their 50 to 11s. But the off-road will include some steep uphill & with luggage I'll need a good low end too.

Initially was leaning to the value of Canyon Grizl and Giant Revolt - before the gearing / electronics & a few design issues consumed me! So hoping to get the benefit of your experience here.

Gearing

• 2x chainring & close to road on high end - something like 48 to 11 or 44 to10
  Low enough to get up steep hills loaded up - something like 30/31 to 38/40/42 maybe??
  I could maybe keep the 11-38/40/42 cassette / chain separate for the loaded up trips and just swap them in each time?

Electronic / mechanical

• Seems like there's a little bit of weight difference but not too much?
  For someone who's not bought a new bike in around 10-15 years - electronic replacement part prices are scary high & I've damaged / replaced a few MTB RDs over the years!
  So if both were an option I’d most likely stick with mechanical, but if I can only get the gearing/bike I want by going electronic - then I’d possibly bite the bullet
  So far it seems like my best bet is a bike with GRX 48/31 - then get a 40 or 42 cassette. But those 40/42 sizes are not available in 12 speed and maybe never coming?
  Probably worth saying I'm a bit biased towards Shimano - all of my MTB set ups were LX or XT & were great. Road was SRAM Apex and was ok

Bike Design
Revolt

• D-shaped seat post seems to suffer from cracking/cracks the frame. Replacing it with something like a Cane Creak maybe?
  Non standard headset - lower race is too small to install a non Giant 1.5" suspension fork later - this feels like an important limitation & maybe a show stopper

Grizl

• No GRX 2x mechanical option - expensive up front and since I broke the odd RD on my MTB & I'm thinking hard about the £300+ for a new GRX RD!
  Non standard headset - upper race seems to only be available from Canyon. It also needs a shim to instal a non Canyon fork

Been helpful to write all these notes...if you made it to the end - thanks & any experiences / thoughts are very welcome!

[rawjunk]

Doesn't non-pro advanced frame have regular headset? I think that cracking issue was with early 2022 models. I'm running my 2023 Revolt with cheapo Aliexpress 30.9mm seatpost.

[Rudi]

Electric/Mechanical dillema - if you are planning anything on the bikepaking front that is going to be remote or over several days then you might want to consider the reliability and servicability of mechanical.
I had di2 on my gravel bike to start but have swapped back to mechanical for that reason. I have di2 on all my other bikes (as does my wife) so I'm not against di2, and I know the battery should last long enough for most use cases. For me the risk of it not working wasn't worth the reward, but obviously everyone needs to make that decision for themselves.

[Broady]

My revolt has always had a round seatpost, no cracks here. Initially with a dropper but now Enve.

Great bike too, is well suited to the UK 'gravel' which usually consists of muddy bridleways.

[Styp]

Rose Backroad? Could be an option.

Honestly, I would go with the 46/30 setup of the GRX600 crankset. The 11-36 is plenty of gearing, in my opinion. I ride the 48/31 with an 11-34 setup, and I lug stuff uphill, too. The advantage of the 11-36 is that the gearing on the high-speed end of things is very tight, I don't think your friends will outrun your bike...

[rtrt]

Thanks for all the responses - useful. I'll reply to all here & add some new thoughts - sorry for another long one!

• 1. The Giant headset is an OD which seems to be 1 1/8 top and 1 1/4 bottom - tho I did see somewhere else that the restriction to 1 1/4 on bottom was due to the bearing and not the headtube width - suggestion was that a change to a 1 1/2 bearing was possible and then allow a 1 1/2 tapered steerer fork.
  
  2. Seems you both run round seatposts - maybe that mitigates the issue idk - thats if its even a real issue. I suppose the approach could be run the 'D' post and if there are problems - warranty will take care of it - then switch to round seatpost from there on.
  
  3. Electronic vs mechanical & remoteness from home / bike shop is a great point. When I mountain biked a lot, I learned a fair bit about getting things fixed enough to get back - not always possible ofc. Electronic as you say could present some new insurmountable problems - definitely a negative in my view.
  
  4. Rose Backroad - had a good long look at this https://www.rosebikes.com/rose-backroad ... _size=55cm It looks really good - spec, value and how it looks. Then I had the down to earth moment - no UK shipping sadly.
  
  5. Re gearing - yes I've become a little bit more relaxed there - useful experience/thoughts ta.

Some new thoughts -

• 1. Discovered the Revolt comes with hookless rims and Grizl with hooked. Hookless is a new thing to me. From what i've read of the pro/cons -it's a strong negative for the Revolt for me - mainly around the care needed in tyre selection, inflexibity of running tubes - tho not too sure about that point. It's clearly not a negative for everyone tho- interested in peoples thoughts here.
  
