Just last year Giant completely overhauled their Revolt carbon gravel bike for tougher modern gravel racing, but it looks like 2023 will see another overhaul with a reshaped Revolt X adapted for front suspension to take on even more rugged terrain. An eagle-eyed reader alerted up to a slow leak Down Under of the new MY23 Giant Revolt X gravel bikes, dripping with 40mm of Fox & RockShox forks and a shift to wide 1x SRAM drivetrains…
New 2022 Giant Revolt transforms into 2023 Giant Revolt X
Last year’s revamped Revolt was built as a gravel racer – lighter, more compliant and with longer, racier geometry to maintain higher-speeds for longer distances. While it did bump tire clearance up to 700x53mm thanks to a flip-chip at the rear dropout, Giant figure they could make an even more capable off-road gravel bike for the gnarliest adventure riding & ultra-distance racing… enter the upcoming Revolt X!
Spotted on BicycleSuperstore.com.au & BikeAddiction.com.au, a new Giant Revolt X is likely to drop in any day…
What will be new?
The most obvious change is that the 2023 Giant Revolt X gets a suspension up front, but it’s more than just slapping a fork on the existing bike. The Revolt X Advanced carbon frame was redesigned to handle 40mm of fork travel, getting revised frame shaping, a new reinforced carbon layup in the front end, and completely revamped geometry geared more towards aggressive off-road riding and more technical descending.
Making that 40mm of travel fit, including the bulkier crown of a suspension fork, meant lifting the downtube up higher away from the front wheel, and setting it back at the lower headset bearing. The result is that even though fork lengths are longer on the Revolt X, headtube lengths decrease 35mm across the board. And the actual frame Stack heights are in fact reduced 7-10mm on the front-suspended Revolt X vs. its rigid gravel Revolt analog.
The new geometry is more than just making a fork fit, the Revolt X has slightly longer frame Reach, significantly less bottom bracket drop to accommodate the movement of the front travel, and is said to get more fork Trail but effectively the same wheelbases across its broad 6 size range (XS-XL).
In a move to more technical riding, the forthcoming Giant Revolt X will also ditch the front derailleur mount, with both models we’ve seen so far opting only for wide 1x SRAM drivetrains.
Tech details
Out back the flip-chip dropout is still there giving the same max 53mm tire clearance in the 435mm long chainstay position, or mas 45mm tire in the shorter 425mm spot, just like the regular Revolt. The Revolt X also keeps the adaptable seatpost setup for max versatility – pick the d-shaped D-Fuse carbon seatpost for max comfort, swap in a round 30.9 seatpost for increased stiffness, or rock a 30.9 dropper to get low for sketchy descents. The Revolt X builds come with a dropper as standard to complement the suspension up front.
This new X version has the same plethora of cage & accessory mounting points on the frame, the same conventional internal cable routing through external ports at the front of the headtube, and the same bump-eating tiny dropped seatstays out back for ‘tuned compliance’.
2023 Giant Revolt X Advanced – Pricing & availability
We’ve spotted two specs on the Australian market. There’s the top A$9000 2023 Giant Revolt X Advanced Pro 0 with a Fox 32 AX Performance Elite fork, Eagle mullet SRAM Force+X01 AXS groupset, Giant Contact Switch dropper post, and Giant CXR1 tubeless carbon wheels wrapped in 50mm Maxxis Rambler tires.
Or there’s a more affordable mechanical build for A$6200 in the 2023 Giant Revolt X Advanced Pro 2 with the same frame but a RockShox Rudy XPLR fork, SRAM Rival1 11sp groupset (curiously mislabeled as 12speed, which could be a further hint of a lower cost SRAM gravel group?), Giant dropper, and the same Giant CXR1 carbon wheels here with 45mm Ramblers.
Neither of these are in stock in Australia, or even listed as options in the USA or Europe, so we can only imagine they might get a release sometime this spring of summer.
