GIant Revolt Advanced.

2021

Gravel Crusher.

Distance ridden: 2,250km

This one took some doing. There was a frameset waiting for me at Giant Store Leamington in November 2020. Four months later, they’d entirely failed to source a Shimano GRX810 2x groupset for it, thanks to the Covid/Brexit shitstorm. In February 2021, I took matters into my own hands and found the bits myself. The most elusive part, the GRX810 derailleurs came all the way from Tokyo. In four days.

I did a bit of the build, then handed it over to the far more talented folk at Academy Bikeworks in Bromsgrove to finish off and it was ready for adventure by March.

The paint is Chameleon Saturn and it’s a gloriously confusing finish which is insanely sparkly under spotlights, but looks almost matt on a cloudy day and ranges from its base khaki to bright gold highlights and a deep forest green when it’s backlit.

Still waiting for a few bits, but the Revolt build is underway, with shifters on and cable routing started. Took it outside to try and get a pic in the sunshine - still trying to process the insanity of the paintjob. Is it khaki? Is it green? Is it a

Features.

Drivetrain.

Having worked through dozens of permutations, I came to the conclusion that, in order to satisfy off-road, bike packing and winter road keeping-up-with-club-ride requirements, Shimano GRX810 2x 11-speed was the way to go. Unfortunately, at time of ordering, and for nigh on 4 months after, there was no availability in the UK. None. Not even a hint of a groupset available to buy. It’s as though they had discontinued it and refuse to mention that it ever existed. Ghost town weird. But it’s 2021, and by the power of eBay, “derailleurs sent from Japan in four days” is actually a thing!

Wheels.

I got a lovely set of Mavic Allroad Elite tubeless wheels from Certini. As per form with my sourcing of Mavic wheelsets, they’re previous season (2018, in fact) and were the last set at Certini’s Bristol store so came with a sturdy 26% discount.

These are wearing Continental Terra Trail 40mm tubeless tyres - the knobblier of the ‘Terra’ options because the gravel round these parts is more often mud!

I also have a set of Mavic Ksyrium Elite with 32mm GP5000 TL rubber for road and winter club ride use.

Finishing Kit.

There’s not a lot of choice when it comes to seatposts as it has to fit Giant’s D-fuse profile, so for simplicity, I opted for post, stem and bars as would have been fitted to a pre-built Revolt Advanced 0, the bars being slightly flared for full gravel appeal.

I tried a couple of saddle options from Selle Italia (stick to what you know - their S3 fit works for me), including the X-LR Superflow S and Flite Boost Gravel .and have settled on the SLR Boost Gravel Superflow. The combination of big central hole and a bit of padding should make it a winner for long days on rough ground.

Spec.

This bike was a custom build, based around the Giant Revolt Advanced 2021 frameset. That’s the only way I could get it in this colour - Chameleon Saturn. I would have taken any of the Chameleon colours, but there wasn’t a Revolt in Chameleon Galaxy and the Chameleon Mars was only available on the Revolt Advanced Pro which was GRX Di2 and significantly more expensive.