  Edit - just read all 13 pages of this back & forth debate viewtopic.php?f=132&t=170829&start=180 and I don't think i'm much wiser. So still interested in what others think specifically in relation to the CXR 2 vs the DT Swiss GRC1400.
  
  2. Bottom bracket drop (height). My roadbike, a Giant Defy Composite from 2012 - is likely 65 according to this non Giant page - https://geometrygeeks.bike/bike/giant-defy-1-2012/ The Revolt is 80/81 and the Grizl is 75. Based on my tendency to strike my (both HT & FS) MTB pedals and the slight fear of touching a pedal leant over on road - my instinct is to say the slightly higher clearance Grizl is better - am reading too much into that? I see the Rose is 76 btw.
  
  3. I've tried to see if there are other models around that would be useful to add to my shortlist and havent come up with any. From memory - expense, other wheelrims that are hookless - clearly not just Giant who offer them, built in suspension, missing fork mounting points - to list a few things. Still open to suggestions.

I see the MY2025 Revolt is showing on Giant UK - https://www.giant-bicycles.com/gb/revol ... ced-0-2025 I've not checked the spec point for point agains the MY2024, but it looks broadly the same from what I can see. Seeing the MY2024 discounted now, so the price difference Revolt to Grizl is even larger.

[Broady]

I'll say regarding the hookless, I've not had any issues. I'm 80kg and usually run 30ish psi. I can see how people might be scared off on road but with 40mm+ tyres I don't think there's much to worry about - it wouldn't be a dealbreaker for me anyway.

[raisinberry777]

I'll say regarding the hookless, I've not had any issues. I'm 80kg and usually run 30ish psi. I can see how people might be scared off on road but with 40mm+ tyres I don't think there's much to worry about - it wouldn't be a dealbreaker for me anyway.

Agreed - pressures on gravel are so much lower (and trends for tyres are getting wider - so it will go even lower) that the pressure considerations that come into hookless for road really don't matter on gravel, unless you're planning on using the same wheels for road.

[rtrt]

Thanks both - yes was hoping to use same wheels for gravel & road.

In terms of ride hours - i'll likely do more on the road, with a couple of multiday trips off road in year and hopefully the occasional gravel day ride too.

[bedampft]

The new Cube Nuroads will suite you as well, if you can wait a bit longer.

[rtrt]

Thanks for the suggestion - looks like the NUROAD C:62 RACE would have fit the bill well as it has a GRX 820 groupset - but unfortunately it also has hookless rims. I guess its possible the 2025 model might change to hooked, think it's unlikely as gravel wheels seems a better application of the technology.

I see DT Swiss, Fulcrum and Mavic still provide rims with hooks - maybe others - didnt do a full search.

I could try to sell the Giant Giant CXR 2s and pick up a pair of hooked rim carbon wheels - not convinced its a sensible approach tho as I cant see any previously sold CXR 2s on UK ebay.

Or I could maybe try to presuade the supplying bike shop to swap the Giant wheels for some DT Swiss with an uplift in price - any thoughts there?

Distilling it all down - I seem to be stuck between an expensive Grizl GRX 825 x2 where the DI2 could be a liability on a multi day trip away from civilisation & a great price for a Revolt 2024 with a GRX 820 x2 but with hookless rims that feel like they could be dangerous on road.

[rtrt]

Update - I went for the Giant Revolt Advanced 0 - MY2024 after a fair amount of analysis paralysis. What tipped it for me was the end of MY reductions. If it'd only been available at full price - most likely i'd have gone Canyon for the hooked rims.

I'm running GP5000s 32mm & as expected from all the Internet noise, it was tough to get them on. Front with the foot on tyre method, rear I needed to resort to the Ali E tyre tool i'd ordered in expectation of trouble.

I'm 3 short rides in and enjoying it lots. Usual tweaks needed - some more carbon paste as some seatpost creaks appeared on the last ride. There may be some mild front disc rub - will check it out & possibly the shifting needs some adj too.

Going to see how practical it is to get the GP5000s off after some running in. If thats a big issue then I may spring for some lightweight road wheels and keep the CXR 2s for gravel.

[Tifosiphil]

Glad you made a decision and are enjoying it.

Personally I would just add two cents on gearing. I went through the same process and I'm not 4 years in with a titanium bike for gravel, cyclocross racing, all day rides and bikepacking. I'm running mechanical 11s and went with a GRX rear mech and Ultegra front so I could run 52/34 asnd then switch between a 11/28 on my road wheels and an 11/34 on gravel. Shifts fine and gives me that 1:1 ratio for longer climbs when loaded up

[rtrt]

Thanks for the thoughts on gearing. Yes I'm relaxing about it for now. Waiting to see what higher cassettes come onto the market with non shimano / sram vendors between now and next spring and what other peoples experiences are with them.